A late night reading of OPM70, which is how it happened on some occasions. In fact I recall writing some meditations in the very early hours (I recall this happening when I was attending the Philosophy of Education Society meeting in Oxford). It took 4 takes to make this video, but, in the end, I was able to capture the essence of this short meditation, which has to do with the Arendtian idea that philosophy is a conversation between friends, and thus gives rise to what I call the learning community, the dialogic congregation. The discussion of the fourth and final part of Plato's allegory places emphasis on the emancipated prisoner's longing to return to the cave and what I am calling his demos and gather his friends to join him in the open region. What happens is that he is unable to rejoin them. And this is not simply that he has trouble readjusting to the darkness of the cave. Rather, there is something about the transformation that he has experienced that makes it impossible for him to rejoin his former space, to "sit in the same place as before," (Heidegger's translation) There is a kind of tragedy unfolding because his transformation has left him exiled, but at the same time, it has compelled in him the powerful desire to reconnect with his friends. The allegory concludes with this strange moment where the emancipatory transformation has rendered him no longer a cave dweller and yet powerless with respect to his former dwelling. What are we to make of this tale of transformative education?
February 13, 2014 was the 10th anniversary of the original experiment that produced 363 phenomenological mediations, published as 'Being and Learning' (Brill: 2012). Each day between Feb 2014-15, I returned to the original meditations, and my commentary is documented here. And then, again, on February 15, 2024, on the 20th anniversary of the first days of the original experiment, I revisit and comment on a daily basis, once again.
3.0 - I was curious about the setting where I filmed my reading of the OPM from this day, and watched a bit of the video. Not clear to me where I was! Had to have been in 29 Sunset Drive, as I was in Drew U library earlier in the day. And it was definitely late at night. I just don't recognize that space! There's definitely something at work with night/day, light/darkness on this day 10 years ago. And I can earnestly say I did not stage any of the videos. They reading and filming was as spontaneous as the original writing sessions.
ReplyDeleteThe OPM from this day 20 years ago takes up the final turning in the Allegory, when the freed cave-dweller is compelled to return to the cave. For Arendt, the return marks the realization that the philosopher is a political good-for-nothing in relation to others because they are unable via philosophy to understood their own telos (purpose in the world). In "Philosophy and Politics," Arendt writes: "Why philosophers do not know what is good for them -- and how they are alienated from the affairs of men -- is grasped in this metaphor: they can no longer see in the darkness of the cave, they have lost their sense of orientation, they have lost what we would call their common sense." And she continues: "The returning philosopher is in danger because he has lost the common sense needed to orient himself in a world common to all..." As noted at the beginning of the 2.0 video, the OPM from this day is one of the shorter ones. It emphasizes the desire of the cave-dweller to "take his former seat" or "take his old place" or "sit in the same place as before." But now that he has been educated by philosophy, and as I would describe it, had his former self re-placed by the periagogē (educational turning) that culminates in the encounter with the "Sun," he is unable to go back to his "old place." Plato says his former friends "would laugh at him" and say "his sight [was] ruined." And, as I noted in my 3.0 commentary on the Drew U library descent into the darkness chronicle (previous post), this ruined sight is significant for understanding the relationship between sun, light and seeing (perceiving) things as they truly are: the encounter with the significant object, with the authentic, with authenticity, happens when we perceive "perfectly." But is not the person as "knower" who is perceiving perfectly, but the perceiver who encounters the "perfect" (telos). That is how understand it, and how I am emphasizing it in my project, especially as I focus on the aesthetic experience as the principal moment within the event of learning. Emphasis is on that which presents "perfection": excellent (aretē) but also the sublime. And the sublime may be a better descriptor because it denotes - the elevated, awe-inspiring, lofty, awesome, ideal, rapturous, mind-blowing, and perfect. But more importantly, it denotes that which is ineffable, indescribable, breathtaking, wonderful. And this is why Arendt implies that the encounter with the "Sun" in the Allegory is an example of thaumadzein, wonder, which is endured (pathos): "The wonder that man endures or which befalls him cannot be related in words..." Perhaps this is a way of describing the "ruined perception." It is not just that the transformed cave-dweller cannot "see," but that he cannot "say" anything about what he has experienced. And, as Arendt emphasizes, it is the loss of the ability to communicate with his friends that places him outside of the common. Philosophical autonomy is earned at the expense of one's connection to others, at the expense of community.