DIDIER FASSIN: The Time Has Come. Autopsy of an Outrage – Part III: Labor

IWM Lectures in Human Sciences The Time Has Come. Autopsy of an Outrage – Part III: Labor. Who to Write for After Gaza Didier Fassin and Ayşe Çağlar 27 October 2026, 18:30 CET 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 delivered 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 provided their titles to the lectures. “Language” reflected on how to make war with words. “Life” addressed the unequal value of lives. “Labor” questioned the conditions that made these events possible. To do so, Didier Fassin found 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 showed 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. Not only does committing violence imply a labor of justification, but so does supporting perpetrators and vindicating their actions. The third lecture examined in light of history the questions raised by the reversal of moral values and political principles through connivance with practices of dehumanization and elimination. 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. Ayşe Çağlar, IWM Permanent Fellow, 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