Simon Critchley - Simon Critchley was born in Hertfordshire in 1960, and currently lives and works in New York as Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. He works in continental philosophy, the history of philosophy, literature, ethics and politics.
Critchley argues that philosophy commences in disappointment, either religious or political. These two axes may be said largely to inform his published work: religious disappointment raises the question of meaning and has to, as he sees it, deal with the problem of nihilism; political disappointment provokes the question of justice and raises the need for a coherent ethics. The Book of Dead Philosophers is his eighth book.
Carin Kuoni - Carin Kuoni is the director of the Vera List Center at The New School. An art historian by education, and a curator and critic by practice, Kuoni was previously director of exhibitions at Independent Curators International (ICI) and director of the Swiss Institute New York.
She has curated and co-curated over twenty international exhibitions, and has written for a number of international publications.
Simon Critchley delivers a lecture entitled Barack Obama and the American Void. He examines Obama's subjectivity, the existential detachment that seems to haunt him, and its relation to democracy.
Great talk. Thank goodness Obama won, because he is right, we would have been royally screwed if McCain and Palin won. Not that I am saying Obama is perfect, as no one is, but I think our country would have been subject to some major long term problems if he did not win. I have to say if Palin hadn't been in the picture, it would have been a lot closer of a race. McCain definitely ruined his chances choosing her.