Whatever-ism Forum:
Let’s Work with Whatever (and Do Whatever Works?)

In Coming Community, Agamben sees “whatever” as “that which is neither particular nor general, individual nor generic,” “a singularity plus an empty place,” and “the event of an outside.” Depending on usages and contexts, “whatever” (e.g., どうでもよさ, なんでもよさ in Japanese, 隨便 in Chinese, 襯採 in Taiwanese) can be a word of pluralism and contradiction. It can in turn connote flexible options (“whatever works” in politics), nonchalance (a “come-what-may” attitude of life), empty remainder (“you may like beer, wine, sake, or whatever”) , disengagement, contempt (“Whatever. I don’t give a damn”, it is of no particular significance to me), disinterest, triviality, vagueness (“Let’s be Bohemian, whatever that is”) , indifference (“whatever you say, man”) and non-difference (“You can draw whatever” ). It also has conceptual valance in “whatever-ism” (nalaizhuyi, 拿來主義) (Lu Xun),“whatever being” in coming politics (Agamben), and “any-space-whatever” in cinematic image (Deleuze)...etc. In this conversation, we hope to work with whatever allows us to exercise creative engagement with thoughts and the world.

Moderator:
TU Ming-hung　涂銘宏

Speakers:
KOKUBUN Koichiro　國分功一郎
CHIBA Masaya　千葉雅也
CHIOU Yen-bin　邱彥彬 (National Chengchi University)
TU Ming-hung　涂銘宏 (Tamkang University)

Discussants:
LI Hung-chiung　李鴻瓊 (National Taiwan University)
LIN Chien-kuang　林建光 (National Chung Hsing University)
CHOU Jun-nan　周俊男 (Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology)
LIAO Yung-chao 廖勇超 (National Taiwan University)
WU Pei-ju　吳佩如 (National Chung Hsing University)

Organizer:
Taiwan NSC research project “Thinking East Asia, Overcoming the Global, and Imagining the World”

Registration Required
Please send e-mail to whateverness2014 [at] gmail.com (Koichiro Kokubun)

*This forum will be proceeded in English