Philosophy of Gesture

How is communication established?
How do we become who we are, knowing that our “I” is formed within a society, through the complex interplay between the “Self” and “Me”, between the needs of our “Self” and the necessity of gaining recognition from our society?  What are the values around which our “I” can develop?
Throughout the work of George Herbert Mead, “Mind, Self and Society”, the problems of the birth and development of the “Self”, separating the communication analysis from a psychological and introspective point of view and moving towards significant gestures are explored.  Although Mead’s work acts like a discussion guide, the volume takes into consideration other authors such as Honneth, Habermas, Blumer, Winnicott, and Freud whilst also mentioning the phenomenological tradition.

In the beginning it was desire. That’s how Arnau Vilaró approaches the predominance of gesture as a defining element of cinema, based on the ending of Renoir’s A Day in the Country (Partie de campagne, 1936), as if it was the sacred genesis of a certain idea of the tactile representation of love, or of an inherent eroticism of the image. It is a beautiful idea, which takes Emmanuel Lévinas’ philosophy of otherness as the centrifugal motor of its development. “It is not the insufficiency of the I that prevents totalization, but the Infinity of the Other”, writes the French philosopher (p. 34; English translation from LÉVINAS, 1979: 80). In this way, with Lévinas as a point of light above an immeasurable afterlife, which generously resists signification through the plurality of faces and bodies embodying it, the caress is born asa gesture that “expresses love, but suffers from an inability totell it” (English translation from LÉVINAS, 1979: 258). The caress, therefore, as a figurative essence of desire in cinema, which signifies opening up to the Other with no return ticket, as those lovers in Hiroshima did, those who had seen everything and nothing at the same time, embracing each other amid uranium dust.

La tesis central del artículo es que para Sócrates la virtud política se realiza exclusivamente en la esfera del lenguaje o el gesto. La argumentación consta de tres partes. En primer lugar, siguiendo las lecciones tituladas ¿Qué significa pensar?, examino la interpretación heideggeriana de la fi-gura de Sócrates en relación con los temas del gesto y lenguaje. Al concluir este análisis planteo que Heidegger omite aspectos importantes de la comprensión socrática de la relación entre virtud política y habla. Seguidamente, con base en el análisis de un pasaje central de la Apología de Platón, argumento que la virtud exige la comunicabilidad pública de la palabra, y se impone en el lenguaje y los gestos como un principio de acción que precede y excede al saber conceptual. Finalmente, concluyo que el poder político se restringe a la medialidad del lenguaje, a lo que la palabra hace o dice por sí misma.

La filosofia del gesto di Giovanni Maddalena si pone come obiettivo quello di indagare la relazione tra pensiero e comunicazione, proponendo un nuovo paradigma di ragionamento fondato sulla nozione sintetica di gesto. La sinteticità del gesto risiede nell’idea che conosciamo mentre facciamo e mentre comunichiamo. In estrema sintesi, potremmo dire che l’azione viene qui concepita come ragionamento complesso e creativo.

Il libro vuole raccogliere quanti più gesti possibili. È questa la sua missione. Documenta con immagini e racconti come questi gesti si usano nel quotidiano, come variano, quanti ce ne sono per dire un'unica cosa, perché si fanno in quel modo. 329 gesti totali, tra gesti "normali" e una parte volgare a luci rosse. E ce ne sarebbero ancora altri... Introduzione di Arianna Lodeserto.

Im Zusammenhang der stärker werdenden Medien- und Performanztheorien, des zunehmenden Interesses an Tanz und Körperlichkeit ist auch die Geste immer mehr Gegenstand des Interesses geworden. Akademische Gesellschaften, Zeitschriften, Sonderforschungsbereiche widmen sich dem Thema. Linguisten und Kognitionswissenschaftlern, Forscher aus den Bereichen Theater und Film, Kunstgeschichte, Philosophie, Soziologie und Pädagogik haben das Thema für sich entdeckt.
Vor diesem Hintergrund will das Seminar einen etwas anderen Schwerpunkt setzen. Die Geste soll nicht primär als Bewegung des menschlichen Körpers thematisiert, sondern dezidiert als Denkfigur verstanden werden, als Hybrid zwischen Phänomen und Konzept, welches Denkprozesse in eigener Weise in Gang setzt und überhaupt ermöglicht. Das Vage, Unbestimmte, Schillernde der Geste soll als philosophisch produktiv untersucht werden.