Ποιειν Και Πραττειν - create and do

Second Plenary Session: Introduction into the Fifth Seminar

Second Plenary Session: Introduction into the Fifth Seminar - chaired by Dr. Diane Waller

with following speakers:

Content

Introduction

  1. Urban place and flow: Towards a Culture of Ambivalence by Andre Loeckx, Architect, Leuven
  2. The Effect of Increasing Internationalisation: The Separation of Culture from State - by Liana Sakelliou-Schultz, Poetess, Professor, Athens
  3. The Silence of the Intellectuals and the Need for New Actions - by Eugene van Itterbeek, Poet, Former General Secretary of the Poetry House 'Seven Sleepers' in Leuven
  4. The Myth of Europe - by Hatto Fischer, writer, poet, Athens/Berlin

Introduction by Hatto Fischer

Sometimes value premises are set in due course of critical dialogues about the nature of the 'subject matter'; sometimes students of philosophy are bewildered to locate the contradiction - in the concept, between concept and reality, in reality - when the professor for philosophy drives a Porsche; sometimes the feeling of important moments in personal history are difficult to grasp and usually she is gone before the concept of love could mature. Seminars come and go, and before they have been grasped in terms of both content and intention, the people have to leave. They are already caught by time, in need to take their planes back home or else they drive by car through crowded streets and experience again scenes apparently far removed from what has just been said or heard at the seminar. At home, while listening to music, there are sometimes reminders of forlorn feelings when realising beautiful spots do not so easily re-occur. Sometimes new value premises have to be set before the sunset. Much poetry is linked to the concept of the Fifth Seminar. This plenary session followed some practical inclinations to let specific thematic and perspective approaches create the context for value premises to be not only developed, but also to be considered if it is to come to 'cultural actions' by the European Union meant to improve upon the cultural setting within Europe itself.

The four axioms are the following:

Adherence is a matter of staying loyal to questions of truth and honesty. E. Husserl, the philosopher of phenomenology, admitted this is the most difficult question of all to deal with. Human understanding depends, however, upon the fact that honest information is given. It means orientation, feed-back and being free to know what is taking place in reality. Culturally speaking, it adds up to becoming political in a practical sense. There is nevertheless a confusion as to the term 'political' in conjunction with practical, equally creative; it is that form of living, working and expressing which makes things possible. Such an adherence to truth is really being personal, that is present. It means the liberation from ideology, in order to come back to the questions which need to be decided upon.

The intention was to provide a context within which proposals for 'cultural actions' has a definite meaning. The following four papers are not so much 'regulative' principles, as much more reminders of what is worthwhile to adhere to while thinking about practical issues in related, specific subject fields taken up after this Second Plenary by the ten workshops of the Fifth Seminar.

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