New Pages Berlin

I hereby convene the 1st Annual Meeting of the Mount Humboldthain Society's Neoliberal Economic Summit. In the shadow of the Flakturm will shall meet where the water is healthy (Gesundbrunnen) and the takes are hot. Membership is (somewhat) open to the masses, this isn't Davos, this isn't Mont Pelerin. This is Wedding.

Huh? Is this some kind of joke?

Ja-nein

Though our name strikes a humorous tone, our commitment to learning and discussing is serious in nature. If they can do it, so can we.

What we will do is read and discuss some of the latest academic literature on the thing that goes by the name of "neoliberalism".

Theme of the 1st Summit: Moving Beyond Mont Pelerin

Schedule of Readings:
All Readings are from the April 2022 Issue of the Journal of the History of Ideas

1. Locating Ludwig von Mises
   Author(s): Niklas Olsen and Quinn Slobodian
2. The Politics of Rationality in Early Neoliberalism
   Author(s): William Callison
3. Two Types of Separation
   Author(s): Joshua Rahtz
4. Repurposing Mises
   Author(s): Jacob Jensen
5. Neoliberal Economic Thinking and the Quest for Rational Socialism in China
   Author(s): Isabella M. Weber

Schedule of Events:

• 10 - 10:30: Arrival, light fare, general chatter
• 10:30-12:30: First Discussion (Articles 1-3)
• 12:30-2:15pm: Lunch (Free Time)
• 2:15pm - 4:30pm: Second Discussion (Articles 4 & 5)
• 4:30pm - End: Informal Discussion, Hangout, Climb to the top of the Flakturm

New members are always welcome. It's ok to have missed any or all of the sessions involving other plays.

Current Reading: The Merchant of Venice Acts 3, 4, & 5

Completed Plays: Julius Caesar, The Winter's Tale

GUIDELINES:

Participants should complete the reading before each session. It's no problem not to have understood everything, but without some familiarity with the text prior to meeting it will be difficult to have a conversation.

Also, it's not necessary that English be your first language in order to join, but your command and understanding of English should be that you're able to participate confidently in discussions about ideas, feelings, and abstract things.

"Reading Shakespeare Socratically?" -- This means we'll put questions to the text and try to make it speak, as though it is a living person and we are its interlocutor. We'll ask it questions about what the text has said and then try to find answers. Mostly, this just means having a discussion amongst ourselves but there are a few guidelines that, in my experience, have proven immensely helpful to having a substantial conversation:

#1 Avoid Outside Sources; interpretations you read on the internet about what the play really means, academic papers/lectures (unless they are your own), personal stories/anecdotes, biographically-driven analysis of the text, interpolations about Shakespeare's personality, facts about Shakespeare's life., etc.

#2 Try to ground what you say in the text -- it's not necessary to quote something every time you speak, but referencing passages, etc. will create great conversation.

#3 Be conscious of your own speaking time. If there are 10 people and 120 minutes of event time, then people have roughly 12 minutes each to speak. Nobody will keep track, but it' a good reference point to keep in mind.