Noted philosopher to deliver Whitney Humanities Center talk

Philosopher Catherine Malabou will deliver a talk titled “Are There Still Traces?” at the Whitney Humanities Center on Tuesday, March 7.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 5 p.m. in the WHC auditorium.

Malabou is a professor at the Centre for Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University, and at the University of California-Irvine. She is also a fellow at the European Graduate School in Saas Fee. Her books include “The Future of Hegel: Plasticity, Temporality, and Dialectic,” “What Should We Do with Our Brain?” “Changing Difference: The Feminine and the Question of Philosophy,” “The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain Damage,” and “Before Tomorrow: Epigenesis and Rationality.”

In her talk Malabou will pose the question: Are we facing the end of the paradigm of inscription? She will explore two examples borrowed from contemporary biology: the neurobiology of memory and regenerative medicine. Malabou will demonstrate how “plasticity” is coming to supplant the usual metaphor of the trace to characterize both the preservation of memories and the healing of wounds. Changes in form, replacement, and regeneration appear to be the new mode in which experience and accident fashion the living being, notes the philosopher. Moving from biology to metaphysics, Malabou will examine if this substitution of the plastic for the graphic helps to define a new structure of responsibility: a paradoxical responsibility without a trace.

 For more information, contact the Whitney Humanities Center at 203-432-0670 or email whitneyhumanitiescenter@yale.edu.