Towards an ethics of "things" (as one trajectory/horizon for performance philosophy)

[Alice Lagaay]

BLANK AMNESIA! I find myself musing in the direction of an ethics of 'things' and wondering where to look for good sources/inspiration on this notion/horizon. Any ideas? You friendly experts on the planes of immanence, I'm sure you know what I need...HELP! What reading would you recommend? Could caring for things be a stringent consequence of PP? 

[Laura Cull]

This is very much something I am interested in too Alice - as is John. I think there will be quite a lot of useful stuff at the more radical ends of both animal studies and ecology, where the boundaries between animate and inanimate are questioned and hence, also the ethical demands that other kinds of things might place upon us.

For instance, we've both been meaning to read this book for a while : http://punctumbooks.com/titles/animal-vegetable-mineral-ethics-and-... 

and joy of joys, you can download it straight from the site.

Also, have you looked at much Bruno Latour? That would seem another obvious choice. 

Then there's also people like Jane Bennett on vibrant matter - but I'm not sure if she deals with ethics.

John will know better about this than me though - so I'll get him to reply too.

[Will Daddario]

This year's American Society for Theatre Research has a Working Group on "Objects and Things." I can send you their bibliography if you'd like. In addition to Bennett and Latour, the writings on Actor Network Theory are pretty interesting and might provide an entrance into an ethics of things. Check out Law and Hassard's Actor Network Theory and After.

[Laura Cull]

The obvious other direction is all the trendy object-oriented philosophy coming out from Graham Harman and the like. It strikes me that it's not as new as it thinks it is - given that Bennett/Latour/Appadurai were all there first - but still probably of interest on this topic.

[Eero Laine]

It's probably already on your list, but The Speculative Turn: Continental Materialism and Realism, edited by Graham Harman, Nick Srnicek, and Levi Bryant is a recent snapshot of object oriented philosophy. Many of the essays engage Latour, but even more directly engage Meillassoux.

Sorry, I'm new here. Is it possible to collaboratively assemble a reading list/bibliography with the tools on this site?

[Alice Lagaay]

Many thanks - and thanks to everyone! - for all these helpful pointers. 

I think what I'm trying to trace is how the trajectory/dynamics of thinking through performativity appears to move - perhaps in something of a disturbing way - from placing an emphasis on the human voice (albeit an already de-subjectified, general, voice, I would argue) in speech acts, to underlining the curiously rythmic and "neutral" - yet potent and affective - nature of events (ereignis). Part of this process implies a curious subjectification of things/objects (just as the human voice becomes objectified), such that they might begin, in their own way to speak. Ecological and eco-phenomenological questions may naturally arise as a consequence, though they are not my primary concern.

On a very every day level, things challenge me like nothing else (disappearing when I most need them, swamping me, overtaking the space when there is already so little). It's a constant battle to find some sort of harmony with them. I struggle endlesslessly and hopelessly with the necessity - and futility - of tidying up! And wondered if there was a philosopher out there who shared my plight and might even help!

 

[Drew Milne]

Might not be quite what you have in mind, but one type of thing that might be said to carry ethical burdens, is clothing, and clothing as it becomes costume or a thing in performance is another type of thing. In their book 'Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory' (Cambridge University Press), Ann Rosalind Jones and Peter Stallybrass acknowledge the weight or burden of coping with the clothes of a dead friend and thinking through the way clothes carry memories of their lost wearers. Nothing obviously ethical or philosophical is stated in their explorations – it isn't a book of theory – but perhaps the more suggestive because of this.... and there's an array of Renaissance scholarship concerned with the different of things as cultural matters in early modern culture that allow for shifts of perspective on more recent cultures.

best wishes,

Drew

[Diego Pellecchia]

Hello, this might not have to do with speech or voice in general, but Japanese classical arts such as tea ceremony put much emphasis on an ethical treatment of 'inanimate' objects (e.g. the tea tools). This might stem from a spiritual or quasi-religious belief that all objects 'have a soul' (if you allow the expression), hence they shall be treated appropriately. There is a wealth of literature on this, but anyway if you are interested in a general treatment of the topic from a Japanese perspective I would like to suggest suggest the recent 'Everyday Aesthetics' by Saito Yuriko (Oxford 2007).

[Alice Lagaay]

Thanks for this, Diego. I will definitely look into it. Meanwhile I have begun, albeit tentatively, to delve into Bruno Latour and Graham Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology. There's also Silvia Benso's Levinas-inspired "Face of Things" and a whole movement in 'eco-phenomenology' (ted toadvine et al) to get one's head around....The question then becomes how this might (or might not) relate to performance in any sort of helpful sense, but I'm not there yet! Will post any sudden insights - or more likely questions -  as they come! Tea certainly sounds like a good idea in the meantime...

 

[Marija Krtolica]

Ethical questions in relationship to institutional power, economical priorities, and fear have been coming up for me lately with disorienting intensity. Since, I am affraid of escaping into empty moralizing to avoid pessimism, I find that close readings of history from as many  angles as possible, on one hand, and of those philosophers who were not embarassed to approach the thematic cliches such as good and evil, and truth and power, proves necessary for the conscious continuation of labor, and creative life. So I recommend, looking into Foucault's analysis of truth, identity and humanism (essays Truth and Power; On the Genealogy of Ethics; Man and his Doubles in Les mots et les choses, and of course Subjectivity and Truth).  Also, more on the unambiguosly Marxist side, I recommend Ethics-An Essay on the Understanding Evil by Alain Badiou.

In terms of bridging particularity of specific subjectivities and grand narratives of today, brought about by unique  historical and political events of the 20th century, which we still do not comprehend, and thus tend to sublimate, represent or even worse imitate,  I recently discovered plays by German author Elfride Jelinek. Hope this helps!

 

[Jenn Cole]

There is also the autobiography by Annie Ernaux in which she and her partner write through her cancer treatments by making love and then photographing the piles of clothing, as they were left on the surfaces of their home... sometimes the thing is the thing through which.... 

Drew Milne said:

Might not be quite what you have in mind, but one type of thing that might be said to carry ethical burdens, is clothing, and clothing as it becomes costume or a thing in performance is another type of thing. In their book 'Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory' (Cambridge University Press), Ann Rosalind Jones and Peter Stallybrass acknowledge the weight or burden of coping with the clothes of a dead friend and thinking through the way clothes carry memories of their lost wearers. Nothing obviously ethical or philosophical is stated in their explorations – it isn't a book of theory – but perhaps the more suggestive because of this.... and there's an array of Renaissance scholarship concerned with the different of things as cultural matters in early modern culture that allow for shifts of perspective on more recent cultures.

best wishes,

Drew