Action, corporal & symbolical interaction, Perception and Philodrama, ICPP2021

Mike Roth, Neil Horne, Regina Penner “SinnPraxis” is a philosophical practice in the South-West of Germany close to Switzerland and Mike Roth is on the board of the a professional network philopraxis.ch. For a panel organized by Lydia Amir July 27th at ICPP2021 Philosophical Practice and the Arts Mike Roth had put together this contribution PHILODRAMA in philosophical practice? Drama happens at the beginning of the European philosophical tradition. The death of Socrates is the kernel of a tragedy and the comedy of Aristophanes, THE CLOUDS, - staring: the philosopher - is a stepping-stone to it. The German word for >drama< is SchauSpiel. Let us start with the second half. >Spiel< as in Wittgenstein´s SprachSPIEL (language-game) refers to an interaction, and in turn, >acting< can be used as a translation for >Schauspielerei<, what actresses / actors do in the theater (im Schauspielhaus) or in a film. The first part of the compound word >SchauSpiel< bears similarity to (a) “show”. Most of this seems to be relevant to some degree to philodrama as a philosophical practice. My example in the following snapshot and its connection to a quote from a famous painting (The Death of Socrates, DAVID 1787) may also be understood as a TALKING SOCIAL SCULPTURE.

I propose the format of philodrama to re-liquefy philosophy (its history primarily as a collection of written texts) in shared philosophising. Re-enacting the image as a living sculpture:

Jo Magrean observed this through the lens of his video-camera and directed our set-up so that everyone playing a role was "in the picture". This is clearly visible in the first part of the video. Setting the stage and recruiting participants go hand in hand here. The cameraman gives the signal and the PHILODRAMA WITH SOCRATES begins freestyle (transcribed & translated here -with slight changes- are 3 min of recorded 8 ½ min): Flee shall I, O Kriton? Flee, while there is time! 5.30 We are in no hurry. Look: here is the cup. The Athenians want me to leave this life. But you know you still have a chance - -the chance to drink this cup. That is the law. But your fellow citizens, they still need you! You have listened to me a lot, O Kriton. Did I not say that one must think of one's own soul? To strive for a good life? Think of yourself! O Socrates, but here is the last possibility. 6.26 Sure, the law speaks for you and against you. But we need You here in Athens - even longer! O friends, why did I send away this Xanthippe and my son that we might not complain but philosophise? Only now do I understand you, O Socrates! https://streaming.uni-konstanz.de/talks-und-events/2018/philodrama/ This live event Philodrama Socrates happened at an intervision gathering of the Internationale Gesellschaft für Philosophische Praxis (IGPP). The participants were colleagues active in philosophical practice. From Athens of the sophists and Socrates 399 BC to Paris-Existentialism! Re-enacting an early move towards Existentialist Philosophy in Mike Roth´s workshop at ICPP-online in 2021 had to overcome limitations. The three performers were in South Ural, New South Wales / Australia & central Europe, therefore living in different time-zones. But we were united in our shared interest in developing and experiencing new formats of philosophizing and sharing experiential philosophical practice!

Philodrama SANTé ! A ron B eauvoir S artre 1932 in Paris Neil (ARON) A U S T R A L I A– Regina (Beauvoir) R U S S I A – Mike (Sartre & REGIE) EU SANTé ! Welcome at the EXISTENTIALIST CAFÉ philo E N J O Y and DO PHILOSOPHY ! (Let the three do the first round. Interruptions welcome in the second round!) A: …up to now philosophers have put forward abstract theories – B: …and the German phenomenologists-? A: For phenomenologists, the object of philosophy is life itself ! S: As we live it –? A: Moment by moment Santé! (A-B-S are sipping apricot cocktails) A: In the process, phenomenological "reduction" (Husserl) fades out what philosophical questions and answers have been since Plato ... S: for example? A: Whether things are real, whether we have certain knowledge of anything... B: and what is philosophised about instead? A: We humans have always been thrown into a world in which many things appear to us - the phenomena. Let us look at what presents itself to us and describe it as precisely as possible. So, as phenomenologists, - B: we might think about our apricot cocktails... S: and make philosophy out of it! A – B -S: SANTé - The quote from the philodrama Santé stops here and philosophizing may start from here anew. See Neil Horne further down. A German version as printed below was used in our philosophical practice midsummer meeting, celebrating the first live coming together after a long time of online. Both BAKEWELL 2017, p.2 and EILENBERGER 2020, p.71 take that passage from Simone de Beauvoir (La Force de l'âge. Gallimard, Paris 1960, p. 141– that is 28 years after the event. Sarah Bakewell therefore introduces Arons words with, ”Aron may have been saying something like this”, thereby encouraging philodrama-performing. In Beauvoir there is only this sentence: Tu vois, …, si tu es phénoménologue, tu peux parler de ce cocktail, et c`est de la philosophie! - You see, ..., if you are a phenomenologist, you can talk about this cocktail, and that's philosophy! How may this be understood? In what way can philodrama be a way towards understanding, approving or rejecting? A video from the 2021 workshop will be available. It contains the clip of philodrama Socrates 2017 and the Husserl-passage of the video on our colleague Leon de Haas´ lecture CONTEMPORARY SOCRATES ICPP2020. See also: Leon de Haas -In Memoriam 1949-2020- David Sumiacher, Exploring Each Other’s Way in Philosophical Practice: A Dialogue, Philosophical Practice, July 2021, 16.2: 2682-88 Neil Horne, https://dotatelier.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-reality-of-perception.html triggered by our philodrama Santé on Beauvoir, Sartre & phenomenology