Small Revelations, … Maybe Not Even with an Apocalyptic Tone
This article tries to be funny in a very serious way, following Virginia Woolf’s call in <i>Three Guineas</i> that, in the face of man-made disasters, we may have to make fools of ourselves in relation to common sense. Apocalypses, such as the Anthropocene, climate change, and mass extin...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Humanities |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/10/4/128 |
| _version_ | 1797504021713387520 |
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| author | Anders E. Johansson |
| author_facet | Anders E. Johansson |
| author_sort | Anders E. Johansson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article tries to be funny in a very serious way, following Virginia Woolf’s call in <i>Three Guineas</i> that, in the face of man-made disasters, we may have to make fools of ourselves in relation to common sense. Apocalypses, such as the Anthropocene, climate change, and mass extinction require—like the Second World War that Woolf refused to simplify—a tentative search for knowledge, not controlling and predictable methods in the search for a solution. The article is based on how Jacques Derrida’s discussion with Immanuel Kant regarding how truth should sound before the apocalypse over the years has increasingly come to describe contemporary doxa, within which there is only room for mystagogues, who inaugurate followers in the “real truth” behind “fake news”, or scientisticists, who believe that facts and truth are the same thing. When Derrida shows how these two positions depend on each other, sharing the modern belief that knowledge is associated with development, boundaries and control, he also shows how this narrows knowledge down to the predictable, and, thus, makes it complicit with the mistaken efforts of control responsible for today’s challenges. Against this background, the article analyzes works by the artist, Eva Löfdahl, and links them with questions concerning connections between truth, knowledge, art, and science. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:58:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-971ac3793792491b89f3057ee0a4d83a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0787 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:58:41Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-971ac3793792491b89f3057ee0a4d83a2023-11-23T08:39:05ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872021-12-0110412810.3390/h10040128Small Revelations, … Maybe Not Even with an Apocalyptic ToneAnders E. Johansson0Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mid Sweden University, 851 70 Sundsvall, SwedenThis article tries to be funny in a very serious way, following Virginia Woolf’s call in <i>Three Guineas</i> that, in the face of man-made disasters, we may have to make fools of ourselves in relation to common sense. Apocalypses, such as the Anthropocene, climate change, and mass extinction require—like the Second World War that Woolf refused to simplify—a tentative search for knowledge, not controlling and predictable methods in the search for a solution. The article is based on how Jacques Derrida’s discussion with Immanuel Kant regarding how truth should sound before the apocalypse over the years has increasingly come to describe contemporary doxa, within which there is only room for mystagogues, who inaugurate followers in the “real truth” behind “fake news”, or scientisticists, who believe that facts and truth are the same thing. When Derrida shows how these two positions depend on each other, sharing the modern belief that knowledge is associated with development, boundaries and control, he also shows how this narrows knowledge down to the predictable, and, thus, makes it complicit with the mistaken efforts of control responsible for today’s challenges. Against this background, the article analyzes works by the artist, Eva Löfdahl, and links them with questions concerning connections between truth, knowledge, art, and science.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/10/4/128apocalypseAnthropocenescientismknowledgeart and science |
| spellingShingle | Anders E. Johansson Small Revelations, … Maybe Not Even with an Apocalyptic Tone Humanities apocalypse Anthropocene scientism knowledge art and science |
| title | Small Revelations, … Maybe Not Even with an Apocalyptic Tone |
| title_full | Small Revelations, … Maybe Not Even with an Apocalyptic Tone |
| title_fullStr | Small Revelations, … Maybe Not Even with an Apocalyptic Tone |
| title_full_unstemmed | Small Revelations, … Maybe Not Even with an Apocalyptic Tone |
| title_short | Small Revelations, … Maybe Not Even with an Apocalyptic Tone |
| title_sort | small revelations maybe not even with an apocalyptic tone |
| topic | apocalypse Anthropocene scientism knowledge art and science |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/10/4/128 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT andersejohansson smallrevelationsmaybenotevenwithanapocalyptictone |