Those in southern Ontario might be interested in my upcoming lecture at the University of Guelph, "Rethinking the Secular and the Religious: Explorations in Postmodern Philosophy and Fiction."January 21, 2010, 7:00pm
War Memorial Hall, The University of Guelph
Here's a brief description from the website:
To the surprise of many who expected the steady triumph of secularization, "religion" remains an important feature of our globalized world. Even the emergence of the "new atheism" and a secular fundamentalism are features of this resurgence of religion. This presentation will argue that we need to reconsider our assumed distinction between the "secular" and the "religious." Drawing on Heidegger, Wittgenstein, and Charles Taylor, I will argue that if we understand religion, not as a certain set of doctrines and beliefs, but in terms of practice--as "liturgy"--then in fact much that we consider "secular" is actually religious. I'll illustrate this using the fiction of David Foster Wallace.
