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Our fourth lecture in the 2024 series 'Daring to Think For Oneself'!This lecture, titled 'Dead Ends,' is presented by Dr Mark Jennings.
July 15th, 6PM
Clancy's Fish Pub, Fremantle
Free to Attend
As always the lecture is 45-60 minutes long followed by a Q&A.
Come down for critical thinking and 2-for-1 mussels!
An end in itself?
'Dead Ends' by Mark Jennings
“Finding myself,” “becoming the best version of myself,” “being true to myself” – this language, whether those using it are aware of it are not, is grounded in an idea of an essential, (if not necessarily
fixed) self that is both discoverable and achievable (if often tantalisingly beyond reach). Charles Taylor explores the genealogy of this idea in his Sources of the Self, beginning with Romantic
expressivism of the Late Renaissance and emerging in late modernity in an “ethic of authenticity,” wherein the objective is not the achievement of greatness, but the self-discovery.
But this is not the only game in town. Another strand, most notoriously associated with Michel Foucault, is predicated upon the absence of a true self. In this view, a person is constituted only by the historical, cultural, and social conditions in which they find themselves, with individual subjectivity subject to structural forces largely beyond individual control. Perhaps when people use expressions like “I need to reinvent myself,” this discursive understanding is in view.
In this lecture, I argue that many of us actually hold these two, basically contradictory views, at the same time. More importantly, both positions are, arguably, dead ends, arriving either at a deterministic fatalism, and/or the tyranny of the self-entrepreneurial neoliberal project.
Is that all there is? Maybe. But we conclude by reasoning together with Socrates, who accepted his limited knowledge while remaining determined to act in the knowledge that he possessed. If we are to find another way, this might be a good place to start.
Dr Mark Jennings is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Wollaston Theological College and University of Divinity. A sociologist and academic, his research interests include LGBTQ+ people and faith, secularisation, neoliberalism, and Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity. His 2023 monograph “Happy: LGBTQ+ experiences of Australian Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity,” is available at all good university libraries.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Clancy's Fish Pub Fremantle, 80 Samson St, White Gum Valley WA 6162, Australia,Perth, Western Australia
