22.04. ‐ 27.04.2025

HYPER, HYPER. LICHTER AGORA

*_OPEN DISCUSSION FORUM (GERMAN/ENGLISCH)_* Fake world meets true scientists: At the LICHTER AGORA young philosophers and scientists from the Cluster of Excellence "Normative Orders" and Goethe University Frankfurt/Main discuss truth and its significance for politics and contemporary history. The starting point for the three sessions is the BBC documentary “HyperNormalisation” (Adam Curtis, 2016). Selected film excerpts provide impulses for the open discussion forum. The setting of the interdisciplinary exchange invites the audience to debate as equals with the guests of AGORA. h2. SESSION 1: ENGINEERING THE WORLD? – THE CONCEPT OF TRUTH IN PSYCHOANALYSIS AND ITS IMPORTANCE FOR EMANCIPATORY POLITICS The discovery of the subconscious has revolutionised the access to the psyche: Sigmund Freud has shown that a considerable proportion of the inner life withdraws from the knowledge and control of the conscious will, and that man is more than the mere combined effect of bio-chemical processes. The symptoms of human suffering rather refer to a subconscious mind, which must be understood in the context of the patient's life history. Patients must therefore undergo a process of reflection in order to shed light onto the disfigured meaning of their suffering. This ideational realisation should enable more autonomy. Not only in medicine, but also in philosophy, the discovery and theory of the unconscious continuously challenged traditional models and concepts. The social philosopher *JOHANNES RÖSS* (Cluster of Excellence "Normative Orders") discusses the challenges of psychoanalysis for philosophical theories of truth. Following this, political theorist *JONATHAN KLEIN* (Cluster of Excellence "Normative Orders") transfers the motives of psychoanalysis to a thinking of political practice and illuminates the socio-emancipatory force of truth. The polictical scientist *HOLGER MARCKS* (Cluster of Excellence "Normative Orders") forges a bridge to *HYPER NORMALISATION* and provides an overview to the most poignant themes and questions arising from the film. h2. SESSION 2: THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE – CONNECTIONS AND DISCONNECTIONS BETWEEN TRUTH AND REALITY Simplifying explanations of the world have not only been regarded highly since Pegida, AfD and Donald Trump. Frankfurt-based social scientists *ENDRE DÁNYI* and *SEBASTIAN SCHINDLER* (Cluster of Excellence "Normative Orders") analyse conspiracy theories and their lure for individuals and society (in English): _Does everything connect? Conspiracy theories suggest so, but so do many social scientific approaches. Sociologist Endre Dányi suggests the main challenge is whether we can distinguish between different kinds of connections. Why do we tend to perceive reality as disconnected from truth? Taking inspiration from Hannah Arendt, political scientist Sebastian Schindler argues that we should not accept that reality is fake._ h2. SESSION 3: POST-TRUTH, FACTS & FICTION – WHAT AFTER FACTS? In a "plea for stupidity," the political scientist *NICKY MÜHLHÄUSER* shows why truth is impossible. The philosopher from Frankfurt, *SVEN ZEDLITZ*, is concerned with how new counter-publicness are formed that shake political power relations. And *MARCUS DÖLLER* (Cluster of Excellence "Normative Orders"), likewise a philosopher, calls into play an aesthetic perspective by illuminating the relationship between truth and illusion in film. *Hosts*: *STEFANIE PLAPPERT and SEBASTIAN LÄSSLE* _"Adam Curtis looks for correlations and causalities in “HyperNormalisation” and asks about the conditions for how our perception of the world could have changed."_ (Wired)

More information Lichter FilmfestLichter Filmfest

Year 2017
Language german/english


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