清華海外名師講堂第四十五講

英國華威大學校長Nigel Thrift教授beat365演講

【主講】英國華威大學校長Nigel Thrift教授

【主題】PASS IT ON: Towards a Political Economy of Propensity

【時間】2009-5-22（周五）15:30（15:15入場完畢）

【地點】主樓接待廳

【主辦】國際合作與交流處

【簡介】華威大學創建于1965年，目前已經發展成為英國領先的研究型大學之一，近些年來在英國所有的大學排行榜上始終保持在前10名的位置，學校以其開拓和創新的精神、高質量的教學和研究水平、美麗舒适的校園環境、完備和方便的校園設施、以及國際化的學習與生活氛圍而著稱。

Nigel Thrift教授于2006年7月就任華威大學第五任校長，在此之前他曾任牛津大學主管學術研究的副校長，是國際知名的地理學家。在Thrift教授的職業生涯中，曾獲得包括皇家地理學會維多利亞獎章等多種學術榮譽，他同時還是英國社會科學研究院和大英科學院院士。

【摘要】The paper argues that the work of Gabriel Tarde on imitation provides a fertile means of understanding how capitalism is forging a new affective technology which conforms to a logic of propensity rather than to means-end reasoning. This it does by drawing together a biological understanding of semiconscious cognition with various practical geometric arts so as to re-stage the world as a series of susceptible situations which can be ridden rather than rigidly controlled. The paper examines the advent of technologies which attend to the variable geometry of so-called animal spirits in the realm of business and then, using Tarde’s work as a springboard, considers some alternative means of understanding imitative rays which have less instrumental undertones. The paper is an illustration of the way in which biology and culture have increasingly become intertwined.

Keywords: animal spirits, biology, imitation, propensity, stage, geometry, capitalism

特别提醒：參加本系列課程8次及以上并提交總結合格可獲得學分。清華在校學生請攜帶IC卡，入場時刷卡記錄。