Posted by James Collins
Acting Socratic: Philosophical experiments in modern spaces of performance
CLASSGEN 10 and PHIL ***
MW, 3:15-4:30pm, F, 3:15-5:15 Lab
Wallenberg, building 160, Room 127
Instructors: James Collins and Corby Kelly
Philosophy as a functional and daily activity. Participants explore the action of philosophy and the character of Socrates in Plato's early dialogues through close readings, a variety of dramatic techniques, and a performance workshop which trains students to conduct dialogues of their own. No prior experience in drama or philosophy is required.
Course Description:
Fundamental to Greek and Roman philosophy is the concept of the ‘craft of living’ (ars vivendi, hê technê tou biou), which maintains that living a good life is at heart a public performance, and thus entails particular modes of action, engagement, and self-presentation and stylization. Philosophical theory and practice, thoughts and deeds—what one believes and how one lives as a result of holding those beliefs—are inextricably bound, and together contribute to the philosophical craft of constructing, performing, and becoming the right sort of character. We will explore techniques drawn from contemporary performance theory in highly performative, experimental, and collaborative learning environments in order (1) to develop an appreciation for this particular sort of philosophical activity, more particularly as it was written and performed in the ancient world, and (2) to develop this craft for ourselves for more effective skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-presentation and exploration.
We will be experimenting with ideas from Plato’s early and middle dialogues about the essential components for fruitful collaborative philosophical work. In particular, through the characters of Socrates and his interlocutors in dialogue, Plato represents a ‘method’ called the elenchus which has the dual objective of both (1) discovering how every person ought to live and (2) testing the particular characters to determine whether they are living as one ought to live. His character Socrates experiments with different strategies and tools for these ends tailoring his approach to the particular personalities with which he is engaged.
Over the couse of the ten weeks we will investigate the relationship of character to philosophical thinking in the early Platonic dialogues from three perspectives: the ‘method’ of Stanislavski; the ‘dramatistic pentad’ of Kenneth Burke; and that of ‘text-bound’ characterization (as outlined for the purposes of this course by David Mamet in his True and False). Each of these perspectives offers tools for assessing the nature and function of dramatic character with regard to the question: what is the relationship of a character’s language to his or her dramatic action; or, put another way: what is the relationship of text to dramatic subtext? Common to these three perspectives are the notions of a character’s objectives—what he or she wants to get other characters to do—and a character’s actions—how the character goes about working on another character’s emotions to get what s/he wants.
Acting Socratic takes place in the experimental, multimedia performance space of Wallenberg Hall. Participants will engage in the traditional learning environment of a Stanford seminar for textual analysis and discussion of the Socratic elenchus, but they will also conduct and record Socratic dialogues of their own through the use of dramatic techniques and emerging technologies. These new dialogues and their shared dynamics and concepts will be organized and published on the collaborative authoring space of the Philosophical Stages at Stanford program. Participants will also present their investigations of the elenchus in a final performance in Wallenberg. Students will have the option of working as research assistants in the Philosophical Stages summer program for high school and early college students.
For more information, visit http://www.philosophicalstages.org.
