Shakespeare in Philosophy

This event took place on Saturday, June 14, 2025 from 10:00-19:00 BST at Garrick’s Temple to Shakespeare, Hampton, UK

About the event

For the Slovenian School of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, a loose association of thinkers which grew out of dissident movements in socialist Yugoslavia, Shakespeare has always been a reference point – especially Hamlet and its reception by Hegel, Marx, Freud and Lacan. The title of one of Slavoj Žižek’s early books, Looking Awry, is taken from Richard II, and other members of the School have also used Shakespeare to think through the role of representation in politics and culture. Furthermore, the Slovenian School has always been in close dialogue with the artists, musicians and stage practitioners of the group Neue Slowenische Kunst who have been involved in diverse Shakespearean projects. Laibach’s involvement in the Macbeth production of Wilfried Minks and Peter Zadek is to be mentioned in this context, as well as several works of the Scipion Nasice Sisters Theatre (SNST). As SNST co-founder Eda Čufer writes, “Shakespeare exposed the theatrical aspects of establishing and transgressing the law, and made transparent the structural similarities between the ‘deeds’ of legal authorities, criminals (terrorists) and artists (activists).” This symposium will explore the complex history of this statement and its relevance for the relation between theatre, psychoanalysis, politics and philosophy in the present.

Programme

10:00-11:00
(Chair: Björn Quiring)
Welcome and Introduction
Gregor Moder: Caesar’s Wounds

11:00-11:30
Coffee/tea

11:30-13:15
(Chair: Julia Ng)
11:30-12:15
Dominik Finkelde: The Remains of Richard II: Santner and Žižek on Political Flesh
12:15-13:15
Jure Simoniti: What Remains of Hamlet After Death?

13:15-15:00
Lunch

15:00-15:45
(Chair: Jennifer Rust)
Todd McGowan: Hegel as Philosophy’s Shakespeare: Drama and the Unconscious
(Zoom)

15:45-16:45
(Chair: John Gillies)
Eda Cufer and Miran Mohar: NSK Theater: Play Within a Play (hybrid)

16:45-17:15
Coffee/Tea

17:15-18:00
(Chair: Stuart Elden)
Richard Ashby: Face-Off: Defacement, Ethics and the ‘Neighbour’ in The Comedy of Errors

18:00-19:00
(Chair: Björn Quiring)
Roundtable

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This event has been made possible through the generous support of The Royal Institute of Philosophy Local Partners scheme.