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Jean Gebser Society conference on campus Oct. 26-28

Scholars in communication studies and philosophy from as far away as Australia are coming to Sacramento State on Oct. 26-28 for the prestigious Jean Gebser Society annual conference, which will examine the philosophical questions raised by today’s fast-paced world of instant communications.

This year’s conference, sponsored by the Department of Communication Studies, is titled “Exploring Transitions of Knowledge” and features speakers, papers and creative works from some of the top experts and students in the field.

A highlight of the gathering will be the keynote address on Oct. 26 at 5:30 p.m. in the Forest Suite of the University Union by Eric Kramer, professor of communications and a Fulbright scholar at the University of Oklahoma. The title of his talk is “How We Arrive at the Origin.”

The Jean Gebser Society is dedicated to the work of influential European poet-philosopher Jean Gebser, who became known in the late 1940s for his ground-breaking comparative study of civilizations.

The Swiss work, titled Ursprung and Gegenwart, was translated and published as The Ever-Present Origin in 1985 by Ohio University Press. The work is what scholars call a phenomenology or philosophical study of phenomena in civilization. Gebser described his work as an examination of the modalities or the form of consciousness of historical cultures. Scholars say Gebser’s work provides a useful understanding of human consciousness that applies to many academic fields.

The Gebser Society is patterned after European societies, or circles, pursuing the work of a particular philosopher. Gebser, born in Germany in 1905, studied and worked in Germany until the rise of the Nazi party. In 1931 he fled to Spain where he wrote poetry and served in the Republican Ministry of Culture. He then fled to Paris before finally settling in Switzerland. He later became chair for the Study of Comparative Civilizations at the University of Salzburg. He died in 1973.

For more information about the conference, contact the Department of Communication Studies at 278-6688. For media assistance contact the Sacramento State Public Affairs office at 278-6156.