Symbolon

The word symbolon originates from ancient Greek, derived from symballein, meaning "to throw together" or "to join." A symbolon was a physical token — often a clay or bone object — broken into two pieces, each held by different parties. When reunited, the pieces confirmed their connection, revealing a complete meaning or identity.

This seminar embodies that concept. Each session brings together a thinker from a distinct discipline — phenomenology, theology, mathematics, cognitive science, sociology — and pairs their contribution with a work of art, so that ideas and images illuminate one another. The seminar does not seek a unified theory; it seeks the moment of recognition that arises when fragments meet.

The guiding question running through every season is what it means to be human in the age of artificial intelligence: how technology reshapes consciousness, subjectivity, and the conditions under which meaning is formed. Speakers have approached this question through Heidegger's temporality, Kantian ontology, the topology of conversation, the theology of language, the sociology of emergence, and the mathematics of self-organization — among others. Art is not decoration here; it is a connective medium, chosen for each session to extend the argument into another register of thought.

Sessions are held online and broadcast live on @projet.y. More here