skandalon

―What is a philosopher?
—That is perhaps an anachronistic question. But I will give a modern response. In the past one might have said it is a man who stands in wonder; today I would say, borrowing words from Georges Bataille, it is someone who is afraid.

✖ Via The Infinite Conversation by Maurice Blanchot, trans. Susan Hanson, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993, p. 49.

Here’s the original French version:

―Qu’est-ce qu’un philosophe?
―Voilà une question anachronique, peut-être. Mais j’y ferai une réponse moderne. Jadis l’on disait : c’est un homme qui s’étonne; aujourd’hui, je dirai, empruntant ce mot à Georges Bataille : c’est quelqu’un qui a peur. (L’entretien infini, éd. Gallimard, Paris, p. 70)

• Sep 05, 2010 link notes reblogged from georgesbataille [via] tagged: art book author Blanchot Bataille philosophy wonder fear anguish philosopher

There is nothing that man fears more than the touch of the unknown. He wants to see what is reaching towards him, and to be able to recognize or at least classify it. Man always tends to avoid physical contact with anything strange. In the dark, the fear of an unexpected touch can mount to panic. Even clothes give insufficient security: it is easy to tear them and pierce through to the naked, smooth, defenceless flesh of the victim.

All the distances which men create round themselves are dictated by this fear. They shut themselves in houses which noone may enter, and only there feel some measure of security. The fear of burglars is not only the fear of being robbed, but also the fear of a sudden and unexpected clutch out of the darkness.

✖ Via Crowds and Power by Elias Canetti, tr. Carol Stewart, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, [1960]1962, p. 15 (originally published as Masse und Macht, Hamburg: Claassen Verlag, 1960)

• Jul 13, 2010 link notes tagged: communication community relation touch fear together politic body skin society panic security immunity space distance protection defense aggresion environment crowd mass power Canetti

Everyman knows that he is stronger then certain of his fellows and weaker than others; that, living alone in a state of complete anarchy, he would be the scourge of the weaker and the victim of the stronger, and would live in perpetual fear. That is why in every society, even the crudest, the majority of men give up terrorizing the weaker so as to be less afraid of the stronger―such is the universal formula of social order.

✖ Via The Principles of Power: The Great Political Crises of History by Guglielmo Ferrero, trans. by Theodore R. Jaeckel, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1942, p. 32 (read a review of it on JSTOR)

As quoted in Communitas. The Origin and Destiny of Community by Roberto Esposito, trans. by Thimothy Campbell, Standford: Stanford University Press, [1998]2010, p. 24

• Jul 01, 2010 link notes tagged: communication community society social order fear power History weak strong Esposito

art communication technology interaction designer design poster information visualization data death fear anxiety statistics

✖ Via Information Is Beautiful: Susanna Hertrich’s Reality Check Device.

“The Reality Checking Device is a poetic information machine that stands in the tradition of the ancient Greek oracle. It confronts people with their own self and their personal anxieties. It helps to identify all those scenarios we really do not need to fear – despite being told the opposite by mass media.

The Reality Checking Device is a made for a society in which anxieties have become a lifestyle choice. This machine is a tangible information graphic that reveals the relationship between public outrage and actual danger in common risk scenarios. With this project I aim to explores the poetic, aesthetic and informative possibilities of personalised networked services that are directly responding to peoples’ hidden needs and desires.” (read more)

Susanna Hertrich is an “interaction designer temporarily based in Tokyo” : “My work centers on how what we believe, fear, think and how we act is altered by the technology around us. My designs aim to discuss the dilemmas of our existence mapped into new technological scenarios. I am particularly interested in exploring the social and psychological subtleties of the ‘mundane’.” (read more)

• Sep 23, 2009 link notes tagged: art communication technology interaction designer design poster information visualization data death fear anxiety statistics

art communication editorial humor machine photo photographer technology surveillance camera landscape nature fear

✖ Via David Zaitz: Homeland Security (main portofolio).

“David Zaitz is an advertising, corporate and travel photographer known for his quirky style of people/location imagery. An eternal wise-cracker with a buttoned-down approach, Zaitz enjoys the diverse range of clientele he has built. He’s based in Los Angeles, but travels extensively on assignment which makes driving the 405 freeway much more bearable. Zaitz’s clients include Doubletree Hotels, Esquire magazine, POM Wonderful, Wells Fargo Bank, Pedigree, Bank of America, Bridgestone Tires, Coca-Cola and Toyota.” (Altpick.com).

• Sep 07, 2009 link notes tagged: art communication editorial humor machine photo photographer technology surveillance camera landscape nature fear

✖ Via Encounters At The End Of The World, Werner Herzog, 2007

Can pingouins feel anxiety? Can they get freedom’s dizziness? Is there such a thing as a free pingouin? Those questions adress Kierkegaard’s conception of anxiety : “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom” (English // French)

UPDATE [May 4th, 2010] Anxiety is not anguish. And it’s not fear. In French, there’s a difference between “angoisse” (“anguish”) and “crainte”. “Crainte” is often translated as “fear” though there’s a French word for that : “peur”. Crainte” has to do with anticipation of something not desired, like going to the dentist… it’s not the same thing as “fear” which is usually linked to the knowledge or the perception of an immediate danger. The important thing is that “crainte” works with an objet as though “angoisse” (“anguish”) is without object (for Heidegger and for Simondon as well). Some have suggested that worry, anxiety and anguish are three degree of the same experience.

• Mar 10, 2009 link notes tagged: animal life lost movie philosophy sequence anxiety anguish fear anticipation freedom chaos choice worry Heidegger Simondon Kierkegaard