I thought that it might be a good idea to get a debate going about the overall philosophical/intellectual significance of the ideas of the media-savvy Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek.
I have been spurred on to do this because some academics whose opinion I respect have told me in conversation that they think Zizek is essentially an opportunist and a charlatan who when you examine his texts in a serious and sober way has very little to say.
I wonder what people's opinion might be regarding this claim? I am minded to disagree, but I am not sure why exactly. On relfection, although I really enjoy reading Zizek I am not sure that I have grasped anything that can be termed a coherent intellectual position. There is clearly an anti-postmodern commitment to universalism in his work - but this is pretty thin beer and nothing that we could term 'distinctive'. There is of course also the Lacanian stuff about enjoyment and the contemporary super-egoic compulsion to enjoy - but again this doesn't really provide the basis for a substantial philosophical position. Perhaps this isn't the point. Perhaps Zizek is really like a modernist artwork, designed to shock (and in this way he is perhaps close to Nietzsche).
Maybe someone could enlighten me and spell out exactly, in nuce, what Zizek's intellectual position might be?
Neil T
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Friday, 18 November 2011
The Philosophy Town
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Philosophy – Red Week I Events Programme
Monday November 14th, 1-4pm, room 215 – Screening: The Examined Life – Introduced by Patrick O’Connor
The Examined Life presents some of the world's most well known philosophers back on the streets where philosophy began. See Slavoj Zizek, Peter Singer, Judith Butler and Avita Ronnell in Astra Taylor's documentary. Here they debate and reflect on the key philosophical conundrums of our age in places and spaces which represent their ideas. This documentary offers some great moments with some of the most prominent of contemporary philosophers, and their urgent responses to contemporary problems.
Tuesday– 1-5pm: HEA Symposium on Philosophy Teaching – Room 219
This symposium will present a number of papers on best practice in philosophies of teaching. The aim of the Symposium will be to conceptualize different practical approaches to the teaching of Philosophy in an effort to create flourishing learning environments. The symposium will engage the concept of teaching in philosophies in practice, examining the relationship between the formation of thinking and critical learning environments. Lecturers and students are invited to contribute on what are the best forms of philosophical teaching, the wider significance of philosophy, the relationship between the teaching of philosophy and technology, and generally what makes a good philosophy teacher a good philosophy teacher.
Prof. Tony Burns, University of Nottingham. ‘Introducing Philosophy through Works of Literature and Film: The Example of The Matrix’.
Dr Neal Curtis, University of Nottingham. 'Teaching Philosophy to Counter Dogma.'
Dr Keith Crome, Manchester Metropolitan University, “Transgression and Thought: The Role of Habit in Learning Techniques.”
Dr Sara Motta, ‘Teaching Philosophy as Transgressive Spaces of Possibility.
Weds 1.30-3 pm, room 215 – Level 2 Drop in Session: With Ruth Griffin
Come along to this informal student led drop-in session where we can discuss anything relating to Philosophy at NTU. This is your chance to debate topics of Philosophical interest, revise for Class Tests, seek guidance, or simply revisit areas which you are unsure of - or would like to pursue further - within a friendly and informal environment.
Thurs 11-2pm, room 215 – Screening – Paris Texas: Introduced by Neil Turnbull
Paris, Texas is probably Wim Wenders' most well known, critically acclaimed, and successful movie, winning a number of international prizes including the Cannes Palme D'Or for Best Film in 1984.
This unusual road movie, with screenplay by acclaimed playwright Sam Shepard, tells the tale of Travis, a man lost in his own private hell. Presumed dead for four years, he reappears from the desert on the Mexico border, world-weary and an amnesiac.
He traces his brother Walt who is bringing up Hunter, his seven-year-old son, his ex-wife Jane having abandoned him at Walt's door several years before.
As virtual strangers, Hunter and Travis begin to build a wary friendship and conspire to find Jane and bring her back to be a real family.
With extraordinary performances from Harry Dean Stanton as Travis and Natassja Kinski as Jane, the film also boasts a soundtrack by Ry Cooder, ideally suited to the film's sun-bleached landscapes and melancholy undertones.
See -http://www.wim-wenders.com/movies/movies_spec/paristexas/paris_texas.htm#
Friday 11-1pm, room 219 - Level 1 Drop in Session – Neil Turnbull
This session will provide an overview of the level 1 course so far with opportunities for discussion and debate regarding the key issues raised. Come along to these sessions if you wish to clarify any issue that you have found obscure or opaque or if you would like to engage in friendly philosophical debate with your tutor and fellow first year philosophers
Monday November 14th, 1-4pm, room 215 – Screening: The Examined Life – Introduced by Patrick O’Connor
The Examined Life presents some of the world's most well known philosophers back on the streets where philosophy began. See Slavoj Zizek, Peter Singer, Judith Butler and Avita Ronnell in Astra Taylor's documentary. Here they debate and reflect on the key philosophical conundrums of our age in places and spaces which represent their ideas. This documentary offers some great moments with some of the most prominent of contemporary philosophers, and their urgent responses to contemporary problems.
Tuesday– 1-5pm: HEA Symposium on Philosophy Teaching – Room 219
This symposium will present a number of papers on best practice in philosophies of teaching. The aim of the Symposium will be to conceptualize different practical approaches to the teaching of Philosophy in an effort to create flourishing learning environments. The symposium will engage the concept of teaching in philosophies in practice, examining the relationship between the formation of thinking and critical learning environments. Lecturers and students are invited to contribute on what are the best forms of philosophical teaching, the wider significance of philosophy, the relationship between the teaching of philosophy and technology, and generally what makes a good philosophy teacher a good philosophy teacher.
Prof. Tony Burns, University of Nottingham. ‘Introducing Philosophy through Works of Literature and Film: The Example of The Matrix’.
Dr Neal Curtis, University of Nottingham. 'Teaching Philosophy to Counter Dogma.'
Dr Keith Crome, Manchester Metropolitan University, “Transgression and Thought: The Role of Habit in Learning Techniques.”
Dr Sara Motta, ‘Teaching Philosophy as Transgressive Spaces of Possibility.
Weds 1.30-3 pm, room 215 – Level 2 Drop in Session: With Ruth Griffin
Come along to this informal student led drop-in session where we can discuss anything relating to Philosophy at NTU. This is your chance to debate topics of Philosophical interest, revise for Class Tests, seek guidance, or simply revisit areas which you are unsure of - or would like to pursue further - within a friendly and informal environment.
Thurs 11-2pm, room 215 – Screening – Paris Texas: Introduced by Neil Turnbull
Paris, Texas is probably Wim Wenders' most well known, critically acclaimed, and successful movie, winning a number of international prizes including the Cannes Palme D'Or for Best Film in 1984.
This unusual road movie, with screenplay by acclaimed playwright Sam Shepard, tells the tale of Travis, a man lost in his own private hell. Presumed dead for four years, he reappears from the desert on the Mexico border, world-weary and an amnesiac.
He traces his brother Walt who is bringing up Hunter, his seven-year-old son, his ex-wife Jane having abandoned him at Walt's door several years before.
As virtual strangers, Hunter and Travis begin to build a wary friendship and conspire to find Jane and bring her back to be a real family.
With extraordinary performances from Harry Dean Stanton as Travis and Natassja Kinski as Jane, the film also boasts a soundtrack by Ry Cooder, ideally suited to the film's sun-bleached landscapes and melancholy undertones.
See -http://www.wim-wenders.com/movies/movies_spec/paristexas/paris_texas.htm#
Friday 11-1pm, room 219 - Level 1 Drop in Session – Neil Turnbull
This session will provide an overview of the level 1 course so far with opportunities for discussion and debate regarding the key issues raised. Come along to these sessions if you wish to clarify any issue that you have found obscure or opaque or if you would like to engage in friendly philosophical debate with your tutor and fellow first year philosophers
Monday, 31 October 2011
Philosophy and Employability
Here is a link to a good Times Higher Education article on the relationship between Philosophy and Employability. The author makes a number of interesting points about the relationship between Philosophy and getting a job. While all the usual suspects are touched upon- analytical skills, autonomous learning, thinking outside the box etc. - the article makes two interesting points. Firstly, the rate of students taking Philosophy was on a gradual increase from 2001 onwards (How the change in the fee structure will affect this for better or worse remains to be seen). Secondly, Philosophy with its focus on coming to terms with dense and abstract material, as well familiarizing oneself with the 'argumentative structure' of texts and debates is valuable for a range of employers who appreciate the transferable skills that Philosophy offers. The basic point I supposeis, that Philosophy offers you the ability to position yourself in a number of employment contexts. This would seem to my mind very attractive for students, since it offers you many different paths of career development. As the article shows, Philosophy is valuable in the existing economic order. The reason it is valuable, is because there has been a move from an industrial society to one based on what is known as the 'knowledge economy'. This means that jobs which are devoted to the creation and management of knowledge are widely available. While certainly discourse surrounding the 'knowledge economy is abstract there is an underlying logic to it. More and more jobs are based around the management of information. Philosophy on its own or in conjunction with postgraduate study can get you into a number of careers such as finance, modern technology industries, internet companies and the civil services amongst others.
Friday, 14 October 2011
Multiculturalism
Hello everyone
I would like to get a discussion going about the costs and benefits of multiculturalism. I think that this is gouing to be a very important political issue in the next few years - and as philosophers we need to get a handle on this issue and an overview of where the debate might be heading.
For some liberal philosophers the choice today is between multiculturalism and some kind of fundamentalism. Multi-culturalism is about peaceful cultural co-existence. Here, if you are not a multi-culturalist then you are some kind of antagonistic proto-fascist.
However, critics of multiculturalism argue that core cultures are in essence incommensurable and so any attempt to impose a multicultural society will only succed by means of a 'repressive tolerance' (political correctness and the like) that silences cultural dialogue and exchange.
It would be interesting to see what people think about this issue and get a - polite - debate going about whether it is possible to live in a complex liberal socety without a good deal of antagonism.
Neil
I would like to get a discussion going about the costs and benefits of multiculturalism. I think that this is gouing to be a very important political issue in the next few years - and as philosophers we need to get a handle on this issue and an overview of where the debate might be heading.
For some liberal philosophers the choice today is between multiculturalism and some kind of fundamentalism. Multi-culturalism is about peaceful cultural co-existence. Here, if you are not a multi-culturalist then you are some kind of antagonistic proto-fascist.
However, critics of multiculturalism argue that core cultures are in essence incommensurable and so any attempt to impose a multicultural society will only succed by means of a 'repressive tolerance' (political correctness and the like) that silences cultural dialogue and exchange.
It would be interesting to see what people think about this issue and get a - polite - debate going about whether it is possible to live in a complex liberal socety without a good deal of antagonism.
Neil
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Philosophy and the Riots
I have just been reading some remarks on the work of German philosopher Ernst Junger (by Mounier).
Junger, it seems, was a philosopher who adhered to the view that in the nihilistic contexts of modernity, action becomes freed from all restraint and individuals become fired with a passion and intensity for ecstasy and/or power.
This is obviously one explanation for events such as the recent riots. However, does it really explain such events? Surely we need to factor in the very brutal reality of the current recessionary environment into this?
It is no suprise that the last serious riots in the UK were during the last serious recession (early 1980s). What, then, is the relationship between cultures of nihilism and economic forces?
Neil Turnbull
Junger, it seems, was a philosopher who adhered to the view that in the nihilistic contexts of modernity, action becomes freed from all restraint and individuals become fired with a passion and intensity for ecstasy and/or power.
This is obviously one explanation for events such as the recent riots. However, does it really explain such events? Surely we need to factor in the very brutal reality of the current recessionary environment into this?
It is no suprise that the last serious riots in the UK were during the last serious recession (early 1980s). What, then, is the relationship between cultures of nihilism and economic forces?
Neil Turnbull
Monday, 20 June 2011
Homage to Catalonia
Hello everyone
Maurice Glasman (the labour peer Lord Glasman) - see previous posting - has just sent me a short piece that uses the recent Champions League cup final in order to bring out the philosophical and political dimensions of his position.
This is an unpublished piece and so this is more than a bit of a scoop! Many thanks to him for allowing us to post it here.
As a life-long Man U fan, I do find some of the analysis difficult to swallow - although I think we will all have to concede that he has a point. More significantly, there is a clear political vision here and I think that it is a very interesting one that should generate quite a bit of debate.
Neil T
Barcelona V Man United was Blue Labour V New Labour
The European Cup Final was more than just a game.
On Saturday night a community owned club with local players, all of whom upheld an ethos and vision of how beautiful, brave and brilliant football could be were victorious over a foreign-owned debt-ridden corporate juggernaut who had run out of energy and ideas.
It was a clash between two different philosophies of football, two different ways of organising a club, two different ways of responding to globalisation and market forces, two different ways of playing the game.
Whether you like it or not, the good guys won.
I remember a very different feeling. I was seven in 1968 and it felt like a collective rapture. Balletic and brutal, noble and nasty; George Best and Nobby Stiles, Bobby Charlton and Pat Crerand. Manchester United embodied all that was best about English football and made friends all over the country and the world. Friends for life. There was something heroic about Manchester United in 1968 but all the magic was on the other side on Saturday night.
The story of Manchester United is everything that was right and wrong about New Labour, and the story of Barcelona indicates where Labour have to go if they are to combine victory with glory; so that winning gives hope to people that global competitive success is about more than money. It’s about something more than the contractual minimum, it concentrates on a skilled and excellent workforce, it requires a clearly defined ethical brand. Winning requires sacrifice, a much more broadly defined conception of self-interest. This is the point that Blue Labour is trying to make in thinking about how to generate real and substantial private sector growth. This requires institutions that uphold excellence and virtue, a concern for regional diversity and a renewed sense of energy and pride.
Under Sir Alex Ferguson’s leadership Manchester United have surged into a dominant position in English football. Dominant; but not hegemonic. They did not develop a distinctive and original style of play that required others to change in order to beat it. Like Tony Blair, Alex Ferguson has enjoyed unprecedented success surpassing Liverpool in terms of Championships won and FA Cups. He has established the club as one of the great European powers. Tony Blair won three successive elections with ease. Something unheard of in British political history. He turned a political party from one that couldn’t win, even against John Major, to one that couldn’t lose. Alex Ferguson and Tony Blair, New Labour and Manchester United, 4-4-2 and swing voters. Attlee and Thatcher led hegemonic government that set the parameters of common sense for those that followed. Hungary in the 50s, Spurs in the 60’s, Ajax in the 70’s and Milan in the 80’s. Like Barcelona today they changed the way the game is played.
In contrast, under New Labour, we were told that success and globalisation required us to change, that sacrifices were necessary for the sake of modernisation and progress. We were told that transferrable skills would replace vocational skills, we were told that the City of London knew best and we lost our regional banks and industries. We were told that management knew best and the workforce lost its status at work. We were told that careers were more important than family. We were told that anywhere was just as good as here. And we were told that football clubs were a commodity, just like any other. That meaning was less important than price. That is was in our best interests to put the stewardship of our clubs in the hands of venture capitalists who were solely interested in maximising their returns on investment.
Commodity football has no feeling for the faithfulness fans feel and what that means. The pride in place and the site of the ground. The way it links us to our grandmas and our sons, the pain we share with other supporters. The pride we take when our team plays with adventure, bravery and guile. The lightning rods of glory that punctuate the gloom. But Barcelona understand all that.
Barcelona is owned by its supporters. There is no difference between meaning and price. It is their club. They elect the president and the board. It is their ethos that the club upholds. The club is not answerable to its shareholders but to its fans. They give money, they give time, they own it. Many play an active role in the governance of the club. They expand its role into their communities so that Barcelona is woven into the fabric of Catalonian society. A football pitch here, a disabled charity there. It is the civic pride of Barcelona and a source of glory and renown. Barcelona are good, in all meanings of the word.
And this is the message of Blue Labour. Ownership matters. Democracy matters. Leadership matters. Responsibility, initiative and innovation can only be exercised if people have power. Real democratic power to protect the people and the things that they love. Compare Barcelona to Manchester United who did not turn to their supporters to epand, but to the financial markets. Manchester United fans have no power, no citizenship in the club, they are only consumers. Commodity football turns love into money and leaves people feeling used. The green and yellow scarves are a permanent rebuke to their relentless domestic success.
This is linked to vocation.
The Barcelona players did not play like professional footballers but vocational footballers. They played with an excellence of technique and control combined with an empathetic understanding of each others positions so that they improvised mesmeric patterns that exhausted their opponents. When Manchester United equalised Barcelona just continued to experiment, to show audacity and verve. Compare the way that Messi, Xavi and Iniesta combined to the lonely rage of Wayne Rooney. They were master craftsmen and they made Manchester United look like journeymen. Barcelona played that way because they were nurtured within an institutional culture that gave incentives to virtue. It’s a different moral economy, a virtue economy, and it is the basis of competitive global success. For two centuries economic theory has been based on the idea that being bad leads to good results. The Barcelona lesson is that pursuing the good directly may not be such a bad idea after all.
The Barcelona academy teaches a style of play that is true to their traditions. There is an ethos and practice that define excellence. Like being a good plumber, dental technician, doctor, carpenter, computer programmer, nurse, electrician. The vocational economy is not a luxury. The German economy is built on vocational training and so was the Barcelona victory. That is also the Blue Labour way. With regional banks so that local people can have access to capital to start businesses or learn a vocation. Decentralised democratic institutions that constrain the domination of finance capital is a good definition of civilisation and Barcelona embodied it.
The story of our football clubs is the story of our economy as great English firms like Cadbury’s were brought up by foreign corporations with no understanding of its meaning and tradition, no understanding of anything but its price. It is the same understanding of the world that cannot comprehend the objection to Dover Port being sold to the French. Barcelona sustain and invest in a football academy that instils virtue. Such a word sounds alien to us but it is linked directly to the idea of a vocation and in that ideal lies the key to competitive global success in the new economy. A virtue rather than a virtual economy should guide statecraft.
Our critics say that we are nostalgic. They say that Blue Labour puts too much emphasis on friendship, family, solidarity, place, work, vocation and patriotism and that these are not the values we need to succeed in the modern globalised world.
We have an answer to that – stick it up your Barcelona.
Maurice Glasman (the labour peer Lord Glasman) - see previous posting - has just sent me a short piece that uses the recent Champions League cup final in order to bring out the philosophical and political dimensions of his position.
This is an unpublished piece and so this is more than a bit of a scoop! Many thanks to him for allowing us to post it here.
As a life-long Man U fan, I do find some of the analysis difficult to swallow - although I think we will all have to concede that he has a point. More significantly, there is a clear political vision here and I think that it is a very interesting one that should generate quite a bit of debate.
Neil T
Barcelona V Man United was Blue Labour V New Labour
The European Cup Final was more than just a game.
On Saturday night a community owned club with local players, all of whom upheld an ethos and vision of how beautiful, brave and brilliant football could be were victorious over a foreign-owned debt-ridden corporate juggernaut who had run out of energy and ideas.
It was a clash between two different philosophies of football, two different ways of organising a club, two different ways of responding to globalisation and market forces, two different ways of playing the game.
Whether you like it or not, the good guys won.
I remember a very different feeling. I was seven in 1968 and it felt like a collective rapture. Balletic and brutal, noble and nasty; George Best and Nobby Stiles, Bobby Charlton and Pat Crerand. Manchester United embodied all that was best about English football and made friends all over the country and the world. Friends for life. There was something heroic about Manchester United in 1968 but all the magic was on the other side on Saturday night.
The story of Manchester United is everything that was right and wrong about New Labour, and the story of Barcelona indicates where Labour have to go if they are to combine victory with glory; so that winning gives hope to people that global competitive success is about more than money. It’s about something more than the contractual minimum, it concentrates on a skilled and excellent workforce, it requires a clearly defined ethical brand. Winning requires sacrifice, a much more broadly defined conception of self-interest. This is the point that Blue Labour is trying to make in thinking about how to generate real and substantial private sector growth. This requires institutions that uphold excellence and virtue, a concern for regional diversity and a renewed sense of energy and pride.
Under Sir Alex Ferguson’s leadership Manchester United have surged into a dominant position in English football. Dominant; but not hegemonic. They did not develop a distinctive and original style of play that required others to change in order to beat it. Like Tony Blair, Alex Ferguson has enjoyed unprecedented success surpassing Liverpool in terms of Championships won and FA Cups. He has established the club as one of the great European powers. Tony Blair won three successive elections with ease. Something unheard of in British political history. He turned a political party from one that couldn’t win, even against John Major, to one that couldn’t lose. Alex Ferguson and Tony Blair, New Labour and Manchester United, 4-4-2 and swing voters. Attlee and Thatcher led hegemonic government that set the parameters of common sense for those that followed. Hungary in the 50s, Spurs in the 60’s, Ajax in the 70’s and Milan in the 80’s. Like Barcelona today they changed the way the game is played.
In contrast, under New Labour, we were told that success and globalisation required us to change, that sacrifices were necessary for the sake of modernisation and progress. We were told that transferrable skills would replace vocational skills, we were told that the City of London knew best and we lost our regional banks and industries. We were told that management knew best and the workforce lost its status at work. We were told that careers were more important than family. We were told that anywhere was just as good as here. And we were told that football clubs were a commodity, just like any other. That meaning was less important than price. That is was in our best interests to put the stewardship of our clubs in the hands of venture capitalists who were solely interested in maximising their returns on investment.
Commodity football has no feeling for the faithfulness fans feel and what that means. The pride in place and the site of the ground. The way it links us to our grandmas and our sons, the pain we share with other supporters. The pride we take when our team plays with adventure, bravery and guile. The lightning rods of glory that punctuate the gloom. But Barcelona understand all that.
Barcelona is owned by its supporters. There is no difference between meaning and price. It is their club. They elect the president and the board. It is their ethos that the club upholds. The club is not answerable to its shareholders but to its fans. They give money, they give time, they own it. Many play an active role in the governance of the club. They expand its role into their communities so that Barcelona is woven into the fabric of Catalonian society. A football pitch here, a disabled charity there. It is the civic pride of Barcelona and a source of glory and renown. Barcelona are good, in all meanings of the word.
And this is the message of Blue Labour. Ownership matters. Democracy matters. Leadership matters. Responsibility, initiative and innovation can only be exercised if people have power. Real democratic power to protect the people and the things that they love. Compare Barcelona to Manchester United who did not turn to their supporters to epand, but to the financial markets. Manchester United fans have no power, no citizenship in the club, they are only consumers. Commodity football turns love into money and leaves people feeling used. The green and yellow scarves are a permanent rebuke to their relentless domestic success.
This is linked to vocation.
The Barcelona players did not play like professional footballers but vocational footballers. They played with an excellence of technique and control combined with an empathetic understanding of each others positions so that they improvised mesmeric patterns that exhausted their opponents. When Manchester United equalised Barcelona just continued to experiment, to show audacity and verve. Compare the way that Messi, Xavi and Iniesta combined to the lonely rage of Wayne Rooney. They were master craftsmen and they made Manchester United look like journeymen. Barcelona played that way because they were nurtured within an institutional culture that gave incentives to virtue. It’s a different moral economy, a virtue economy, and it is the basis of competitive global success. For two centuries economic theory has been based on the idea that being bad leads to good results. The Barcelona lesson is that pursuing the good directly may not be such a bad idea after all.
The Barcelona academy teaches a style of play that is true to their traditions. There is an ethos and practice that define excellence. Like being a good plumber, dental technician, doctor, carpenter, computer programmer, nurse, electrician. The vocational economy is not a luxury. The German economy is built on vocational training and so was the Barcelona victory. That is also the Blue Labour way. With regional banks so that local people can have access to capital to start businesses or learn a vocation. Decentralised democratic institutions that constrain the domination of finance capital is a good definition of civilisation and Barcelona embodied it.
The story of our football clubs is the story of our economy as great English firms like Cadbury’s were brought up by foreign corporations with no understanding of its meaning and tradition, no understanding of anything but its price. It is the same understanding of the world that cannot comprehend the objection to Dover Port being sold to the French. Barcelona sustain and invest in a football academy that instils virtue. Such a word sounds alien to us but it is linked directly to the idea of a vocation and in that ideal lies the key to competitive global success in the new economy. A virtue rather than a virtual economy should guide statecraft.
Our critics say that we are nostalgic. They say that Blue Labour puts too much emphasis on friendship, family, solidarity, place, work, vocation and patriotism and that these are not the values we need to succeed in the modern globalised world.
We have an answer to that – stick it up your Barcelona.
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