Changing philosophers are placed on the Phil.Cologne stage – who speaks and what is said is, by definition, arbitrary.
Photo: IMAGO/Horst Galuschka
“What is philosophy?”, this book title can be found reliably in many of the great minds of the last 100 years – “Why (still) philosophy?” as its more dramatic exaggeration. Apparently philosophy is in constant danger of being meaningless. In fact, it has had a difficult time since Marx at least. As Althusser once put it, it lacks the real object (d’object propre) and it threatens to revolve only around thinking itself. Or, as Adorno criticized bourgeois philosophy in terms of ideology: it tips into idealism and delusion about the social conditions that it is actually supposed to interpret truthfully.
nd.DieWoche – our weekly newsletter
With our weekly newsletter nd.DieWoche look at the most important topics of the week and read them Highlights our Saturday edition on Friday. Get your free subscription here.
There is hardly a moment, however, where philosophy comes so close to its own meaninglessness, to pure self-reference and idealistic delusion, as at a “philosophy festival”. Here, the “need for orientation in thinking and acting” is intended to bring people together, as is the case every year at the “International Festival of Philosophy”, the Phil.Cologne, which has been taking place in Cologne since 2013. But what you get there is the spectacle of thinking for the sake of thinking. Because such a “philosophy festival has been missing in Berlin so far,” as its new managing director said, Philo.live took place there for the first time on June 29th! instead of.
At the “high-profile think-fest” on the question “What does freedom mean here?”, the audience was able to attend panel discussions for a whole day, for example listening to Eva von Redecker on a new concept of freedom in the face of the climate crisis or hearing Oliver Nachtwey speak with Thea Dorn on freedom of expression. As the editorial team of the organizing “Philosophy Magazine” summarized: “The lively, controversial debates (…) about collective vs. individual freedom, about migration, climate change, freedom of expression, work and sexual self-determination showed how controversial the concept of freedom is today.” In other words, this is of course not about clarifying the matter, but rather about exchanging interesting and exciting ideas – based on the model of the free market and its exchange of equivalents, the prerequisite for which is the arbitrariness of the goods.
Despite all the hoped-for added value of public opinion formation, depth and quality of discourse, it is unfortunately the case that reducing thinking about the world to a mere spectacle does more damage to thinking than what is thought can itself repair it. Now one can object: Such a general and formal accusation could not only be attached to the festival organized by a special interest magazine and sponsored by a drugstore chain. According to this logic, isn’t every “interesting” feature article and every “exciting” panel discussion, every event and cultural industry product, even every scientific conference and even our everyday understanding determined by the commoditization of thought? Yes! And it would be the task of philosophy to understand exactly this social adjustment of thinking.
Become a member of the nd.Genossenschaft!
Since January 1, 2022, the »nd« will be published as an independent left-wing newspaper owned by the staff and readers. Be there and support media diversity and visible left-wing positions as a cooperative member. Fill out the membership form now.
More information on www.dasnd.de/genossenschaft
judi bola online judi bola link sbobet sbobet88