Episode 104, 'Art and the Future' with Vid Simoniti (Part I - Art as Political Discourse)
The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast
Jack Symes | Andrew Horton, Oliver Marley, and Rose de Castellane
4.8 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 30 January 2022
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Introduction
If we want to improve our public discourse, we must aim to be as objective as possible. When we raise our consciousness and work towards clearing our minds of personal interests, political affiliations, and the sophistry of art, we grow closer to rationality and knowledge. Art, on the other hand, is nothing more than the overly excited offspring of objectivity: films, paintings, music, and dance contribute nothing unique to our understanding of the world. At worst, art muddies the waters of our discourse; at best, it merely reflects the insights of political philosophy and science.
Opposing this view – and championing the cognitive advantages of artworks as political discourse – is Dr Vid Simoniti, Lecturer in Philosophy of Art at the University of Liverpool. As well as being a rising star in the worlds of academic philosophy and art history, Dr Simoniti's work as a BBC New Generation Thinker – and his collaborations with public-facing projects such as the Liverpool bi-annual – is bringing conversations about art and philosophy into the public square.
When we enjoy a play at the theatre, rock our heads to a song on the radio, or wiggle the joysticks on our PlayStation controllers: does it leave us more attuned to how the world is? For Simoniti, in the context of art as political discourse, the answer is unequivocally 'yes'.
This episode is produced in partnership with the Philosophy and the Future project at the University of Liverpool. For more information about philosophy at Liverpool, head over to www.liverpool.ac.uk/philosophy.
Contents
Part I. Public Health
Part II. Further Analysis and Discussion
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If we want to improve our public discourse, we must aim to be as objective as possible. |
| 0:13.0 | When we raise our consciousness and work towards clearing our minds of personal interests, political affiliations and the sophistry of art, we grow closer to rationality |
| 0:22.3 | and knowledge. Art, on the other hand, is nothing more than the overly excited offspring of |
| 0:27.5 | objectivity. Films, paintings, music and dance contribute nothing unique to our understanding of the |
| 0:34.4 | world. At worst, art muddies the waters of our discourse. At best, |
| 0:38.9 | it merely reflects the insights of political philosophy and science. Opposing this view and championing |
| 0:44.3 | the cognitive advantage of artworks as political discourse is Dr. Vid Simoniti, lecturer in |
| 0:49.7 | philosophy of art at the University of Liverpool. As well as being a rising star in the worlds of academic philosophy and art history, |
| 0:56.6 | Dr. Simoniti's work as a BBC new generation thinker and his collaborations with public |
| 1:01.5 | facing projects, such as the Liverpool biannual, is bringing conversations about art and philosophy |
| 1:06.8 | into the public square. |
| 1:08.7 | When we enjoy a play at the theatre, rock our heads to a song on the radio, or wiggle the |
| 1:13.2 | joysticks on our PlayStation controllers, does it leave us more attuned to how the world is? |
| 1:18.4 | For Siminiti, in the context of art as political discourse, the answer is unequivocally yes. |
| 1:24.3 | Music yes. |
| 1:47.2 | Hello and welcome to episode 104 of the PanpsiCast. I'm the great enemy of truth, that is Jack Symes, |
| 1:51.8 | and I'm joined once again by the man who always suffers from the backfire effect. It's Mr. Oli |
| 1:57.7 | Hello. And the man practicing his intellectual gymnastics by debating whose turn it is to do the dishes, Dr. Vid Sanitti. Hi. Thanks very much for your very flattering |
| 2:02.6 | introduction, Oli. It's great to have you on the show, Vid. Before we get going, we'd like to say a big |
| 2:07.2 | thank you to the Philosophy and the Future Project at the University of Liverpool. The philosophy |
| 2:12.4 | and the future project explores the ethical, political, social, metaphysical and spiritual |
| 2:17.3 | implications of climate change, |
... |
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