At 4 p.m. on March 15th, Toril Moi will give a talk at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. The talk is organized by the English Department, and will take place in the Nau Auditorium, South Lawn. The title of the talk will be: “Ordinary as Opposed to What? Ordinary Language Philosophy, Literary Theory and Critique.” The talk will deal with common prejudices against ordinary language philosophy, focusing on three (mistaken) beliefs:  1. Ordinary language is propositional (referential, descriptive) language, and thus the opposite of (for example) literary language. 2. To defend ordinary language is to defend common sense, which everyone knows is conservative. 3. Ordinary language philosophy is incompatible with critique of social norms or institutions, since it takes language to be grounded in our “forms of life,†which themselves can’t be challenged.
The University of Bergen, Norway
On March 14, Toril Moi will give a talk entitled “The Concept of the Other: What Can We Learn from Simone de Beauvoir?” (in Norwegian), and participate in a round table discussion about the relevance of Simone de Beauvoir today, at a conference called “Hva er feministisk filosofi?” (What is feminist philosophy?) organized by  Bergensnettverket for kvinner i filosofi (The Bergen Network for Women in Philosophy). For more information, contact Professor Vigdis Songe-Møller:  <vigdis.songe-moller@fof.uib.no>.
The Elizabeth Fallaize Memorial Lecture, Oxford
On March 8, 2011 Toril Moi will give the Elizabeth Fallaize Memorial Lecture in the Faculty of Modern Languages at Oxford University. Elizabeth Fallaize was a dear friend, and a much missed Beauvoir scholar.