International Seminar Hosts Lively Discussions on ‘Iconoclasm in the Age of AI’

The Institute for Philosophy and the New Humanities was established in 2020 within the New School for Social Research in New York. Supported by the German Udo Keller Foundation, the institute has gained international attention as a hub for academic exchange aimed at rethinking and renewing the disciplines of philosophy and the humanities. Its annual fall seminar invites leading scholars from around the world and graduate students to engage in five days of dialogue and reflection on contemporary philosophical challenges.

This year marked the sixth iteration of the seminar. It centered on the classical question posed across philosophy (especially aesthetics), history and art theory: How are we to understand and interpret images or icons? Against the backdrop of the rapid development of image-generating AI, the spread of misinformation and the growing threat of human rights violations related to visual media, participants explored the fundamental question of how we, as human beings, ought to engage with the concept of the “image/icon” today.

Workshops and presentations were led by the institute’s co-directors, including Professor Gabriel. Keynote lectures were delivered by leading experts such as Professor Birgit Mersmann (Professor of Contemporary Art and Digital Image Cultures, University of Bonn), Professor Erin Thompson (Professor of Art Crime, City University of New York), Professor Ned Block (Silver Professor; Professor of Philosophy and Psychology, New York University), and Professor Alva Noë (Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley), each offering rich perspectives specific to their fields.

Among the approximately 20 participants, three were graduate students from Kyoto University, accompanied by Research Fellow Maiko Tsuji of the Kyoto Institute of Philosophy. In addition to the stimulating seminar sessions, the dialogue with graduate students from The New School and the University of Bonn proved to be one of the seminar’s major achievements for Kyoto students.

This year, the Kyoto Institute of Philosophy also joined as a co-organizer of the event. Later this month, the seminar will continue in Kyoto, in conjunction with the upcoming Inaugural Kyoto Conference, where participants will gather for another five days of intensive discussion. During the Kyoto session, Professor L. A. Paul (Millstone Family Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Cognitive Science, Yale University), who will also be a panelist at the Kyoto Conference, will deliver a lecture, and further fruitful international exchange is envisioned in this evolving intellectual forum.

Photos by Hsun-Mei Chen (Kyoto University).