John Ó Maoilearca
I am interested in exploring the limits (and whether there are any) of what can be placed, and performed, under the category of 'philosophy'. The kind of philosophy that interests me has always involved thinking beyond traditional parameters and transgressing essentialist definitions. My recent research is focused on the performative dimension of philosophy – philosophy being that which one does, that which one names ‘philosophy’. It is a ‘bottom up’, extensional characterisation, one that is empirically based on the actuality of experiences that only nominate themselves ‘philosophical’ a posteriori. I call myself a ‘European Philosopher’ only in as much as the tradition of European philosophy over the last one hundred years has never had a fixed definition of what it is, but rather takes pleasure in endlessly forming hybrid interdisciplines with literature, visual art, linguistics, physics, mathematics, biology, anthropology, and so on. Its tradition is anti-tradition. My own work on diagrams, film, animals, and (most recently) mysticism, exemplifies the idea that the sites for philosophical thought (or what comes to be named philosophical thought) are increasingly disparate and multiple.
Here is quote from Bergson that I've always loved and that captures a good deal of what I'm trying to do in philosophy:
'If there is one science of nature (and Kant seems to have no doubt of it), if all phenomena and all objects are spread on one and the same plane, so as to produce a unique, continuous experience that is entirely on the surface (and such is the constant hypothesis of the Critique of Pure Reason), then there is only one type of causality in the world, all phenomenal causality implies rigorous determination and it is necessary to search for freedom outside of experience. But if there is not one science but several sciences of nature, if there is not one scientific determinism but several scientific determinisms of unequal rigor, then it is necessary to distinguish between different planes of experience; experience is no more simply on the surface, it also extends into the depths (Mélanges, pp.493-494)'.
And here are two quotes from An Introduction to Metaphysics that should be added to the above:
'Philosophy can only be an effort to transcend the human condition'
'True empiricism is the true metaphysics'
And finally a quote that combines this distension of experience to a reversal of Kantianism in order to renew philosophy:
'Such is, in truth, the ordinary course of philosophy: we start from what we take to be experience, we attempt various possible arrangements of the fragments which apparently compose it, and when at last we feel bound to acknowledge the fragility of every edifice that we have built, we end by giving up all effort to build. But there is a last enterprise that might be undertaken. It would be to seek experience at its source, or rather, above that decisive turn where, taking a bias in the direction of our utility, it becomes properly human experience' (Matter and Memory, p.184)
Here is quote from Bergson that I've always loved and that captures a good deal of what I'm trying to do in philosophy:
'If there is one science of nature (and Kant seems to have no doubt of it), if all phenomena and all objects are spread on one and the same plane, so as to produce a unique, continuous experience that is entirely on the surface (and such is the constant hypothesis of the Critique of Pure Reason), then there is only one type of causality in the world, all phenomenal causality implies rigorous determination and it is necessary to search for freedom outside of experience. But if there is not one science but several sciences of nature, if there is not one scientific determinism but several scientific determinisms of unequal rigor, then it is necessary to distinguish between different planes of experience; experience is no more simply on the surface, it also extends into the depths (Mélanges, pp.493-494)'.
And here are two quotes from An Introduction to Metaphysics that should be added to the above:
'Philosophy can only be an effort to transcend the human condition'
'True empiricism is the true metaphysics'
And finally a quote that combines this distension of experience to a reversal of Kantianism in order to renew philosophy:
'Such is, in truth, the ordinary course of philosophy: we start from what we take to be experience, we attempt various possible arrangements of the fragments which apparently compose it, and when at last we feel bound to acknowledge the fragility of every edifice that we have built, we end by giving up all effort to build. But there is a last enterprise that might be undertaken. It would be to seek experience at its source, or rather, above that decisive turn where, taking a bias in the direction of our utility, it becomes properly human experience' (Matter and Memory, p.184)
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Eric Alliez • Mark Antliff • Stella Baraklianou • Howard Caygill • Felicity Colman • James Day • Charlotte De Mille • Adi Efal • Jae Emerling • Craig Lundy • John Mullarkey • Simon O’Sullivan • Brendan Prendeville • Iris van der Tuin • Sarah Wilson
Refractions of Reality: Philosophy and the Moving Image is the first book to examine all the central issues surrounding the vexed relationship between the film-image and philosophy. In it, John Mullarkey tackles the work of particular philosophers and theorists (Zizek, Deleuze, Cavell, Bordwell, Badiou, Branigan, Rancière, Frampton, and many others) as well as general philosophical positions (Analytical and Continental, Cognitivist and Culturalist, Psychoanalytic and Phenomenological). Moreover, he also offers an incisive analysis and explanation of several prominent forms of film theorising, providing a
meta- logical account of their mutual advantages and deficiencies that will prove immensely useful to anyone interested in the details of particular theories of film presently circulating, as well as correcting, revising, and re- visioning the field of film theory as a whole.
Throughout, Mullarkey asks whether the reduction of film to text is unavoidable. In particular: must philosophy (and theory) always transform film into pre-texts for illustration? What would it take to imagine how film might itself theorise without reducing it to standard forms of thought and philosophy? Finally, and fundamentally, must we change our definition of philosophy and even of thought itself in order to accommodate the specificities that come with the claim that film can produce philosophical theory? If a 'non-philosophy' like film can think philosophically, what does that imply for orthodox theory and philosophy?
'This book, in some sense, brings to an end a certain phase of film theorizing and instead looks toward something quite new: how theories have been written and how they may be written, how they fall into types, how these types are filling out not a logical grid but a grid of the anxieties we feel, and the defenses we erect toward the everyday. A wonderful, ground-breaking book.' - Edward Branigan (University of California, Santa Barbara), author of Projecting a Camera: Language-Games in Film Theory and Narrative Comprehension and Film
'Highly original both in its concern for avoiding the illustrative approach generally favoured by philosophers, and in the speculative ambition that looms behind the critical edge of its readings of contemporary film- philosophers. The very question "when does the film itself happen?" is a fundamental one, which is rarely addressed. Mullarkey is opening the door to a brand new type of philosophical engagement with films.' - Elie During (Université de Paris X-Nanterre), author of Matrix: Machine philosophique
'Mullarkey brings an informed, critical view to a number of theories from both the Continental tradition (his specialization) and the Anglo-American tradition...Refractions of Realisty is an original and valuable contribution to the field of film philosophy...It is perhaps most valuable in its highly successful dislocation of the rigid, myopic perspective of so many contemporary theories' - Joseph Mai, Notre Dame Philosophy Reviews
In pursuit of this reading, our intent is also to reintroduce a philosopher with seminal views in the metaphysics of space and time, philosophy of mind, philosophy of biology, sociobiology, ethics, ontology and metaphilosophy and to do so by reading each of his seven major works in the light of these contemporary philosophical issues. These twin tasks are tackled following the chronological order of Bergson’s published work: Chapter One examines the nature of space and time as it is set out in Time and Free Will; Chapter Two looks at the philosophy of mind in Matter Memory and the essays collected subsequently in Mind-Energy; Chapter Three, the theory of biological evolution in Creative Evolution; and Chapter Four, the sociobiology and ethical theory of the Two Sources of Morality and Religion. Each of these first four chapters is devoted to examining one of his works against the background of current debate within its respective field. Thereafter, the study takes a more problem driven direction, Chapter Five examining the role of ethics throughout Bergson’s thought, taking a reading of Duration and Simultaniety as its guide. Chapter Six follows the same broad approach, though it tackles ontological questions emerging from his philosophy of novelty. Chapters Seven and Eight focus in conclusion on Bergson’s methodology and metaphilosophy as they are mostly found in the last of his works, The Creative Mind.
Essays
[This essay in twinned with Metaphysical Alter-Egos: Matheson, Dunne and the View From Somewhere]
[This essay is twinned with The Defragmenting Image: Stories in Cinematic Time Travel]
Contributors
Eric Alliez • Mark Antliff • Stella Baraklianou • Howard Caygill • Felicity Colman • James Day • Charlotte De Mille • Adi Efal • Jae Emerling • Craig Lundy • John Mullarkey • Simon O’Sullivan • Brendan Prendeville • Iris van der Tuin • Sarah Wilson
Refractions of Reality: Philosophy and the Moving Image is the first book to examine all the central issues surrounding the vexed relationship between the film-image and philosophy. In it, John Mullarkey tackles the work of particular philosophers and theorists (Zizek, Deleuze, Cavell, Bordwell, Badiou, Branigan, Rancière, Frampton, and many others) as well as general philosophical positions (Analytical and Continental, Cognitivist and Culturalist, Psychoanalytic and Phenomenological). Moreover, he also offers an incisive analysis and explanation of several prominent forms of film theorising, providing a
meta- logical account of their mutual advantages and deficiencies that will prove immensely useful to anyone interested in the details of particular theories of film presently circulating, as well as correcting, revising, and re- visioning the field of film theory as a whole.
Throughout, Mullarkey asks whether the reduction of film to text is unavoidable. In particular: must philosophy (and theory) always transform film into pre-texts for illustration? What would it take to imagine how film might itself theorise without reducing it to standard forms of thought and philosophy? Finally, and fundamentally, must we change our definition of philosophy and even of thought itself in order to accommodate the specificities that come with the claim that film can produce philosophical theory? If a 'non-philosophy' like film can think philosophically, what does that imply for orthodox theory and philosophy?
'This book, in some sense, brings to an end a certain phase of film theorizing and instead looks toward something quite new: how theories have been written and how they may be written, how they fall into types, how these types are filling out not a logical grid but a grid of the anxieties we feel, and the defenses we erect toward the everyday. A wonderful, ground-breaking book.' - Edward Branigan (University of California, Santa Barbara), author of Projecting a Camera: Language-Games in Film Theory and Narrative Comprehension and Film
'Highly original both in its concern for avoiding the illustrative approach generally favoured by philosophers, and in the speculative ambition that looms behind the critical edge of its readings of contemporary film- philosophers. The very question "when does the film itself happen?" is a fundamental one, which is rarely addressed. Mullarkey is opening the door to a brand new type of philosophical engagement with films.' - Elie During (Université de Paris X-Nanterre), author of Matrix: Machine philosophique
'Mullarkey brings an informed, critical view to a number of theories from both the Continental tradition (his specialization) and the Anglo-American tradition...Refractions of Realisty is an original and valuable contribution to the field of film philosophy...It is perhaps most valuable in its highly successful dislocation of the rigid, myopic perspective of so many contemporary theories' - Joseph Mai, Notre Dame Philosophy Reviews
In pursuit of this reading, our intent is also to reintroduce a philosopher with seminal views in the metaphysics of space and time, philosophy of mind, philosophy of biology, sociobiology, ethics, ontology and metaphilosophy and to do so by reading each of his seven major works in the light of these contemporary philosophical issues. These twin tasks are tackled following the chronological order of Bergson’s published work: Chapter One examines the nature of space and time as it is set out in Time and Free Will; Chapter Two looks at the philosophy of mind in Matter Memory and the essays collected subsequently in Mind-Energy; Chapter Three, the theory of biological evolution in Creative Evolution; and Chapter Four, the sociobiology and ethical theory of the Two Sources of Morality and Religion. Each of these first four chapters is devoted to examining one of his works against the background of current debate within its respective field. Thereafter, the study takes a more problem driven direction, Chapter Five examining the role of ethics throughout Bergson’s thought, taking a reading of Duration and Simultaniety as its guide. Chapter Six follows the same broad approach, though it tackles ontological questions emerging from his philosophy of novelty. Chapters Seven and Eight focus in conclusion on Bergson’s methodology and metaphilosophy as they are mostly found in the last of his works, The Creative Mind.
[This essay in twinned with Metaphysical Alter-Egos: Matheson, Dunne and the View From Somewhere]
[This essay is twinned with The Defragmenting Image: Stories in Cinematic Time Travel]