The Silent Seminar

Invited speakers

Programme

Deadline for registration 12. may, 2009!

 

THE SEMINAR CENTRES ON THE FOLLOWING THEMES

Sensing silence in dialogue (Mendes-Flohr, Kristiansen)
Silence is an implicit and significant part of all verbal action between people. It may be found between the words, at the end of a sentence, on different conversational levels, in the act of listening as well as along the borders of verbal communication. It has multiple meanings and is open to varied interpretations. Furthermore, silence may not only constitute signs of detachment and inter-subjective barriers, but it may also exist as a form of tacit and friendly inter-subjectivity. When a conversation is impoverished and has come to an end for various reasons, could an attentive silence contribute to create a new space? In the field of education and in the daily life of the classroom there is a tradition to emphasize verbal activity and participation. But also here various expressions of silence can be found. The different appearances of silence can influence in different manners the educational discourse between teacher and students.

Serenity and stillness – and why place matters (Cooper, von Wright)
Serenity can be both relation and response: It can be a response to a situation, in a specific place, yet a response that does not act violently upon the situation. Serenity does not belong to autonomous human agents but to relations of co-dependence between the world and humans. The appreciation of serenity and stillness require a sensibility towards an ‘unselfed’ life, a life of both agency and humility. The serene gardener who cares for the products of the earth, exemplifies and embodies the relation of co-dependence between a human agency that releases things and the inconspicuous ground of the world that presences for human beings. A student who is still and at ease and not actively involved with her surroundings, tends to fall short of the educators expectations of activity: Is there any room for serenity and stillness in the language of learning and teaching? Can a widened understanding of subjectivity include dimensions of life and being that are not immediately perceptible or palpable?

Language and Silence (Børtnes, Hägg)
There is an ambiguity in the role of language. On the one hand it limits and restricts a subject, on the other it is our fundamental means of explaining or representing that same subject matter. The question arises whether the only alternative is silence. Or does silence rather represent a collapse of meaning?Language does have its limits. In Christian apophatic (negative) theology the primary way of approaching the divine is through negation. Human language is incapable of expressing the divine. When affirmative language fails, apophatic theology uses alternative ways of describing the indescribable, such as antithesis, metaphor and paradox. Paradox or contradiction is not restricted, of course, to theology alone. Whenever one strives to express verbally matters related to meaning and significance, be it in theology, philosophy, literature or music, one has to acknowledge a metaphysical dimension for which there are no words, only silence.

Silence in Art (Raen Thomassen)
It is true that art is a language to be learned – as other languages – in order to be understood. Yet it is true that art is far more than a language. Whereas language is instrumental – a means of expressing an external meaning – art is sufficient in itself. Art expresses itself, what cannot be said in other ways. Words my take you by the hand and lead you towards art, but they are inadequate to grasp it. The last step is silence. We often feel insecure, threatened, provoked, even angry when faced with silence – because we don’t understand it. Silence may remind us of our failing, we may want to flee from it. Serenity invokes restlessness in us, we feel unease. And yet it is in such moments that something may happen. It is in such moments art does happen – if we let it.