February seems to be the month for international workshop. This 1, of which I’m proud to be a discussant, is organized by The Anthropological Institute of Hiroshima (TAIHI) and revolves around two quite specific themes dear to my heart: #incommensurability and #embodiment. It is probably the first time for me to visit Hiroshima University not as an instructor, but a researcherâexcept the annual meeting of the Japanese Anthropological Association, which was held here some years ago. Feel free to join us either at the venue or online!
https://taihi.org/events/stefan-ecks/
The Anthropological Institute of Hiroshima (TAIHI) is pleased to announce a lecture by Dr. Stefan Ecks on embodied value theory, the novel anthropological theory that explains how living entities value life by way of commensuration. The lecture will take place at Hiroshima University at 4:00 p.m. JST on February 20, 2023. You are invited to take part either at the venue or online. Please kindly register your name in advance by submitting the form below.
Embodied Value Theory
Value theory has always been part of anthropological theory, but only implicitly. âCultureâ was basically defined as a pattern of values. An explicit anthropological discussion of value is fairly recent. Some believe that a general value theory can be achieved. Others think that anthropology is all about discovering cultural incommensurabilities that cannot contain a universal notion of value. The greatest conceptual challenge is if cultural values (in the plural) can be synthesized with economic and exchange-based value (in the singular). Here I argue that values and value can be brought together within an embodied value theory (EVT). At the core of this new theory of value is embodied life as the ground and goal of valuing. Life values living, and life tries to make the most of life by valuing different possibilities. I show that all valuing rests on comparisons, and that the infinite similarities between different entities can only be decided in pragmatic contexts. I propose that biocommensurations, where at least one entity in a comparison is alive, is the universal form of valuing.
Date: February 20, 2023, 4:00-6:00 p.m. JST
Venue: Hiroshima University, Higashi-Senda Innovative Research Center (2nd Floor, Room M204) and online (Zoom)
Program :
4:00-5:00 p.m. Lecture by Dr. Stefan Ecks
5:00-6:00 p.m. Comments followed by open discussion
Commentators :
Akinori Hamada (Tokyo University)
Mohacsi Gergely (Osaka University)
Moderator :
Makoto Nishi (Hiroshima University)
metabologies 