Philolog

From Robert Solomon's introduction to Existentialism (1974):

As Camus tells us, 'at any streetcorner the absurd can strike a man in the face.' Imagine yourself involved in any one of those petty mechanical tasks which fill so much of your waking hours--washing the car, boiling an egg, changing a typewriter ribbon--when a friend appears with a new movie camera. No warning: 'Do something!' he commands, and the camera is already whirring. A frozen shock of self-consciousness, embarrassment, and confusion. 'Do something!' Well of course one was doing something, but that is now seen as insignificant. And one is doing something just standing there, or perhaps indignantly protesting like a housewife caught in curlers. At such moments one appreciates the immobilization of John Barth's Jacob Horner, that paralyzing self-consciousness in which no action seems meaningful. In desperation one falls back into his everyday task, or he leaps into an absurd posture directed only toward the camera. It is the Kantian transcendental deduction with a 16mm lens: there is the inseparable polarity between self and object; but in this instance the self is out there, in the camera, but it is also the object. A sum (not a cogito) accompanies my every presentation. 'How do I look?' No one knows the existential attitude better than a ham actor.
Enlarge this moment, so that the pressure of self-consciousness is sustained. Norman Mailer, for example, attempted in Maidstone a continuous five-day film of himself and others which did not use a developed script, leaving itself open to the 'contingencies of reality.' His problem was, as ours now becomes, how to present oneself, how to live one's life, always playing to the camera, not just as one plays to an audience but as one plays to a mirror. One enjoys making love, but always with the consciousness of how one appears to be enjoying himself. One thinks or suffers, but always with the consciousness of the 'outer' significance of those thoughts or sufferings. A film of one's life: would it be a comedy? a tragedy? thrilling? boring? heartrending? Would it be, as Kierkegaard suggests, the film of 'a life which put on the stage would have the audience weeping in ecstasy'? Would it be a film you would be willing to see yourself? twice? infinitely? Or would eternal reruns force you to throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse this Nietzschean projectionist? And who would edit this extravagant film of every detail--of yet undetermined significances--of your life? How would the credits be distributed? Each of us finds himself in his own leading role--the hero, the protagonist, the buffoon. John Barth tells us that Hamlet could have been told from Polonius' point of view: 'He didn't think he was a minor character in anything.'
What does one do? 'Be yourself!' An empty script; myself sounds like a mere word that points at 'me' along with the camera. One wants to 'let things happen,' but in self-conscious reflection nothing ever 'just happens.' One seizes a plan (one chooses a self), and all at once demands controls unimaginable in everyday life. Every demand becomes a need, yet every need is also seen as gratuitous.

Posted by James Collins at 1:25 PM | Permalink

The Philosophical Stages project is featured in the January/February 2007 issue of Edutopia, the award-winning, national multimedia publication of the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF) designed to celebrate and profile the stories and people behind innovation in education. GLEF is a nonprofit operating foundation that documents, advocates, and disseminates information about exemplary programs in K-12 education in order to help these practices spread nationwide.

Edutopia identifies the Philosophical Stages project as an exciting landmark in an ideal educational landscape, and explains how and why it is important that Philosophical Stages brings a new P to PBL.

(1) "Acting Up: Higher philosophical thinking through drama" and
(2) "How To: Use Performance-Based Learning in the Classroom"

Continue reading "Acting Up: Higher philosophical thinking through drama" »

Posted by James Collins at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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.

Posted by James Collins at 10:20 AM | Permalink

Philosophical Stages deals in experimental pedagogy at the intersection of philosophy and drama with both traditional and new media. Yesterday I witnessed James Collins and Corby Kelly (the two creators of the project) present with Antonia Blumberg and Sina Kimiagar (two of the Philosophical Stages 2005 alumni) a brief history of the Philosophical Stages program. This history included three phases for the current 2005-06 academic year. After screening a DVD of last summer's final performance--Antigone Reflected--Blumberg and Kimiagar unveiled their Dialogues on Virtue project in which they and the other alumni tried their hand at putting the ancient art of Socratic method into practice with peers, family, and mentors. The process of this innovative work is recorded on the Philosophical Stages collaborative authoring environment: http://www.philsophicalstages.org.

Collins and Kelly are pushing the envelope of creative and interdisciplinary pedagogy within the digital humanities. This they hope to continue in the next phase which is an experimental undergraduate seminar at Stanford. Acting Socratic, CLASSGEN 10 will be offered in the Spring quarter 2006.

The third phase involves the expansion and improvement of the Philosophical Stages 2006 summer program for high school and early-college students. According to Collins and Kelly this summer's program will include four-times the number of students through outreach efforts, continue to involve participants from last summer as mentors and advanced students, and expand the scope of the wiki and the size of the interdisciplinary collaborative network. The latter already includes dozens of graduate students, faculty, and acting professionals from the Bay area, Stanford, Berkeley, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Philosophical Stages works from the basic premises that (1) philosophy as an art of living aims to examine, evaluate, and transform our most basic assumptions and ways of thinking, our use of everyday words and ideas, our everyday habits and actions; (2) highly performative, experimental, and collaborative learning environments provide the best opportunities for this art which (3) is something we all can do and naturally want to do.

Posted by Christopher Witmore at 12:02 PM | Permalink

It was brought to my attention today that there are a number of films which play with the idea of an ambulatory logography device of sorts. The first, Omar Naim's Final Cut (2004) starring Robin Williams and Mira Sorvino, is taglined, "Every moment of your life recorded. Would you live it differently?" In the near future, implanted microchips record every second of an individual's life, and are then removed upon death so that professional cutters can edit that life into a highlight reel--a "rememory"--for the families of the deceased. Cutters cannot have implants for liability reasons as their memories consist not only of their past experiences but also the past experiences of those whom the cutter has edited. The second film: Albert Brooks's Defending Your Life (1991) starring Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep, taglined, "The first true story of what happens after you die." Again, all of your life has been recorded, and after death, while in Judgement City, your defense attorney and a prosecutor review episodes as they respectively argue that you either made the most of your life by overcoming fear or did not. Those who do not make it through the life and review successfully must try again until they get it right.

I still cannot think, however, of any films which play with the idea from the previous post of a simultaneous performance, review, and critique of daily life within the limits of a totalizing account, of looking for your glaring inconsistencies and subtle coherence daily, although Final Cut apparently also asks the question of how your daily performance might change were you to be informed that it was being continuously recorded for review; and Defending Your Life also makes much of both interpretive problems (arguments coming from the prosecution and the defense regarding the same episodes) and the process of learning from this trial and giving it a better go the next time around. Any other films we might include here? One day, I might have time to see these movies. And perhaps a cutter can enjoy them too.

Posted by James Collins at 9:34 PM | Permalink

Since in the inaugural posts, my colleague has set the tone with both the question of whether there were blog equivalents in the ancient world and some ambitious suggestions concerning connectivity in criticism, I thought I would add some related and no less ambitious thoughts on blogging and philosophy.

First off, as has been mentioned, blogs regularly record ephemera in a periodic fashion; that is, they are a web-based log or collection--continuous but episodic--of daily events. These daily records and reflections are typically presented in reverse chronological order, and the less recent logs are archived and stamped with static links so the collector or web-logger can organize and establish connections between daily episodes. The web-logger looks to collect, organize, and comment upon particular daily events for an audience according to particular principles--an underlying coherence of things--with which that audience sympathizes. If you believe, let's say, in the fundamental pleasures of food and reading, you might frequent this community of readers. Neoconservatives of the American right might frequent blogs organized around principles of free markets and hawkish foreign policy, while underlying principles of anti-globalization and de-escalation might attract readers of a more progressive character (and there are far too many of both to link to here). Then there are web-loggers who collect and comment upon issues for people who look way beyond four-year election cycles to underlying principles of ecology and long-term sustainability. Simply put, web-loggers of all sorts provide collections, connections between, and commentaries on the events of our daily lives according to the ways in which they (and their readers) see the world as being constituted; they provide a system and logic for apprehending the world.

This art of logging and logicizing, minus permalinks and feed readers, although no less performative or sensational, was to be found in the ancient world. In the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, profoundly experimental figures like Thales, Anaximander, Xenophanes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, and Empedocles investigated the world--both the things, phenomena, and sorts of people in it--in an effort to uncover underlying and organizing principles which guide the cosmos and daily life. The varying accounts of these principles were systematic and comprehensive, argumentative, and highly critical both of other accounts and of those who do not seek to give an account. And lest you think even this criticism belonged merely to a world of academic squabbles among impotent scholars of pure inquiry, these comprehensive, critical accounts were a kind of competitive, public performance which often attracted audiences and more importantly aimed at establishing a practical way of living. A way of looking at the world and oneself in the world might have a beneficial effect on the daily lives of those brave enough to adopt it. Finding and adopting the right principles of connection and organization might make you a better person. On the other hand, failing to examine and find the right logic of life might damage your soul.

The trick in the ancient world was not merely to find the right account (which is difficult enough), but then to shape even the smallest habits according to it. Heraclitus writes, "Men always prove to be uncomprehending of the logos (or account of principles) which is as I described it, both before they have heard it and when once they have heard it. For although all things happen according to this logos, men are like people of no experience, even when they experience such words and deeds as I explain, when I distinguish each thing according to its constitution and declare how it is; but the rest of men fail to notice what they do after they wake up just as they forget what they do when asleep." To comprehend the account is to live according to the account and to work at not forgetting it in your waking hours; in short, to take hold of the account is to take hold of your life. This is where our story departs, in part, from the modern art of logging and logicizing, for blogging does not provide the means for self-evaluation; in fact, for anyone who has religiously followed a blog (especially one which is updated frequently), blogging often offers a distraction from small habits, another way of forgetting. This love of the log--this philology--has turned away from self-examination and scrutinization.

But not to fret, for my ambitious plan may be more a modest proposal given advancements in the world of web-logging. Have you heard of cyborglogs or glogs: these blogs record both a daily episode and a recorder who while recording participates in that episode. The glogger in most cases becomes unaware of his glogging, hence the classification of ''cyborg'' which means merely an unconscious and effortless communion between technology and user. Our daily life teems with examples of this communion even of the glogging type: ambulatory physiological data recorders continuously document for cardiologists both the voltage of an ailing heart via an ECG and the simultaneous activity of a patient via video. Running enthusiasts now record speed, heart rate, position and elevation via GPS and physiological monitors which they then upload for a training history and evaluation. Prosthetic assistive technologies for the visually impaired glog to provide spatial coordinates and facial recognition capacities. Researchers at Stanford's Thinking Aloud and Looking aHEAD at Museum Learning project glog in order to study how people learn in museums: visitors comment on exhibits while head cameras record what they are seeing and saying. People everywhere are already logging information about their daily activities and themselves engaged in those activities within particular parameters. They are making connections between habits and thoughts, habits and health.

My proposal: the Ambulatory Logography Device (ALD). The ALD is a wearable recorder that generates a personal diary for the purpose of directing attention back to the daily habits of your waking hours; the user interface consists of multiple recording tracks for both instantaneous commentary and subsequent reviews of both the day and commentaries producing another sort of omni-commentary. Other research is currently exploring the processes of continuous archiving and retrieval of personal experiences, and some like that of Gordon Bell of the MyLifeBits Project go as far as to archive an entire life from photos, phone calls, emails, IM transcripts... The ALD, however, focuses not only on retrieving the episodes of your daily life, but scrutinizing them and looking for your glaring inconsistencies and subtle coherence, the illusions you entertain, the self-images you try to project, and the self-images you truly project.

Have you ever felt uneasy at the sound of your own voice coming from the answering machine? Have you ever squirmed upon seeing yourself in a home movie? Imagine watching and hearing yourself in every conversation you had today. Imagine watching yourself rolling out of bed. Imagine watching yourself not accomplishing something you tell yourself you need to do, and hearing your reasons (which perhaps seemed rational at the time) for not doing it. How fragmentary or coherent is your vision of your world and yourself? How arbitrary your choices? How brave? How vigilant? How successful? There is your life, ready for you to log, to glog, ready to be made into a story, an account of all things. Wearing the ALD, you are aware of how you perform your day; moreover, the device operates within a feedback loop which makes you assess your performance of daily life before you have even recorded it. Knowing you are performing makes you a better performer. This philology may be more difficult to swallow, for it is an incredibly disconcerting effort which will potentially trigger feelings of intense dissatisfaction; but it is a love of or rather a desire for a life, our life, to mean something coherent, to consist of deliberate choices and decisions. This philology is the desire for our lives to be well-crafted works of art.

Posted by James Collins at 9:44 AM | Permalink