Research Seminar on Eco-existential Health in an Apophatic Perspective
Research focus and background for this seminar
Apophatic thinking in Western and Eastern philosophy, theology, and wisdom tradition of spiritual practices (Franke, 2014, 2018, 2020) is about negative ontology and negative theology connected to the felt sense of Awe, Wonder, and Everyday Mystery as well as with the ‘Blessings’ of Emptiness, No-thingness, and Effort-less actions. In Western philosophy, we find this kind of apophatic thinking and listening to the ineffable and unsayable but wondrous meaning-giving phenomena in the philosophy and theology of Pseudo-Dionysius, Meister Eckhart, Cusanus, Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, Gabriel Marcel, Late Heidegger, and Jean-Luc Marion. In Eastern philosophy and spiritual practices, we find it in Daoism, Zen Buddhism, and contemporary new ‘Daoist Eco-Phenomenology and Environmental Ethics (Chai et al., 2020, 2022; Nelson, 2021, 2024).
What is new, is taking an apophatic and radical non-anthropocentric (Late Heidegger-oriented and new Daoist Eco-phenomenology) perspective on Health Humanities in search of a new conception of health. This new health understanding could be called “Eco-spiritual and Eco-Existential Health” (Hansen, 2024a & b), which might also qualify a new notion of “Existential Sustainability”(in Danish: Væredygtighed, in Norwegian: Værekraft). In this seminar, we will dwell on living experiences in health, soul-nurturing, and mental recovery and see how thoughts and approaches of Late Heidegger and New Daoist inspired Eco-philosophy and Eco-phenomenology can bring new light to how we can understand the existential and spiritual dimensions of health and nourishing of life as such.
Practical information
The seminar on September 4th is the first out of a three-day seminar from September 4-6th, 2024. On the second day, the focus will be on Eco-Bildung and Education. On the third day, the focus will be explicit on the relation between Martin Buber’s and Martin Heidegger’s understanding of Dao and the “environmental ethics of things”.
The keynote speaker during the three days of the research seminar is Eric S. Nelson. He is a professor of philosophy at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) , and a distinguished scholar in Late Heidegger and Daoism with a special interest in Environmental philosophy and Eco-phenomenology. He has written several scholarly books, currently Daoism and Environmental Philosophy: Nourishing Life (2021) and Dao and Heidegger: Things, Nothingness, Freedom (2024). See https://huma.hkust.edu.hk/people/eric-s-nelson
The first-day seminar on September 4th on health from an apophatic perspective will be facilitated by Professor Finn Thorbjørn Hansen, co-head of the research TEN (Time, Existence & Nature connectedness) group at the University of Aalborg (AAU).
The three days are organized by CUHRE and TEN, and sponsored by CYHRE, and the Department of Psychology and Communication, AAU.