Adam Blatner

Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner

Philosophy-Poetry-Cartoon Art

Originally posted on July 25, 2013

I think that things have changed in a fundamental way: People have become empowered to think more actively, flagrantly, to articulate that which used to be taboo. This has been catalyzed by the emergence of “transgressive art,” art that transgresses rules of rationality and decorum, in cartoons, comics, comedians, some television, and less so, but not insignificantly, the “re-mythification” of movies, DVDs, and video games. In other words, “reality” is up for grabs. The idea of a consensus is more and more frequently being shot full of holes from angles where we didn’t even expect a shooter.

For example, consider this question: What if this were the last day of your life? How would you live it? Here’s one angle, from Charles Schulz’ Peanuts collection, re-run May 2001:

:lastdayoflif1lastdayoflif2

So what are the rules, anymore? I’m considering questioning the basic rules of philosophy, that they follow rationality. I think that can be done in the middle range, but beyond a certain point—say, when trying to explain everything, maybe 60%—I think it’s necessary to veer off from pure rationality and edge into comedy, paradox, poetry, sentimentality, drama, and so forth. This is because mind is becoming more recognized as a big element in reality, in philosophy, and combine this not just with Freud, but a ton of research in psychology that owes nothing to Freud: The mind is profoundly non-rational, and this is reflected in many aspects of its thinking, linguistically, socially, aesthetically, sentimentally, and in many other ways. More as I reflect further. Your comments are welcome.


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