Does Critical Theory Need Saints or Foundations?
Abstract
There are two kinds of conferences: “professional” ones held primarily for mundane purposes such as academic accreditation, disciplinary legitimation, recruiting, etc.; and “thematic” ones allegedly concerned with providing opportunities for experts in some particular field to articulate and develop specific problems. Clearly, whereas the first kind is usually characterized by routine “business,” boredom and hidden agenda, the second tends to overemphasize otherwise minor differences and details into causus belli. Worse yet, since the very formulation of the conference's title already presupposes a particular interpretation of its theme, it often happens that the conference itself becomes the issue. That is precisely what happened in the “First Elizabethtown Telos Conference.”
- © 1991 Telos Press Publishing