[Xmca-l] Re: "cultivating Minds

[mike cole]

Larry---


Luria reported that Vygotsky was interested in demonstrations of phenomena
of critical interest to him, such as children incorporating objects and
people into their goal directed actions, but did not care much about big N
studies. Experiments "pour voire" i think is how ARL referred to his
attitude.  Not unlike Simmel in that regard.
mike

On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 6:09 PM, Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com> wrote:

> Henry,
> I am interested in your question of the relation of "style" and
> "authenticity" and how they relate to "living in truth" [whatever "truth"
> means??]
> I have been linking Morten Nissen's work to Ernst Bloch and that led to
> Simmel and then through Mike's commentary to Urs Furher and that lead on to
> Ernst Boesch.
>
> I brought in the theme of "salon culture" and the labelling of Simmel as a
> "flaneur" who wrote "impressions" of the metropolis but who was
> often criticized for not being "systematic"
> The question of Simmel being  focused on the "style" of the "essay" and
> therefore labelled not "rigorous"  or "scientific" in his approach to
> sociology [and philosophy].
>
> Henry, you "locating" your impressionistic years as Berkley in the mid
> 1960's is expressing a certain "style" [which I also lived through] and
> influences how we "understand" [and could be critiqued in a similar way to
> the style of "salon culture".
> Now the question of "authenticity" [living in truth] leads to the question
> "who gets to judge the authenticity of a person "living in truth"  Is it
> tied to living "free"?? [and this concept opens the meaning of freedom as
> "autonomy/negative freedom" OR freedom as "expression/positive freedom" OR
> "third spaces/situated freedom" .
>
> Returning to Simmel.  Is his focussing on "reciprocal interaction" too
> vague and unsystematic [not rigorous] or is this "style" an authentic way
> to approach human nature?  I will offer a comment from David Frisby in his
> book "Georg Simmel":
>
> ".... that for a founding father Simmel seems curiously remote from
> organized sociology and seems to be a neglected figure.  This impression,
> it is argued, may stem from a discrepancy between Simmel's *style* of
> thought and the prevailing sociological 'idiom' which has come to be
> dominated by detailed and refined empirical research and specialized modes
> of conceptualization that can only be used by professionals." [page 15]
>
> Frisby also states:
>
> "Simmel goes so far as to state in his "Sociology" that although the work
> is replete with actual empirical and historical example that illustrate his
> propositions, he could just as well used *fictitious ones*.  In this
> respect , Simmel is the first sociologist to apply the philosophy of
> '*As-It'
> *to the sociological domain." [page 15]
>
> Henry, the question of the relation of "style" and "authenticity" is that
> yes there is a reciprocal relation, but this relation is always localized
> and to be "worked out". At least that is the "footsteps" I am "tracing" in
> this commentary.
>
> Larry
>
> On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 5:12 PM, Annalisa Aguilar <annalisa@unm.edu> wrote:
>
> > Hi Henry,
> >
> > Sometimes the tool doesn't do justice to the message, and listservs (as
> > tools for communication) are not excluded from that.
> >
> > And so I was a little lost in what your confessional is and unsure how
> > that connects to What is Art, which was the topic I was discussing (and
> how
> > that pertains to Performance Art).
> >
> > It is nice that you feel a personal attachment to Rubin and Hoffman and
> > you loved them as your icons. There will be a time when no one will be
> > alive to remember them and they will only be known as a wikipedia page.
> >
> > I'm not sure that there are many people like Hoffman in society at the
> > moment who are challenging our notions of what is acceptable for the
> human
> > race and the planet. And if they are, there is usually a process of
> > monetizing it in some way.
> >
> > The only person I can think of right now is Medea Benjamin from Code Pink
> > who might be an equivalent. Interestingly (speaking of wikipedia pages)
> it
> > says about them:
> >
> > "Code Pink often uses intrusive, political street theater to publicize
> its
> > positions. Favored methods include the use of puppets, effigies,
> over-sized
> > heads, and fake blood, according to John J. Tierney in a publication of
> the
> > conservative think tank, Capital Research Center."
> >
> > I find it interesting that a conservative think tank describes their
> > "favored methods."  That is a very strange phrase.
> >
> > The way I know them and has been most effective, which is how I know
> about
> > them, is that they attend a hearing and they stand up and yell out their
> > objections and their love for their country as they are being escorted
> out
> > of the room. I never saw fake blood in these televised objections, but
> > figure that is likely one element of many in their art palette in their
> > "stage theater".
> >
> > When every country on the planet allows women in pink t-shirts to stand
> up
> > and yell without arresting and/or maiming and/or killing them, it will
> be a
> > great day indeed.
> >
> > I think I can say Hoffman's life could fill the Eagles song lyric,
> because
> > time has a way of bringing out what is tragic and beautiful in the same
> > place. Despair is a legitimate response to what was going on back then.
> > Seems to me that you were threading the needle, and you have lived to
> tell
> > it.
> >
> > I certainly hope you aren't taking the stance of General MacArthur about
> > old soldiers fading away...
> >
> > Kind regards,
> >
> > Annalisa
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>



-- 
It is the dilemma of psychology to deal as a natural science with an object
that creates history. Ernst Boesch.