Discipline of Philosophy Speakers Series

Discipline of Philosophy Speakers Series presents Collective intentionality and the critical power of assembly: Ethyl Smyth’s ‘March of the Women’ by Férdia Stone-Davis (DCU) 

Time:  Tuesday, 24th February @ 1:00-2:30 pm (Lunch will be provided) 

Location: MY127 (Arus Moyola) 

Abstract: The focus of this paper is the intersection of collective intentionality, the performativity of assembly, and Ethyl Smyth’s Suffragette anthem, the March of the Women (1910). Drawing on John Searle’s account of collective intentionality, I will show how the March brings together in a coordinated and cooperative way the variety of “I-intends” of its members, acting as a powerful assertion of a “we-intend” that is not the “we-intend” that constitutes the government and is included within its laws, thereby issuing a challenge. But I will go further. Building on Judith Butler’s account of assembly, which locates the power of assembly in its “transient” and “critical” status, through which it challenges established norms and creates space for new political possibilities—and noting the ways in which it intersects with Searle both in relation to its concern with “we” as well as the manner in which it relates assembly to speech act—I will suggest that the March “performs victory”, instantiating and sustaining meaningful change, even if only for a limited time.