PROFESSOR THEODORE SCHATZKI
PUBLIC LECTURE - Thursday 16th June 2011
‘The Edge of Change: On the Emergence, Persistence and Dissolution of Practices’
World-renowned American scholar Professor Theodore (Ted) Schatzki recently spent 3 weeks visiting the School
of Education/Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE) and one week
undertaking various speaking engagements in Sydney. Here is his brief bio:
Theodore Schatzki is Dean of Faculty and Professor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the
University of Kentucky. His interests lie in the philosophy of social life, in particular, social ontology, theory of
action, and the philosophy of social sciences. He is the author of four books: Social Practices (1996), The Site of
the Social (2002), Martin Heidegger: Theorist of Space (2007), and The Timespace of Human Activity (2010).
Schatzki received degrees from Harvard University, Oxford University, and UC Berkeley. He has been a visiting
professor at the University of Exeter, The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, the KarlFranzens University in Graz, and the Institute of Advanced Studies in Vienna.
Professor Schatzki gave a public lecture at the conclusion of the RIPPLE Symposium.
‘The Edge of Change: On the Emergence, Persistence and Dissolution of Practices’
In this lecture, Professor Schatzki seeks to identify the locus and basic dimensions of change in social practices.
He argues that changes in social practices are fundamental to changes in social life more broadly. This is
because social phenomena are bundles of practices and material arrangements. The account to be presented
embraces (1) general propositions about human activities, practices, and practice-arrangement bundles and (2)
an enumeration of key aspects and components of the emergence, persistence, and dissolution of such
bundles.
To view the public lecture live please click on the following and choose ‘Windows Media Player’ to open:
 01. Introduction
 02. Start Activity as Event
 03. Materiality and Activity
 04. Practices
 05. Social Phenomena
 06. Summary
 07. Emergence
 08. Persistence
 09. Dissolution
 10. Questions
For more information:
http://as17.as.uky.edu/academics/departments_programs/Philosophy/Philosophy/FacultyResearch/Faculty/TedSch
atzki/Pages/default.aspx