Thursday, 23 January 2020 at 5:00 pm – Thursday, 23 January 2020 at 7:00 pm

Ascetism and Ethics

Part of the Human Sciences Seminar Series at Manchester Metropolitan University

Date: Thursday 23rd January 2020

Time: 5pm – 7pm

Location: GM 230, Geoffrey Manton Building, Rosamond St West, Manchester M15 6LL

Tickets: Free – Just turn up!

Dr Deborah Casewell (Liverpool Hope University) will present on Ascetism and Ethics.

Ascetism, philosophically speaking, tends to be seen ambiguously, if not with hostility, due to its focus on self- renunciation and submission. However, aspects of these concerns correlate with moves in feminist philosophy on the topics of vulnerability and embodiment. These particular “weaknesses” have been subverted into a strength, into a description of the human condition, and the work of feminist ethics and philosophy seeks to positively articulate vulnerability as a defining aspect of human nature, and of the human condition. This paper looks at Simone Weil’s lived out asceticism and philosophy of decreation to explore and extrapolate her ascetic ethics, where her thought is taken up and measured against her own attitude towards her vulnerability and embodiment. Thus I intend to marry her ascetical practices with her philosophical and her religious thought, arguing that not only is her ethics impersonal, but also ascetic.