FULL PRESENTATION SCRIPT PHILOSOPHY AS RESEARCH METHOD:
PHILOSOPHY AS A RESEARCH METHOD
Our group has been looking at philosophy as a research method
Why philosophy? Philosophy is an attempt to express the infinity of the universe in terms of the limitations of language.
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER "All willing arises from want, therefore from deficiency
That having been said, atheism does seem to be a clear implication of Schopenhauer’s system: for given that this world is essentially blind eternal will to life, there does not seem to be any need for an intelligent and good God who creates this world.Schopenhauer’s discovery that the underlying “essence” of life is will is not a happy one. For, as the second of the Buddha’s “Four Noble Truths” tells us, to will is to suffer. What follows, as the first of the “Truths” tells us, is that life is suffering, from which Schopenhauer concludes that “it would be better for us not to exist”. He offers two main arguments in support of the claim that to will is (mostly) to suffer, the first of which I shall call the “competition argument” and the second the “stress-or-boredom argument”.In a manner reminiscent of traditional Buddhism, he recognizes that life is filled with unavoidable frustration, and acknowledges that the suffering caused by this frustration can itself be reduced by minimizing one’s desires.
●The Will is the actual and ultimate reality of the world and ourselves
●It is “the-thing-in-itself”
●We cannot know the Will itself but we every individual is a manifestation of the Will
●The Will can be seen in every action of the body and impression on the body (emotions, ect)
●Every act (manifestation of the Will) is either an act of procreation or destruction ●The mind is “self-deceiving” of the Will
●There is no hope in life
●Happiness is unattainable
●Any arts, morals, or sciences are only distortions of the will
•Seen as good, but are actually the manifestation of the Will
●Suicide may seem like the perfect escape, being the last act if the Will
Much of Han's writing is characterised by an underlying concern with the situation encountered by human subjects in the fast-paced, technologically-driven state of late capitalism. The situation is explored in its various facets through his books: sexuality, mental health (particularly burnout, depression, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), violence, freedom, technology, and popular culture. Han also uses his Eastern roots in his philosophical thinking. Back in 2002, when he was still an unknown, he published a book called The Philosophy of Zen-Buddhism. In this book, he illustrates that the Buddhist concept of ‘nothingness’—as the absence of an exclusive subjectivity—is what makes Buddhism pacifistic and non-violent, because there is no essence where power can be concentrated. Also, the concept of ‘emptiness’ is the reason why narcissism is something very un-Buddhist. There is no unchangeable ‘me’ in the mirror; rather, I am being formed by life.
“The acceleration of contemporary life also plays a role in this lack of being. The society of laboring and achievement is not a free society. It generates new constraints. Ultimately, the dialectic of master and slave does not yield a society where everyone is free and capable of leisure, too. Rather, it leads to a society of work in which the master himself has become a laboring slave. In this society of compulsion, everyone carries a work camp inside. This labor camp is defined by the fact that one is simultaneously prisoner and guard, victim and perpetrator. One exploits oneself. It means that exploitation is possible even without domination.” ― Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society Self exploitation.
In Han’s opinion, society’s attitude has moved from “we have to do it” to “we can do it.” “We live with the anguish of not always doing what we are able to do.” “Today a person exploits themselves believing they are fulfilling themselves. It is the wicked logic of neoliberalism that culminates in the syndrome of the burned-out worker.” This has a very damaging effect. “There is no one the revolution can attack, repression does not come from other people.” It is the “alienation of one’s self” that can manifest as anorexia, overeating or the over-consumption of consumer or leisure products.
“There is only one inborn error, and that is the notion that we exist in order to be happy... So long as we persist in this inborn error... the world seems to us full of contradictions. For at every step, in things great and small, we are bound to experience that the world and life are certainly not arranged for the purpose of maintaining a happy existence... hence the countenances of almost all elderly persons wear the expression of what is called disappointment.”
“We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about.” ― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
The divine manifestation is ubiquitous, Only our eyes are not open to it. Awe is what moves us forward.
Live from your own center. The divine lives within you. The separateness apparent in the world is secondary. Beyond the world of opposites is an unseen, but experienced, unity and identity in us all.
Today the planet is the only proper “in group.” Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. ~Joseph Campbell
“You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.” ― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
The first photographer that I am going to share with you is Rinko Kawauchi, she’s someone whose work I am sure that you are all familiar with.
Her art is rooted in Shinto the ethnic Religion of the people of Japan. According to Shinto, all things on earth have a spirit, hence no subject is too small or mundane for her work; she also photographs "small events glimpsed in passing," conveying a sense of transience, for example this chick hatching from an egg.
She encourages the viewer to use their imagination to interpret her images. This series on murmuration epitomises notions of transience.
The philosopher Schopenhauer believed that art ( and that moment when engaging with great beauty takes us out of ourselves) was the only means to escape, however fleetingly, what he called the “will to live”. The purity of Kawauchi’s work can also be seen as an escape - moments of existence captured, never to be repeated.
She says that thinking too much is boring, not good. It stops the surprising from coming through. When a picture happens, she says thank you and moves on. It is only afterwards that she becomes the editor and imposes meaning on the work.
Schopenhauer interprets death as the aim and purpose of life and the origin of all philosophy. He maintains that to live is to suffer, that the triumph of death is inevitable, and that existence is a constant dying. So what happens when an artist finds out they have a life threatening illness.
Greg Gilbert was the lead singer of an indie band - The Delays. On a UK tour back in 2014, he was having the time of his life, he’d just become a father and had settled with his girlfriend. But he found himself in constant extreme pain and was diagnosed with cancer. At the moment doctors told him there was nothing they could do he says he felt an interconnectedness between everything.
https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2017-09-08/convalescence-art-and-politics-greg-gilbert-on-living-with-cancer/ Here’s an interview where he talks about his creativity has been shaped by his diagnosis
https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2017-09-08/the-tyranny-of-positivity-musician-greg-gilbert-on-his-battle-with-cancer/ Greg Gilbert on the tyranny of positivity: What he said in the video...If video doesn’t work :(
As the father of two young children it is particularly cruel, the odds of recovery, slim. Whilst he believes in positivity…..he finds the “everything will be alright attitude” wearing. The thing that helps him most is ploughing his energy into his creative work; writing, drawing, reading.
The images are surreal in content, and while there’s no clear narrative expressed by them, they reflect some of the darkness Gilbert experienced as he underwent his first bout of chemotherapy.
He used one of the drawings from this sequence on the cover for a pamphlet of poems entitled Love Makes A Mess of Dying.Which brings me to: Jo Spence...
I recently wrestled with my own feelings about seeing the Jo Spence exhibition. I think Schopenhauer would say my fear of cancer is an inevitable part of my miserable existence and being able to view her work only through my narrative of fear, is a sign that I am being driven by my ego.
Here is a picture from the Final Project, in 1990 where she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. During her second illness , photo therapy proved emotionally difficult, so a more story telling approach evolved. At the bottom she has written ‘What 1991 felt like, and in brackets most of the time.
“All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you.” ― Joseph Campbell
