Mahmoud Rasmi

Schelling's Naturphilosophie, which deals with the real side of the Idea being actualized, paves the way for a philosophy which would deal with the ideal side of the actualization of the Idea - hence the need to develop a philosophy of freedom, art and mythology. The reason for this is, Schelling argues, that humanity is the limit of nature, which is why philosophies like the philosophy of art, freedom and mythology would be the key to conceptualizing, and thereby understanding, how the absolute comes to consciousness of itself through nature as 'natura naturans'. This leap - from the real to the ideal side of creation-, even though is emergent, through which a whole new level of complexity is established on the evolutional line, has its foundation, nevertheless, in the 'lowest of creations.' Examined more closely, Schelling's concept of matter, which is not reduced to what is purely physical, becomes the building block for a unified, complex system by medium of which Consciousness in nature finally emerges in human beings. Therefrom, the role of human beings, as social agents who are, moreover, aesthetically sensible as to intentionally engage in aesthetic, artistic activity is to create imitating the dynamics of naturing of nature. The aesthetic activity is grounded in nothing other than matter, through which the Absolute returns back to unity by returning back to itself.

On the 19 th of June, 1990, West Germany National team was winning by one goal to nil against the Colombian National team. In the blink of an eye, the Colombian midfielder Carlos Valderrama passes the ball through five German players leaving Fredy Rincon alone with the goalkeeper to score a goal and lead Colombia through to the second round of the world cup. I could have mentioned many other football (soccer) examples whereby a player out of the blue creates a whole new space on the midfield leaving his teammate with enough room so as to either score or assist a goal. This example becomes interesting for us when we become aware of the dynamics of play in a football field whose boundaries are clearly defined beforehand. Even though the boundaries are fixed, the play-although more often than not turning out to be predictable-usually presents us with a certain combination of passes that eventually result in a novel outcome, as though the players on the field literally created a new space within the old one through which they could trespass on the opposing team's field and score a goal. In this paper, I will argue that the condition of possibility of the novel, of the novum, is the generation of a radically new space, whereby new possibilities would become actualized within the fixed boundaries of the football field. The condition of possibility of the novum, thus, would continuously have us hooked by the system of play, a game, which is never selfsame.

Siegfried Kracauer argues in »Film Theory« that in our contemporary world cinema, in the abundance of pure abstraction as exerted upon reality by the sciences and the different fields of arts and humanities, could be the very medium through which physical reality would eventually be redeemed from this predicament. Accordingly, he argues that the difference between cinema as an autonomous art and the other arts is that in the latter, the raw material that constitute the object of art is used as means to the end of the object intended to be created by the artist; whereas in cinema, that which is presented on the screen is the raw material itself. What the camera does, Kracauer affirms, is record physical reality in such a way as we might have not been able to view in a mundane life situation. In this paper I will, therefore, argue that cinema allows us to experience reality in a different way than we would have in real life due to the fragmentary nature of our lives. One example of poetic films that present us with such an organic image are those of the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky whereby the absolute is evoked in an image irreducible to the collection of its elements. The cinematic imagery, therefore, presents us with the flow of our world and calls for a return to »physical reality«. For Tarkovsky, this is characteristic of cinema which is able to alchemically transform the mundane into something alien to us.

On the 19th of June, 1990, West Germany was winning by one goal to nil against Colombia. In the blink of an eye, the Colombian midfielder Carlos Valderrama passes the ball through five German players leaving Fredy Rincon alone with the goalkeeper to score a goal and lead Colombia through to the second round of the World Cup. I could have mentioned many other football (soccer) examples in which a player creates a whole new space on the midfield out of the blue, leaving his teammate with enough room so as to either score or assist a goal. This example becomes interesting for us when we become aware of the dynamics of play in a football field the boundaries of which are clearly defined beforehand. Even though the boundaries are fixed, the play - even if more often than not it turns out to be predictable - usually presents us with a certain combination of passes that eventually result in a novel outcome, as though the players on the field literally created a new space within the old one through which they could trespass the opposing team’s field and score a goal. In this paper, I will argue that the condition of possibility of the novel, of the novum, is the generation of a radically new space, whereby new possibilities become actualized within the fixed boundaries of the football field. The condition of possibility of the novum, thus, would continuously have us smitten by the system of play, a game which is never selfsame.

Schelling's Naturphilosophie, which deals with the real side of the Idea being actualized, paves the way for a philosophy which would deal with the ideal side of the actualization of the Idea - hence the need to develop a philosophy of freedom, art and mythology. The reason for this is, Schelling argues, that humanity is the limit of nature, which is why philosophies like the philosophy of art, freedom and mythology would be the key to conceptualizing, and thereby understanding, how the absolute comes to consciousness of itself through nature as 'natura naturans'. This leap - from the real to the ideal side of creation-, even though is emergent, through which a whole new level of complexity is established on the evolutional line, has its foundation, nevertheless, in the 'lowest of creations.' Examined more closely, Schelling's concept of matter, which is not reduced to what is purely physical, becomes the building block for a unified, complex system by medium of which Consciousness in nature finally emerges in human beings. Therefrom, the role of human beings, as social agents who are, moreover, aesthetically sensible as to intentionally engage in aesthetic, artistic activity is to create imitating the dynamics of naturing of nature. The aesthetic activity is grounded in nothing other than matter, through which the Absolute returns back to unity by returning back to itself.

Link: http://www.newdigitalfrontiers.com/NDF/NDF_10/Data/Books/Admin20150429080848/Understanding_Matter_V1_preview.pdf

In this paper I shall introduce some of Schelling’s most important themes which figure in his Philosophy of Mythology in hopes of establishing a solid ground for the philosophy of mythology. Through this process, the conclusion of the paper will be as follows: Mythopoesis, as the ultimate form of artistic creation, is a way of expression to externalize an internal awareness of the myth creator. The creative process comprises of an ‘intercourse’ between a conscious intentional decision to create and an unconscious unintentional emanation which reflects a deeper awareness of the individual. The result of this development is an externalized mythological corpus which acts as an object of reflection for both the individual and the society. This object of art, hence, forms the organ of contemplation and reflection for the people in order to better understand themselves and their reality.

Thesis abstract:

The present thesis consists of a close examination and a thorough reading of Schelling’s Historical-Critical Introduction to the Philosophy of Mythology in order to grasp the ground of his call for a new mythology as the ultimate form of artistic creation. This, I hope, will serve as the basis for looking into the status quo of a possible philosophy of mythology. The objectives of the research include reaching a thorough understanding of how mythology – as an engaging artistic creation – has been perpetually present in the collective unconscious of the societies throughout the ages; nevertheless, it is not until we start to reflect upon the possibility of a philosophy of mythology that our awareness of mythological creation retroactively comes to the surface. There is a subtle difference between engaging and actively participating in creating myths, on the one hand; and intending to create a philosophy of mythology or reflecting about the existing ones in order to come up with a new one, respectively. This conclusion would lead the research to point out a difference between what could be called myth creation and the philosophy of mythology. Consequently, the conclusion would be that one cannot disengage from doing both actions at the same time: the act of actively creating and the act of reflecting upon the oeuvre to acquire a certain sense of awareness and understanding of that which one has created. This is a fluctuating process (although one that always reaches equilibrium) which drives humanity to a richer experience and an advanced process of knowledge acquisition and, thereby, evolution. Otherwise, art - insofar as it is a creative activity - would hence be ontologically insignificant, stripped of any possible meaning or value. For this reason, I would like to investigate the possibility that the cinema nowadays is the ultimate form of artistic creation and would therefore try to reach a possible philosophy of the cinema as the contemporary form of mythology.

http://hdl.handle.net/10366/128261

https://www.educacion.gob.es/teseo/mostrarRef.do?ref=1174728