Hermann Kant

German writer (1926-2016) · 1926–2016

Appears in 4 videos · 4 passages, 4 of them in depth.

Play the 4 passages in a row Make a board

Summary

Dominique Pagani cites Hermann Kant for a single book, L'Amphithéâtre (Die Aula), an East German novel about a workers' and peasants' faculty. He returns to it from 2017 to 2024, in connection with different questions: the status of history as a subject, philosophy in times of crisis, Freud, Lenin, then Clouscard. What he retains above all is the first history lesson given to the new students, which consists in "learning to unlearn"1. He links this phrase to the idea of setting thought back on its feet2. He also notes that this lesson opens with a poem. He recalls the framework of the story: the narrator, tasked with giving the faculty's closing speech, remembers the lesson on unlearning3 and the difficulties of the early days4. The novel thus serves him as a concrete example for discussing how those who had been excluded from knowledge gain access to it.

Summary produced automatically from 5 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Cycle 13 · 2 Sept 2024Clouscard: The metamorphoses of class struggle

59:52Die AulaA novel about the workers' and peasants' faculty: the hero must give the closing speech and recalls the destitution of the early days.

Series · 18 Apr 2021#2 Lenin, or the wings of dreams

5:40The AmphitheaterGDR novelist: his narrator, tasked with the closing speech at the workers' and peasants' faculty, recalls the lesson of "learning to unlearn."

Cycle 2 · 1 Aug 2017#2.8 Between crisis and war: philosophising?

1:39:23The AmphitheaterEast German novelist; reading of the first history lesson at the workers' and peasants' faculty: learning to unlearn.

Talks · 9 Mar 2017Is history a subject?

33:00The AmphitheaterEast German novelist; in his novel, a professor at the workers' and peasants' university teaches his students to unlearn history.