DIDIER FASSIN: The Time Has Come. Autopsy of an Outrage – Part I: Language

IWM Lectures in Human Sciences The Time Has Come. Autopsy of an Outrage – Part I: Language. How to Make War with Words Didier Fassin and Michael David-Fox 13 October 2026, 18:30 CEST Sky Lounge, University of Vienna “The time is near when only that which remains inexplicable will demand our attention,” wrote the French poet René Char in his 1971 collection Le Nu perdu. Three years into the Israeli military campaign that has resulted in the destruction and occupation of Gaza and the decimation of its population, that time has now come, and what has been deemed inexplicable requires our full attention.  The three IWM Lectures in Human Sciences that Didier Fassin will deliver represent an attempt to account for what happened both on the ground and in the world. They are structured around what Michel Foucault analyzed in The Order of Things as the three “quasi-transcendental components” of the modern episteme, namely language, life, and labor, which will provide their titles to the lectures. “Language” reflected on how to make war with words. “Life” will address the unequal value of lives. “Labor” will question the conditions that made these events possible.  To do so, Didier Fassin will find some inspiration in the writings of the Czech philosopher Jan Patočka, after whom his fellowship is named, in particular his distinction between “superficial history”, corresponding to the facts that can be ascertained, and “deep history”, referring to the realm of interpretation that cannot be ascertained. He will show that both are necessary and connected. The cycle is an endeavor to grasp the signification and significance of what can be regarded as a signature of the time and a moment of truth for the world. Words are important. The way we name facts is crucial for the way we interpret them. The first lecture proposed a reflection on the way events and situations have been characterized and naturalized or, conversely, obscured or censored. The point is less about deciding where the truth is than about understanding the stakes in truth-making. Didier Fassin is an anthropologist, sociologist, and physician. He is a professor at the Collège de France on the Chair of Moral Questions and Political Issues in Contemporary Societies. He is also the James D. Wolfensohn Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and a Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He has edited or coedited 30 collective volumes and authored 20 books translated into 12 languages, among them, in 2024, Une étrange défaite. Sur le consentement à l’écrasement de Gaza, translated by Verso Books as Moral Abdication: How the World Failed to Stop the Destruction of Gaza; in 2025, Leçons de ténèbres. Ce que la violence dit du monde, currently in translation; and in 2026, Ainsi pensait Michel Foucault. Enquête sur une philosophie pour notre temps. Michael David-Fox, IWM Rector, moderated the evening. ______________________________________________________ FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: X (Twitter):   / iwm_vienna   LinkedIn:   / iwmvienna   Facebook:   / iwmvienna   Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/iwm.at Instagram:   / iwm_vienna