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Event Series

Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History

Chairs

Peter E. Gordon
Peter E. Gordon
Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University
Julian Bourg
Julian Bourg
Associate Professor of History, Boston College; Local Affiliate & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Visiting Scholar 2018-2019 & 2013-2014, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Charles Clavey
Charles Clavey
Preceptor in Social Studies, Harvard University; Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES), Harvard University
Gili Kliger
Gili Kliger
Postdoctoral College Fellow, Harvard University; Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES), Harvard University
 

Founded in 2001, the Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History sponsors visiting lectures, workshops, and conferences on diverse themes of interest to scholars in history, philosophy, political theory, literature, and the human sciences.

Series Events Calendar

Book Panel Discussion with Rahel Jaeggi: "Progress and Regression" Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — Book Panel Discussion with Rahel Jaeggi: "Progress and Regression"
October 30, 2025
5:00pm - 7:00pm
  • Speaker Rahel Jaeggi – Profossor of Philosophy, Humboldt University
  • Discussant Charles Clavey – Preceptor in Social Studies, Harvard University; Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES), Harvard University and Shterna S. Friedman – Assistant Professor of Government, Harvard University and Moira Weigel – Assistant Professor of Comparative Literarure, Harvard University
  • Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University
How Nietzsche Came in from the Cold: A Case of Political Philology The Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — How Nietzsche Came in from the Cold: A Case of Political Philology
November 25, 2024
4:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Speaker Philipp Felsch – Professor for Cultural History, Humboldt University Berlin; Bob and Charlotte Craig Visiting Professor, Department of German, Rutgers University
  • Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University
Adorno and Critical Theory The Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — Adorno and Critical Theory
October 17, 2024
1:00pm - 6:00pm
  • Speaker Alexandra Colligs – Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Kassel; Visiting Scholar (Fall 2024), Department of Philosophy, Columbia University and Niklas Lämmel – Ph.D. Candidate, University of Kassel and Isolda Mac Liam – Ph.D. Candidate, University of Sussex; Visiting Researcher, University of Toronto and Sebastian Tränkle – Postdoctoral Researcher, Freie Universität Berlin; Visiting Scholar (Fall 2024), Department of Philosophy, Columbia University
  • Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University
The Three Faces of Labor: Uncovering the Hidden Ties among Gender, Race, and Class Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — The Three Faces of Labor: Uncovering the Hidden Ties among Gender, Race, and Class
October 16, 2024
5:00pm - 6:15pm
  • Speaker Nancy Fraser – Henry A and Louise Loeb Professor of Political and Social Science, The New School for Social Research; Senior Loeb Scholar, Harvard Graduate School of Design
  • Moderated by Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University
Refugees (Not) Welcome: European Exile Scholars at Harvard in the 1930s and 1940s The Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — Refugees (Not) Welcome: European Exile Scholars at Harvard in the 1930s and 1940s
March 21, 2024
4:00pm - 5:30pm
  • Speaker Iryna Mykhailova – EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow, Early Modern World, Harvard University; Research Grant Holder, Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Laurel Leff – Professor of Journalism, Northeastern University and Sebastian Musch – Alfred Landecker Lecturer, Department of History and the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS), Osnabrück University; Starr Fellow Spring 2024, Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
  • Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University
The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon – A Conversation with Adam Shatz Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon – A Conversation with Adam Shatz
January 24, 2024
3:00pm - 4:15pm
  • Speaker Adam Shatz – U.S. Editor, The London Review of Books; Visiting Professor, Bard College
  • Discussant Joelle Abi-Rached – Lecturer in History of Science, Harvard University; Mildred Londa Weisman Fellow, Harvard Radcliffe Institute and Jesse McCarthy – Assistant Professor of English and African and African American Studies, Harvard University; Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University
Flaschenpost: Critical Theory at 100 – The European and American Reception, 1923-2023 | Day 2 Flaschenpost: Critical Theory at 100 – The European and American Reception, 1923-2023
Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — Flaschenpost: Critical Theory at 100 – The European and American Reception, 1923-2023 | Day 2
October 7, 2023
8:30am - 6:30pm
  • Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University and Maxim Pensky – Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton University; Co-Director, Institute of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University
Flaschenpost: Critical Theory at 100 – The European and American Reception, 1923-2023 | Day 1 Flaschenpost: Critical Theory at 100 – The European and American Reception, 1923-2023
The Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — Flaschenpost: Critical Theory at 100 – The European and American Reception, 1923-2023 | Day 1
October 6, 2023
8:30am - 6:00pm
  • Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University and Maxim Pensky – Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton University; Co-Director, Institute of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University
Vulgar Marxism Harvard Colloquium on Intellectual History — Vulgar Marxism
April 11, 2023
4:00pm - 5:15pm
  • Speaker Edward Baring – Associate Professor of History and Human Values, Princeton University
  • Chair Charles Clavey – Preceptor in Social Studies, Harvard University; Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES), Harvard University
Translating Marx's Capital in the 21st Century: Notes on the New English Edition Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — Translating Marx's Capital in the 21st Century: Notes on the New English Edition
February 9, 2023
4:00pm - 5:30pm
  • Speaker Paul Reitter – Professor of History, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University
  • Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Faculty Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Department of Government; and Department of Philosophy, Harvard University
In the Wake: Exposing White German Abolitionist Performativity and the Limits of Empathy Harvard Colloquium on Intellectual History & Committee on Degrees in Social Studies — In the Wake: Exposing White German Abolitionist Performativity and the Limits of Empathy
November 10, 2022
4:30pm - 5:45pm
  • Chair Andrew Brandel – Lecturer on Social Studies, Harvard University; Seminar Co-chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
  • Speaker Obenewaa Oduro-Opuni – Assistant Professor of German Studies, University of Arizona
CANCELLED - Transatlantic Transfers of Political and Administrative Ideas in the 20th Century Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History & Europe in the World Seminar — CANCELLED - Transatlantic Transfers of Political and Administrative Ideas in the 20th Century
April 14, 2020
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • Speaker Sławomir Łukasiewicz – University Professor of Political Science, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and Céline Mavrot – Postdoctoral Researcher and Project Leader, University of Bern and Fritz Sager – Full Professor, University of Bern; Visiting Scholar 2019-2020, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University and Taru Haapala – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Autonomous University of Madrid; Visiting Scholar 2019-2020, CES, Harvard University
  • Chair David Armitage – Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History, Harvard University; Faculty Associate & Seminar Co-chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
CANCELLED - Psychoanalytic Reflections on a Fulfilled Life Harvard Colloquium on Intellectual History — CANCELLED - Psychoanalytic Reflections on a Fulfilled Life
April 7, 2020
5:00pm - 7:00pm
  • Speaker Joel Whitebook – Assistant Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry), Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research; Director, Columbia University Psychoanalytic Studies Program (2012-2017)
  • Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History & CES Resident Faculty and Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University
CANCELLED - Translating "Capital"? Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — CANCELLED - Translating "Capital"?
April 1, 2020
5:00pm - 6:30pm
  • Speaker Paul Reitter – Professor of History, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University
  • Chair and Discussant Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History & CES Resident Faculty and Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University
Confessions of the Flesh: Michel Foucault’s Final Volume of "The History of Sexuality" Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History & European Politics Seminar — Confessions of the Flesh: Michel Foucault’s Final Volume of "The History of Sexuality"
December 5, 2019
9:00am - 6:00pm
  • Speaker James Bernauer, S.J. – Kraft Family Professor of Philosophy, Boston College and Rey Chow – Anne Firor Scott Professor of Literature, Duke University and Agustin Colombo – Postdoctoral Researcher, Boston College & University of Paris, VIII and Bernard Harcourt – Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law, Columbia Law School; École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and Lynne Huffer – Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Emory University and Mark D. Jordan – Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Christian Thought & Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School; Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard University and Austin Sarfan – Graduate Student, Program in Literature, Duke University
  • Discussant Julian Bourg – Associate Professor of History, Boston College; CES Local Affiliate & Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University and Annabel Kim – Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University and Edward McGushin – Professor of Philosophy, Stonehill College and Durba Mitra – Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality and Carol K. Pforzheimer Assistant Professor, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University
American Liberalism in France: The French Reception of Rawls, 1971-2010 Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — American Liberalism in France: The French Reception of Rawls, 1971-2010
October 30, 2019
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • Speaker Mathieu Hauchecorne – Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Paris 8
  • Chair David Armitage – Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History & CES Faculty Associate & Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University
Phenomenology and Religion - One-Day Workshop Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — Phenomenology and Religion - One-Day Workshop
October 11, 2019
9:00am - 6:45pm
  • Speaker Edward Baring – Associate Professor of History and Human Values, Princeton University and Francis Schüssler Fiorenza – Charles Chauncey Stillman Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies, Harvard Divinity School and Amy Hollywood – Elizabeth H. Monrad Professor of Christian Studies, Harvard Divinity School and Sean Kelly – Teresa G. and Ferdinand F. Martignetti Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University and Noreen Khawaja – Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Yale University and Elisa Magri – Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Boston College and Dermot Moran – Joseph Chair in Catholic Philosophy, Professor, Boston College and François-David Sebbah – Professor of Philosophy, Paris Nanterre University and Sarah Shortall – Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Notre Dame
  • Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History & CES Resident Faculty and Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University
Justification and Alienation: Kant, Marx and Contemporary Critical Theory CES 50th Anniversary Series — Justification and Alienation: Kant, Marx and Contemporary Critical Theory
September 27, 2019
4:30pm - 6:00pm
  • Speaker Rainer Forst – Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy, Goethe University Frankfurt
  • Chair Peter E. Gordon – Amabel B. James Professor of History; CES Resident Faculty & Seminar Co-chair, Harvard University
Adorno and the Dialectic of Aesthetic Sublimation A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — Adorno and the Dialectic of Aesthetic Sublimation
May 1, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker Martin E. Jay – Ehrman Professor of History, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
Adorno, Aesthetic Negativity, and the Problem of Idealism A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — Adorno, Aesthetic Negativity, and the Problem of Idealism
April 23, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker Robert Pippin – Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor of Social Thought, Philosophy, The University of Chicago
On the “Spiritual” in Aesthetic and Metaphysical Experience Adorno's Aesthetic Theory - A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — On the “Spiritual” in Aesthetic and Metaphysical Experience
April 16, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker Hent de Vries – Paulette Goddard Professor of the Humanities, New York University
Mind and World in Kant and Adorno: From Wild Beauties to Spiral Jetty Adorno's Aesthetic Theory - A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — Mind and World in Kant and Adorno: From Wild Beauties to Spiral Jetty
April 11, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker ​Jay Bernstein  – Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, The New School for Social Research
Primacy of the Object: Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and the Return of Form Adorno's Aesthetic Theory - A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — Primacy of the Object: Adorno's Aesthetic Theory and the Return of Form
April 3, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker Eva Geulen – Professor for European Culture and the History of Knowledge, Humboldt University of Berlin
CANCELLED: Jigsaw Puzzles of Musical Classicism: Situating Bach in Adorno's Aesthetic Theory Adorno's Aesthetic Theory - A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — CANCELLED: Jigsaw Puzzles of Musical Classicism: Situating Bach in Adorno's Aesthetic Theory
March 27, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker Lydia Goehr – Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University
Remembrance and Anticipation: Adorno's Reading of Proust and Beckett Adorno's Aesthetic Theory - A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — Remembrance and Anticipation: Adorno's Reading of Proust and Beckett
March 13, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker Espen Hammer – Professor of Philosophy, Temple University
Adorno as Tourist Adorno's Aesthetic Theory - A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — Adorno as Tourist
March 5, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker Sherry Lee – Associate Professor of Musicology and Associate, Trinity College, University of Toronto
Natural History and Aesthetic Experience Adorno's Aesthetic Theory - A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — Natural History and Aesthetic Experience
February 27, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker Maxim Pensky – Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton University; Co-Director, Institute of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University
Peculiarities of the English Enlightenment Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History — Peculiarities of the English Enlightenment
February 25, 2019
5:15pm - 7:00pm
  • Speaker Colin Kidd – Wardlaw Professor of Modern History, University of St Andrews; Visiting Scholar 2018-2019, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
Art Has No Power Over Schein Through Its Abolition Adorno's Aesthetic Theory - A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — Art Has No Power Over Schein Through Its Abolition
February 20, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker Michael Rosen – Senator Joseph S. Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government, Harvard University
Adorno and the Default Theory of Aesthetic Value Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory - A Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Harvard University — Adorno and the Default Theory of Aesthetic Value
February 13, 2019
6:00pm - 8:00pm
  • Speaker Samantha Matherne – Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University
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