VELDFILOSOFIE
How do we create the right conditions to foster the sense of community in the streets?
—
self initiated
OVERVIEW
Our society is at a crossroads; the world around us is becoming more complicated and due to an increasing competitive drive, we seem to fall more and more into our own prosperity, risking that we're losing contact with the people surround us.
'Veldfilosofie' is an ongoing research and shared search to connecting and layered ideas between people in public space. Through a mobile meeting point, passers-by were invited by a method that is characterized as the Socratic dialogue to sensitize each other again for the conceptual.
DELIVERABLES
- Visual statement
- Creative concept
AIM
Within this project I found it important to create places so that people could meet each other on a more equal foot.
There is so much difference in how people live and how they deal with values and norms. Bending over this and allowing it to serve as a topic for discussion, provides the opportunity to arrive at a more mutual understanding.
BACKGROUND
We become human through the recognition of others. Because of the similarities, but also by being different; because of the differences. That's what makes a democracy after all. It is only since the demolition of collective facilities that it has become more difficult to connect with each other. Especially when we are more and more inclined to find that what underpins our assumption is more important than other ideas.
It’s therefore essential to find an opening to enter into a dialogue with one another and creating a space where people become sensitive again to the conceptual, to the place of concepts in our interaction, with each other and the world. The philosophical conversation can provide tools for this.
PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy is the ability to ask questions at the right time and not just take concepts for granted. It is a form that takes us methodically out of a certain complacency and (if provided the proper guidance) it's true in everyone's capabilities.
But a philosophical conversation / dialogue is different from having a chat or simply expressing your opinion. It's about finding and asking the right question, about analysing a problem and the willingness to see the same thing from a different perspective.
Through practical research I have been able to gather knowledge about conducting such a philosophical dialogue with the Socratic attitude as a guideline. An attitude that takes its name from the Greek philosopher Socrates. He was convinced that wisdom is hidden in our own experience and that you can discover it simply by using your mind.
The knowledge I gained has brought me a step closer to how I can market the philosophical conversation. By conducting tests with people outside, in public transport, during work jobs where there is always a moment for a chat (in this case a dialogue), I actually started to get more and more feeling with it. It has even contributed to my participation in a philosophical debate.
Ultimately, all of this has led to what I call 'Veldfilosofie' (Field Philosophy): a research and shared search to connecting and layered ideas between people in public space. Through a mobile meeting point, passers-by are invited by a method that is characterized as the Socratic dialogue to sensitize each other again for the conceptual.
Gino Bodt