17 January 2007
I just got back from Berlin. As the worldwide consensus goes: Berlin is the place. And it's true, really, there is something about Berlin that makes it edgy in the right way. I've been in Berlin a couple of times now and if every trip had a different theme, this time it would evolve around Renaissance, paintings and museums. All with a twist though: the experienced paintings were still framed in the rough, say postmodern, feel of Berlin. It added a layer of classicism to the experiences of the hip-hip, the suave. But then the ugly question is: what is this something about Berlin? Maybe one of the things that makes Berlin the place to be is this juxtaposition of glory and wasteland with bygone primes still feeling anew and alive (punkers, hippies and other rewinds do not seem to search for the past as they would in NL but they have found it and shed off all nostalgia with a beer and a wurst). But then again, asking this question is exactly what makes one outside the city and not within. Anyway, there is phat chance I will be studying there next year and I look forward to become someone in Berlin instead of something about Berlin.
Posts
Firstly, of the ivory tower of philosophy. I am convinced that philosophy is not necessarily an ivory tower. In different parts of the world, in Latin America and some Asian countries for example, philosophy is successfully modified to serve everyday struggle for justice and democracy. The fact that the notion of philosophy as an ivory tower emerges mostly in Europe leads me to wonder if the notion is one of the discontents of (Western) democracy and civilisation.
Secondly, of the disconnectedness between reading books and the awareness of the surroundings. You are right in that the former distracts you from the latter. However, a genuine act of doing philosophy for social improvement always involves three close-knit continual stages: social involvement/action (surroundings)- philosophical reflection (books, in some degree) - social reinvolvement (with a better grasp of the reality).
Any comment about these?
All the best,
Toni