Encounters in Performance Philosophy

Abstract

"Encounters in Performance Philosophy is a collection of 14 essays by international scholars and practitioners from across the disciplines of Philosophy, Literature and Theatre and Performance Studies, addressing the nature of the relationship between philosophy and performance. The essays cover a wide range of concerns common to performance and philosophy including: the body, language, performativity, mimesis and tragedy. The essays introduce and demonstrate the vitality of the emerging field of Performance Philosophy today, but they also provide thorough analyses of the rich history of thinking and practice that this new field inherits. Chapters engage with the work of theatrical philosophers and philosophical theatre makers from the ancient, modern and contemporary periods. Topics addressed include the work of Socrates, Plato, Nietzsche, Deleuze, J.L. Austin, Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger and Lacoue-Labarthe; explored in relation to practices from Greek tragedy and Shakespeare, music and actor training, to experimental theatre and site-specific performance"--The Publisher. Beginnings. Introduction / Laura Cull and Alice Lagaay -- What is performance philosophy? Performance philosophy -- staging a new field / Laura Cull -- Performing the impossible in philosophy / Alice Lagaay in conversation with Alice Koubová -- On the stage. The problem of the ground: Martin Heidegger and site-specific performance / Martin Puchner -- The face and the profile / Denis Guénoun -- On the actor. 'Bodies of knowledge': conceptualizing the art of acting / Freddie Rokem -- The most mimetic animal: an attempt to deconstruct the actor's body / Esa Kirkkopelto -- On the body in/of performance philosophy. The theatre of the virtual: how to stage potentialities with Merleau-Ponty / Emmanuel Alloa -- Staging philosophy: toward a performance of immanent expression / Arno Böhler -- The gymnastics of thought: Elsa Gindler's networks of knowledge / Katja Rothe -- On performativity and language. Connecting performance and performativity: does it work? / Sybille Krämer -- Downscaling lamentation: on trope and fratricide / Nimrod Reitman -- On tragedy. Thinking about philosophy and drama today: three proposals / Paul A. Kottman -- After tragedy / Jean-Luc Nancy -- Endings. The last human venue: closing time / Alan Read.