The protagonist of my study, George Santayana, by idealizing love and sublimating sexual desires,... more The protagonist of my study, George Santayana, by idealizing love and sublimating sexual desires, has become the author of an aesthetics of existence elevated to literature and philosophy. He made self-cultivation and a life of satisfying desires a philosophical problem. His life's work is based on aesthetics, but it cannot be clearly placed within either Pragmatism or Platonism. My interpretation of Santayana from the perspective of the philosophy of desire takes the philosopher out of the conservative interpretative framework. His philosophy was centred on sensory perception, and although he sought spiritualism through his Platonism, his The Sense of Beauty is based on pleasure. His personal life and individual motivations are a vague background to his poetry and theoretical writings, and it is therefore necessary to view his creative world as a whole.
Journal of Somaesthetics, Vol. 9 No. 1/2 (2023): Somaesthetic Self-Care and the Politics of Taste and Transformation/Methodologies for Exploring Embodiment and Aesthetics, 2024
It has been more than twenty-five years since Shusterman introduced somaesthetics in his book Pra... more It has been more than twenty-five years since Shusterman introduced somaesthetics in his book Practicing Philosophy: Pragmatism and the Philosophical Life. Since then the somaesthetic field has grown with many researchers working in its diverse fields, but Shusterman's own work has also evolved in different (and sometimes surprising) ways. This essay examines some of those ways by exploring an attempt to map them.
Közösségi Kapcsolódások - tanulmányok kultúráról és oktatásról
Folyóiratunk 2021. 1–2. számának szerzője, Horváth Nóra, és publikációjának egyik lektora, Mitnyá... more Folyóiratunk 2021. 1–2. számának szerzője, Horváth Nóra, és publikációjának egyik lektora, Mitnyán Lajos véleménykülönbségéből indul ki az alábbi közelítési kísérlet. Horváth Nóra Az átjárhatóság fogalmának jelentésrétegei Frenák Pál művészetében című tanulmánya és annak lektori véleményezése elsősorban művészeti alkotások és filozófiai nézetek közötti kapcsolat megragadásának és megítélésének, valamint a műalkotások elemzésének módszertani problematikáját vetette fel.
George Santayana is not one of the most famous, yet one of the few whose huge oeuvre offers diffe... more George Santayana is not one of the most famous, yet one of the few whose huge oeuvre offers different ways to explain his main notions in connection with a number of possible topics within philosophy. At first sight it takes a real challenge to choose Santayana as a central topic in contemporary research but later one can realize that the spaciousness of the Santayanan oeuvre can provide new opportunities of its interpretation in every time. Daniel Moreno with his doctoral dissertation on San...
The protagonist of my study, George Santayana, by idealizing love and sublimating sexual desires,... more The protagonist of my study, George Santayana, by idealizing love and sublimating sexual desires, has become the author of an aesthetics of existence elevated to literature and philosophy. He made self-cultivation and a life of satisfying desires a philosophical problem. His life's work is based on aesthetics, but it cannot be clearly placed within either Pragmatism or Platonism. My interpretation of Santayana from the perspective of the philosophy of desire takes the philosopher out of the conservative interpretative framework. His philosophy was centred on sensory perception, and although he sought spiritualism through his Platonism, his The Sense of Beauty is based on pleasure. His personal life and individual motivations are a vague background to his poetry and theoretical writings, and it is therefore necessary to view his creative world as a whole.
Journal of Somaesthetics, Vol. 9 No. 1/2 (2023): Somaesthetic Self-Care and the Politics of Taste and Transformation/Methodologies for Exploring Embodiment and Aesthetics, 2024
It has been more than twenty-five years since Shusterman introduced somaesthetics in his book Pra... more It has been more than twenty-five years since Shusterman introduced somaesthetics in his book Practicing Philosophy: Pragmatism and the Philosophical Life. Since then the somaesthetic field has grown with many researchers working in its diverse fields, but Shusterman's own work has also evolved in different (and sometimes surprising) ways. This essay examines some of those ways by exploring an attempt to map them.
Közösségi Kapcsolódások - tanulmányok kultúráról és oktatásról
Folyóiratunk 2021. 1–2. számának szerzője, Horváth Nóra, és publikációjának egyik lektora, Mitnyá... more Folyóiratunk 2021. 1–2. számának szerzője, Horváth Nóra, és publikációjának egyik lektora, Mitnyán Lajos véleménykülönbségéből indul ki az alábbi közelítési kísérlet. Horváth Nóra Az átjárhatóság fogalmának jelentésrétegei Frenák Pál művészetében című tanulmánya és annak lektori véleményezése elsősorban művészeti alkotások és filozófiai nézetek közötti kapcsolat megragadásának és megítélésének, valamint a műalkotások elemzésének módszertani problematikáját vetette fel.
George Santayana is not one of the most famous, yet one of the few whose huge oeuvre offers diffe... more George Santayana is not one of the most famous, yet one of the few whose huge oeuvre offers different ways to explain his main notions in connection with a number of possible topics within philosophy. At first sight it takes a real challenge to choose Santayana as a central topic in contemporary research but later one can realize that the spaciousness of the Santayanan oeuvre can provide new opportunities of its interpretation in every time. Daniel Moreno with his doctoral dissertation on San...
This is the English part of my new book on contemporary dance choreographer Pál Frenák.
Pál Fre... more This is the English part of my new book on contemporary dance choreographer Pál Frenák.
Pál Frenák is one of the most exciting contemporary dance choreographers of our time, a dancer/choreographer who defines the very basis of the development of contemporary dance in Hungary. He utilizes the energy found in sign language, used primarily by the deaf and the hard of hearing, and has earned his place in the annals of Hungarian dance history and indeed international recognition by developing a new movement language extremely specific to his work. His calling card with which he entered the world of contemporary dance is his work Tricks & Tracks, which premiered in 1999. This was his most recognizable choreography that contained the Frenákian style elements that continue to be used today. The organic language of movement, the dynamism that escalates to the extreme, both in movement and music, the almost cosy feeling of home in a chaotic system, the confrontation with the bare nakedness that symbolizes the self-acceptance of the individual, the use of specialist lighting technology that appears to fragment movement, the destabilizing of the dancers and thus the audiences, the conveying of the attraction to Japanese culture using certain inspirations from Butoh, the use of sign language, and the extraordinary ability to fuse bodies while in movement. These are the features that lend the truly unique style to the intellectual father of the Hungarian company that works with internationally renowned dancers, whose performances have been staged without interruption since 1991 both in Hungary and abroad. The high level of technical preparedness and the singular (peripheral, organic) choreographic language is able to reach audiences around the world. This is why his company, after numerous international tours, has staged performances of multiple productions simultaneously at Hungarian venues: the Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Müpa Budapest, the Hungarian State Opera, and the National Dance Theatre. (p.128.)
How can we, and from where is it even possible to begin to approach that special world that is the creature of Pal Frenak and what is the totality of his style and creations? When talking of Frenák’s world, I think of the artistic world that is far more expansive than an œuvre, the totality of a real and imaginary world of a man who uses the same essential characteristics to portray himself in all of his works. The communication system used by the deaf and the hard of hearing plays a cardinal role in his dance arts, as do the exaggerated and deformed gestures that are part of his organic language of movement and that are fundamentally built in the gestures used by sign language. He studies the energies in the use of the sign language of the deaf and hard of hearing. (p.142.)
As the problems of the creation of a unique world inspire a number of Frenák’s choreographic, it makes sense to approach the presentation of his works from the perspective of the characteristics of his unique world. In the case of artists who are able to convey the pieces of the mood to the same characteristic world in an authentic manner using their unique styles in all of the works, it can be assumed that they have a homogeneous aesthetics of existence with deeper content. This unique/individual style formulates the œuvre. The movement, style, and attention defining effect of the sign language used by the deaf and the hard of hearing influences the entire body, as it has obviously done with Frenák’s relationship to the body. During the years he spent in state care, the only escape from the harsh reality of being excluded and unloved were his rough, dance-like bodily experiments. In the case of Frenák, the struggles of childish self-expression were organically linked to his later bodily experiments, in learning about his own body, and his characteristic somatic style; he than also expects self-knowledge and self-expression from his dancers. (p.146.)
Előszó ..............................................................................................7–16. oldal Preface .................................................................................... 131–140. page A megragadhatatlan megközelítése ..................................... 17–28. oldal Approaching the unattainable ............................................ 141–154. page Átjárhatóság ................................................................................ 29–38. oldal Transversality ........................................................................ 155–162. page Bezártság ..................................................................................... 39–50. oldal Confinement .......................................................................... 163–174. page Tükör ............................................................................................ 51–64. oldal Mirror ..................................................................................... 175–186. page Néma sikoly ............................................................................... 65–68. oldal Soundless scream ................................................................. 187–190. page Spirál ............................................................................................ 69–78. oldal Spiral ....................................................................................... 191–200. page Rezonanciák – Ösztön – Animalitás ............................................ 79–88. oldal Resonances—Instinct—Animality ..................................... 201–210. page Butoh ............................................................................................ 89–96. oldal Butoh ...................................................................................... 211–220. page Káosz – instabilitás – destabilizáció ........................................... 97–110. oldal Chaos—Instability—Destabilization ................................. 221–232. page Vágy – erotika – (libidó)energia ................................................. 111–127. oldal Desire—erotica—(libido) energy ....................................... 233–247. page Bibliográfia ............................................................................ 248–257. oldal Bibliography .......................................................................... 248–257. page Kreációk ................................................................................. 258–259. oldal Creations ............................................................................... 258–259. page Közreműködők ...................................................................... 260–261. oldal Contributors .......................................................................... 260–261. page Névmutató ............................................................................ 262–266. oldal Name index ........................................................................... 262–266. page
Könyvem főszereplői a szépség szeretői, a platóni értelemben vett szerelmesek, kiknek egész életé... more Könyvem főszereplői a szépség szeretői, a platóni értelemben vett szerelmesek, kiknek egész életét a vágyakozás, a szépségre és tökéletesre törekvés kormányozta. Nem hagyományos értelemben vett esztétikatörténetet írtam, hanem olyan egyéni életutakat és elméleteket prezentáltam, melyeknek meghatározó alapeleme az antikvitáshoz való vonzódás, valamint a vallás – a görög vagy a keresztény – szenzualitáson alapuló élvezete. George Santayana (1863-1952), Fred Holland Day (1864-1933) és Edward Perry Warren (1860-1928) életművét, mely az égi Erósz által meghatározott eszmének van alárendelve, egy létezésesztétika példázatainak tekintem. Írásom megközelítésmódját Michel Foucault, Alexander Nehamas és Richard Shusterman állításai inspirálták, akiktől nem idegen „az élet művészetének filozófusai” terminus, és olyan életművek feldolgozása, melyek az önteremtő, önmegvalósító, filozofikus lét példázatai lehetnek. Kutatásaimban elsősorban azokra a – Harvard Egyetemhez és a bostoni kulturális élethez kötődő – filozófusokra és művészekre koncentráltam, akik az Európában kibontakozó új művészeti-filozófiai irányzatok tanításait átvéve új színt adtak az amerikai kultúra fejlődéséhez.
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Pál Frenák is one of the most exciting contemporary dance choreographers of our time, a dancer/choreographer who defines the very basis of the development of contemporary dance in Hungary. He utilizes the energy found in sign language, used primarily by the deaf and the hard of hearing, and has earned his place in the annals of Hungarian dance history and indeed international recognition by developing a new movement language extremely specific to his work. His calling card with which he entered the world of contemporary dance is his work Tricks & Tracks, which premiered in 1999. This was his most recognizable choreography that contained the Frenákian style elements that continue to be used today. The organic language of movement, the dynamism that escalates to the extreme, both in movement and music, the almost cosy feeling of home in a chaotic system, the confrontation with the bare nakedness that symbolizes the self-acceptance of the individual, the use of specialist lighting technology that appears to fragment movement, the destabilizing of the dancers and thus the audiences, the conveying of the attraction to Japanese culture using certain inspirations from Butoh, the use of sign language, and the extraordinary ability to fuse bodies while in movement. These are the features that lend the truly unique style to the intellectual father of the Hungarian company that works with internationally renowned dancers, whose performances have been staged without interruption since 1991 both in Hungary and abroad. The high level of technical preparedness and the singular (peripheral, organic) choreographic language is able to reach audiences around the world. This is why his company, after numerous international tours, has staged performances of multiple productions simultaneously at Hungarian venues: the Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Müpa Budapest, the Hungarian State Opera, and the National Dance Theatre. (p.128.)
How can we, and from where is it even possible to begin to approach that special world that is the creature of Pal Frenak and what is the totality of his style and creations? When talking of Frenák’s world, I think of the artistic world that is far more expansive than an œuvre, the totality of a real and imaginary world of a man who uses the same essential characteristics to portray himself in all of his works. The communication system used by the deaf and the hard of hearing plays a cardinal role in his dance arts, as do the exaggerated and deformed gestures that are part of his organic language of movement and that are fundamentally built in the gestures used by sign language. He studies the energies in the use of the sign language of the deaf and hard of hearing. (p.142.)
As the problems of the creation of a unique world inspire a number of Frenák’s choreographic, it makes sense to approach the presentation of his works from the perspective of the characteristics of his unique world. In the case of artists who are able to convey the pieces of the mood to the same characteristic world in an authentic manner using their unique styles in all of the works, it can be assumed that they have a homogeneous aesthetics of existence with deeper content. This unique/individual style formulates the œuvre. The movement, style, and attention defining effect of the sign language used by the deaf and the hard of hearing influences the entire body, as it has obviously done with Frenák’s relationship to the body. During the years he spent in state care, the only escape from the harsh reality of being excluded and unloved were his rough, dance-like bodily experiments. In the case of Frenák, the struggles of childish self-expression were organically linked to his later bodily experiments, in learning about his own body, and his characteristic somatic style; he than also expects self-knowledge and self-expression from his dancers. (p.146.)
Előszó ..............................................................................................7–16. oldal
Preface .................................................................................... 131–140. page
A megragadhatatlan megközelítése ..................................... 17–28. oldal
Approaching the unattainable ............................................ 141–154. page
Átjárhatóság ................................................................................ 29–38. oldal
Transversality ........................................................................ 155–162. page
Bezártság ..................................................................................... 39–50. oldal
Confinement .......................................................................... 163–174. page
Tükör ............................................................................................ 51–64. oldal
Mirror ..................................................................................... 175–186. page
Néma sikoly ............................................................................... 65–68. oldal
Soundless scream ................................................................. 187–190. page
Spirál ............................................................................................ 69–78. oldal
Spiral ....................................................................................... 191–200. page
Rezonanciák – Ösztön – Animalitás ............................................ 79–88. oldal
Resonances—Instinct—Animality ..................................... 201–210. page
Butoh ............................................................................................ 89–96. oldal
Butoh ...................................................................................... 211–220. page
Káosz – instabilitás – destabilizáció ........................................... 97–110. oldal
Chaos—Instability—Destabilization ................................. 221–232. page
Vágy – erotika – (libidó)energia ................................................. 111–127. oldal
Desire—erotica—(libido) energy ....................................... 233–247. page
Bibliográfia ............................................................................ 248–257. oldal
Bibliography .......................................................................... 248–257. page
Kreációk ................................................................................. 258–259. oldal
Creations ............................................................................... 258–259. page
Közreműködők ...................................................................... 260–261. oldal
Contributors .......................................................................... 260–261. page
Névmutató ............................................................................ 262–266. oldal
Name index ........................................................................... 262–266. page