Spring Break
Professor examines anarchy
MARIE UHLER
Issue date: 4/13/09 Section: Variety
Simon Critchley of the New School of Social Research in New York City has enjoyed an internationally illustrious career in academia, having studied and taught on three continents.
He has headed the British Society for Phenomology as well as the International Necronautical Society.
Today, he brings his unique perspective to the University, fresh from a visit to Emory University on Friday.
The two schools chose an interesting weekend to invite Critchley.
"I got a text on Friday at 7:30 in the morning as I was leaving for the airport," Critchely said. The message told him about 22 students arrested at an occupation of the New School that day.
Where: MLC room 213
Price: Free
A group of anarchists at the New School, in close connection with some faculty members, have been involved with a series of protests for several months in an attempt to facilitate change in the administration.
Critchley's close proximity to this heated activism should provide him with excellent material for today's lecture - though the mystical anarchic movement began a few hundred years ago in the Middle Ages and a few thousand miles away in western Europe.
"I'm talking about a particular heresy called the Heresy of the Free Spirit, which appeared in the Middle Ages - 13th and 14th centuries - which a lot of people have seen as a progenitor for modern anarchism," Critchley said.
The Heresy of the Free Spirit combined Christian beliefs with mystical ones and focused on a direct union with God, removing the church as a middleman. People who were outspoken about these beliefs were excommunicated or even executed.
"It happened over a huge geographical area in western Europe and southern Europe, over a number of centuries, involving hundreds of thousands of people," Critchley said. "The Inquisition of the Catholic Church was developed to stamp out this heresy."
He has headed the British Society for Phenomology as well as the International Necronautical Society.
Today, he brings his unique perspective to the University, fresh from a visit to Emory University on Friday.
The two schools chose an interesting weekend to invite Critchley.
"I got a text on Friday at 7:30 in the morning as I was leaving for the airport," Critchely said. The message told him about 22 students arrested at an occupation of the New School that day.
MYSTICAL ANARCHISM
When: Today at 4Where: MLC room 213
Price: Free
A group of anarchists at the New School, in close connection with some faculty members, have been involved with a series of protests for several months in an attempt to facilitate change in the administration.
Critchley's close proximity to this heated activism should provide him with excellent material for today's lecture - though the mystical anarchic movement began a few hundred years ago in the Middle Ages and a few thousand miles away in western Europe.
"I'm talking about a particular heresy called the Heresy of the Free Spirit, which appeared in the Middle Ages - 13th and 14th centuries - which a lot of people have seen as a progenitor for modern anarchism," Critchley said.
The Heresy of the Free Spirit combined Christian beliefs with mystical ones and focused on a direct union with God, removing the church as a middleman. People who were outspoken about these beliefs were excommunicated or even executed.
"It happened over a huge geographical area in western Europe and southern Europe, over a number of centuries, involving hundreds of thousands of people," Critchley said. "The Inquisition of the Catholic Church was developed to stamp out this heresy."
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Jack
posted 4/17/09 @ 7:14 PM EST
Kind of interesting, considering the anarchist flag is black and red.
We don't beleive in the innate goodness of human nature, however, we beleive in eliminating the things that encourage people to commit crimes, and ending capitalist exploitation. (Continued…)
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