Shakespeare is not a philosopher. But his works have long been admired for their capacity to provoke thought – and often thought of a philosophical nature – as attested by the writings of philosophers as diverse as Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, Stanley Cavell, Martha Nussbaum and Agnes Heller. In the twentieth century, the advent of critical theory set the scene for literary readings and theatrical interpretations inspired by philosophical ideas, and in the past two decades philosophical readings, performances, creative responses and practice-based research of Shakespeare have enjoyed a surge of interest. What is it about Shakespeare’s work that stimulates philosophical thought? What can Shakespeare do for philosophy, or philosophy for Shakespeare? How influenced is Shakespeare by the philosophy of his time? And how can we meaningfully read or stage Shakespeare through the lens of philosophical ideas that arise after his time?

This conference aims to explore how the literary and theatrical craft of Shakespearean drama and poetry may produce, or indeed question, philosophical knowledge. Shakespeare is a writer who – perhaps uniquely – enables a conversation that brings together various fields, shedding light on both the possibilities and limitations of disciplinary intersections. We invite a wide range of papers that cut across disciplinary boundaries and methodologies, from philosophy and literary criticism to performance studies and creative practice, to explore the relationship between Shakespeare and philosophy, ranging from the reception of classical philosophy in the early-modern era to post-war continental philosophy and beyond.

Programme

September 3rd

9:30 Registration

10:00-11:00 Plenary (Chair: Jessica Chiba)

Kiernan Ryan “Shakespeare's Right Popular Philosophy”

11:00-11:30 Coffee (Provided)

11:30-12:45 Forms, Selves, and Others (Chair: Eric Langley)

Frank Boardman: “Catching our Conscience: Shakespeare’s Philosophical Arguments”
Rob Carson: “Achieving Greatness: Having Third Thoughts about Shakespeare and Montaigne”
Ursula Clayton: “A ‘Knot of Mouth-Friends’: Parasitic Community in Michel Serres’ The Parasite and William Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens”

12:45-14:15 Lunch (not provided)

14:15-15:15 Plenary (Chair: Sam Matthews)

Matthew Wagner: “The Thing and The Play: Toward a Phenomenology of Shakespearean Theatre”

15:15-15:45 Break (no refreshments provided)

15:45-17:00 Continental Approaches (Chair: Jennifer Anne Bates)

Olga Johnson: “Shakespeare in Hegel's Aesthetic Lectures II: On the Freedom of Thought as ‘Happy Divorce’”
Sam Ben-Meir: “Sleep No More: A Levinasian Reading of Macbeth”
Katie Brennan: “Nietzsche’s Great Men: Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, and the Third Reich”

17:00- 18:00

Paul Kottman: “Why Shakespeare Stopped Writing Tragedies”

18:00-19:00 Wine Reception then Conference Dinner

September 4th

9:30 Registration

10:00-11:00 Interview Screening

Tim Etchells (Forced Entertainment) in conversation with Dan Rebellato
Followed by panel discussion by Deana Rankin and John Joughin

11:00-11:30 Coffee (provided)

11:30-12:45 Ethics (Chair: Ursula Clayton)

Caroline Lion: “Peace in an Age of Reproducibility”
Roberto Parra-Dorantes: “Self-Deception in Shakespeare’s Sonnets”
Patrick Gray: “Sources of the Self? Shakespeare, Montaigne, and Modern Moral Philosophy”

12:45-14:15 Lunch (not provided)

14:15-15:15 Plenary (Chair: Timo Uotinen)

Richard Wilson: “Set in the Silver Sea: Brexit, Shakespeare and Schmitt”

15:15-15:45 break (no refreshments provided)

15:45-16:45 Parallel Panels

Classical Philosophy (Chair: Patrick Gray)

Angeline Morris: “The breath of worldly men cannot depose”: The Meaning of Good Kingship in Richard II”
Martina Kastnerova: “Discourse(s) of Life and Death: The Sidneys, Mornay and Shakespeare”

Performance Philosophy (Chair: Richard O'Brien)

Ildiko Solti “Future perfect”: Shakespeare’s plays as “mobile philosophy”
Stefanie Bauerochse “On properties, propositions and prepositions: per/forming a paper: habeas corpus: the state of exception”

16:45-17:45 Plenary

Jennifer Bates: Hegel’s Rome and Shakespeare’s Coriolanus: Grounds for Tragedy