in defense of philosophy

In Defense of Philosophy
Originally uploaded by antje b.

When I first saw the title of the series advertised in the Tate guide, I was a little surprised. I never thought that philosophy needed defending. I always thought it was an integral part of any developed social system.

However, when Tariq Ali came to speak of the making of the film 'Spinoza: Apostle of Reason' for Channel 4 (which was shown at the beginning of the event), he mentioned that the channel was originally set up to cater for non-mainstream political, cultural and minority audiences. All this changed towards the end of the 90ies, he said, when Channel 4 succumbed to measuring the value of its content by ratings. And thus the 'marketisation' of Channel 4 commenced.

He added that sadly this phenomenon was also visible in education, which these days, to put it bluntly, he said, only served the needs of the market. Philosophy, the 'love of wisdom', doesn't seem to fit in. It's just not profitable. (Unless, of course, you count people like Jim Rohn as philosophers.)

Another intriguing thought that came out in the Q&A was the use of the politics of fear in controlling the masses. Especially the fear of loss and ultimately the fear of death. When ordinary people lose that fear of death for a while, things like Egypt happen.

In summary, I had an interesting evening. I would have liked to have shared it with someone to bounce some thoughts off afterwards but it was a somewhat spontaneous decision to go. As it was, I left with the unsatisfying feeling that I have spent years successfully dulling my mind. In my whole life, I'm afraid, I've never had an original thought. I feel rather clever and proud when I understand what intelligent people talk about but it's not the first time that I think I have nothing to contribute. Looking at the amount of reading I would have to do just to catch up is off-putting in its own right.

I haven't decided what to do about it but I'm teetering on the verge of just letting it be.

My apologies if this post was a little bitty but I just wanted to share my impressions of the event.

closed doors...

white #9
Originally uploaded by antje b.

...They are everywhere around us. We can ignore them, feeling safe with what we know, or we can continue to discover new things. I for one am still curious.

Our interests as children are initially developed (hopefully) by perceptive parents who spot our talents and enrol us in the right clubs to develop them. The first such action by my mother was to take me by the hand and drop me off at a newly formed ballet group in my hometown when I was still in kindergarten because I constantly got in her way on weekends as she worked in the kitchen, and I was supposed to help but preferred to dance around to whatever music was playing on the radio.

As I grew older, my mother's guidance had taught me to find out by myself what piqued my interest and look for ways to become more involved in it. Prime example here is photography, still a work in progress.

However, I have noticed that as with everything in life, at some point we often stop expanding our horizons and instead begin to limit ourselves. Or, to make it sound more acceptable, we become 'selective'. In itself, there is nothing wrong with it. I have given up on painting as I labour too hard, and it brings me no joy, so I was better off in that phase of my life - I was dating a painter - to stick with the photography and produce images that way.

Still, I would feel my life would be a lot poorer if I hadn't developed an interest in things I didn't care about, thanks to some people who came into my life and left me with unexpected gifts. I never liked jazz much, for example, until I dated a bass guitarist (that was before the painter, for the purpose of chronology) who made me listen to Yellowjackets and Weather Report. He didn't last forever in my life but he left me with some of the most uplifting soundtracks that have brought me joyous moments while I was with him and even after our paths separated.

I could have persisted in my opinion that jazz is discordant noise but let's admit it: first of all I would have made myself look and sound like the ignoramus I was when I thought this, and what's even worse, my life now would be a fair bit poorer without the appreciation of something I used to dismiss so flippantly.

I am glad for the people who have come into my life in one capacity and ended up being catalysts for learning something new and entirely different. I hope I will remain open to others who challenge my perceptions - or really preconceptions - about things I have merely an opinion and no real knowledge of.

Of course, sometimes more knowledge only confirms a preconceived idea, although at least it is an informed opinion then. But one of the best things, even at age 43, is still to have a door opened in my head every once in a while that I had until then been quite happy to leave closed - and to find a fascinating world hiding behind it...