FUTURIST RESEARCH INSTITUTE © Intellectual property of Alexander Sizifus © International project "Dedicated to 2400-year anniversary of Plato Academy" Whom is this project addressed to? The project could be interesting for everyone, who at least once thought about the meaning of origination, existence and evolution of the human, society and Universe. Because of its academic nature the project is addressed, first of all to presidiums and presidents of Academies, directors and rectors of academic research institutes and high schools and universities, societies of all kinds, organizations of cultural profile, joint Russo-Greek institutions, enterprises, embassies and ministries, governments, presidents of states and crowned persons. Philosophy of cognition as a bridge to the future In 2013 the 2400-year anniversary of Plato Academy will be celebrated. It was an academy, which long ago became the forerunner of all academies of the world, the first of which originated back in the Renaissance epoch. In connection with this remarkable event, especially taking into account that the 2500-year jubilee of Herodotus and 2600-year jubilee of Pythagoras are approaching, the issue of the knowledge itself and academic knowledge in particular acquires special importance. Today, when scientific-and-engineering progress has attained unusual height, an impression is created that the world of Plato ideas, eternal and infinite in their essence, as a foundation for a spiritual growth, appeared to be almost forgotten. Pragmatism, cynicism, nihilism, aggressive consumerism became a norm of life long ago. Universal values long ago became clichés in the epoch of total democratization and these clichés are used predominantly for climbing up the social ladder. Obvious predominance of scientific-and-engineering progress over aesthetic and ethical improvement makes us think about the reasonability of such existence in terms of futurological perspectives, which are being predicted. Is it possible to assert, bearing in mind the infinity of evolution of meaning, that the theory of Plato concerning ideas, the very spirit of his Academy not only remain vital in the cultural treasury of mankind, but also enable to newly perceive and to evaluate, what seems usual and traditional. Routine of stereotypes never served as a catalyst of evolution. Necessity for a new vision of the book Avalanche flows of information in the modern world and publishing boom enable to draw a conclusion that the book as a cultural phenomenon also could be revised in terms of perspectives of its evolution. One thing is clear: to write and to publish new books under the conditions of intellectual crisis is inadmissible. That’s why the forthcoming jubilee of Plato Academy offers a unique chance to say something new about what remains meaningful and eternal for all time, as well as to delineate the perspectives of further scientific, artistic and philosophical analysis as the main tool of cognition. Vision of cultural perspective Below the reader will find the titles and short descriptions of ten projects, which are realized as part of futurist reformation devoted to the 2400-year jubilee of Plato Academy. All these ten projects are united by the common title of the long-term project “Academism and Art Theory in the 21-st Century”, which was approved in 2007 by the President of the Academy of Arts of Russia as part of preparing for celebration of 250-year anniversary of the Arts Academy of Russia. Each of these ten projects is independent from the other ones and constitutes a unity of theoretical and practical constituents – of the book itself and corresponding events, which could be organized in connection with this book. These events include exhibitions, panel talks, conferences and congresses. This is the proposed maximum (ideally). In reality the practical constituent in each of the projects could be presented in a lesser degree or be absent in general because of lack of means and organizational difficulties. The most important thing associated with each of the projects is the preparation and edition of the corresponding book, the meaning of which is not exhausted by the very fact of the Plato Academy jubilee, however is preserved for a long perspective. Ten unprecedented books 1. “The Art of Egregious. Art Visualization of Abstract Ideas”. The book offers the grounding of aesthetic value of ideas, and in a broad sense of the word – of science as a whole. Methods of artistic (image-based) interpretation of rational structures – definitions, assertions and theories. The book is aimed at understanding of interconnections between art and science, the sensual and the rational in the human. 2. “Art of Philosophy. Substantial Grounds of Beauty”. After several overthrowing of usual values, after extreme tendencies of aesthetics of post-modernism, because of the tendency of modern philosophy to develop towards rationalist scholastics with all properties of dogmatism and casuistry, the issue of the beauty and its substantial origins becomes rather vital. In this book a parallel is drawn between art and philosophy as a spontaneous transformation of thought into an image, which makes us closer to understanding of aesthetic value of philosophy. 3. “The mission of the artist. Creative activity as a link between terrestrial and universal”. The present book tells about the missionary nature of creative activity, about the responsibility of the artist before himself, society, about his creative monologue addressed to Eternity as a metaphor of the eternal and unexplainable. The book has two dedications: to 2400-year anniversary of Plato Academy and to 170-year jubilee of Alfred Nobel. One of the nominations of the Nobel prize, which later became Nobel prize for Peace, according to the testament of the inventor, scientist and enterpriser was intended to be awarded for outstanding achievements in the field of philosophy, which open before mankind the perspectives of heretofore unattained intellectual and spiritual growth. 4. «Creation of Ideas. Mythological Personification as Cultural Immortality». The book refutes widely spread stereotype regarding the juxtaposition of reality and myth and two embodiments of the real are explained – factual and mythical. Thus, the myth appears to be an attribute of reality. Creative type of person is also a myth. Mythological personification of the artist as a kind of overcoming space-and-time and temporal constraint. 5. "Universals of Spiritual. Artistic Conceptualization of Ideas of Eternity". Conceptualism is looked upon as an aesthetic and philosophical phenomenon, new structural notions are introduced, which are of ethical significance. Methods for systematizing the ideas of the Eternal are described. 6. «Universe as Altar. Nobel Propedeutics of Philosophy». Universe is postulated as a boundless arena of creative service, as something sacred – the unity of material and spiritual. The ideas of the egg are analyzed in terms of philosophy of recreating paradise on Earth – harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature. The book is a preface to the philosophy in the spirit of Alfred Nobel. It could be used for preparing introductory course of lectures in philosophy in terms of new ideas of Platonism. 7. «Universe as Altar. Nobel lectures in philosophy». Further development, broadening and deepening of the preceding book. It is the basic – sort of reference course of lectures in philosophy, which is looked upon as a unity of art, science, wisdom and revelation. 8. “Fifty Nobel Lectures about the World for the European Universities”. As it is known, the Nobel prize winners deliver lectures – each of them devoting his lecture to the chosen subject. This book is written in such a way, as if each lecture in it is a creation of the Nobel-prize winner. Some of these lectures could be related to physical science, others to literature, part of them could be referred to philosophy, etc. The essence of all these lectures is to demonstrate how new philosophy of the World cognition could be under the conditions of globalization. 9. “Creation as dis-embodiment”. It is usually acknowledged that creative activity is a means of self-assertion, carrier growth, acquisition of material wealths. This is so, if we consider the Creator as a personality. In the supra-personal and super-personal plane creativity is a tendency to transcend the boundaries of certain restrictions, and that’s why it is a dis-embodiment, that is therejection of acquisition of wealths and self-sacrifice for the purpose of qualitative jump into the future. 10. "Spiritual Universalia. Aesthetics, ethics and metaphysics of existence". In this book reality and life itself are looked upon as endless postulating of meaning. From this standpoint the issue concerning the essence of life is reduced to the understanding of meaning jointly with negating it. In particular, each book is simultaneously an anti-book, i.e., it could speak about what remains beyond the limits of its content. Specific features of the books dedicated to 2400-year anniversary of Plato Academy None of these books is exhausted by the very fact of being written and published, like the theory concerning objective ideas cannot be exhausted. The topics of the books are such that at any moment they enable to introduce new semantic additive element. In other words, the above-mentioned books could be looked upon as developing organisms or metaphors of deposits of mineral wealth, which are being developed. The books have good publishing perspectives – profitability, prestige of possessing a license for publishing this series of books, new opportunities and spheres of influence. Because of this an Internet auction sale of different forms of licenses for publication of these books is announced, as well as different forms of possessing the rights for electronic dummies of the books. All books are published in two languages – Russian and English. The volume of each book, which is being planned at a first approximation (1-st edition) volume of each book does not exceed 150 pages, including text and illustrations. The volume is preconditioned by the presence of corresponding means for prepress. The minimum volume of each book is 50 pages. The illustrations play an important role in the books. Depending upon practical measures, which were discussed above, each book could be illustratedcwith the works of from one to several dozens of graphic designers. Such decisions are taken in the course of work on the book. Since the content of the books is rather abstract, it is not enough to simply reproduce the works there. Therefore the books are going to be illustrated not only with simple reproductions, but also with corresponding cosmic projections, which are executed in the style of artists, who are invited to contribute their illustrations. Therefore, three variants of illustrating the books: with the works of several artists; with the works of 3-5 artists; with the works of one artist for every book or all books are illustrated with the works of one artist only. Two last variants are of conceptual interest. The works of ten leading artists, each of which contributes his work to one book, could precondition the aesthetic preferences for long in connection with the new ideas in philosophy. Rather specific is the case, when all ten books are illustrated with the works of one and the same artist. It is clear that the scale of his personality should make him comparable with Plato. Such an artist could be, for example, the president of authoritative Academy, universally accepted and respected master, who combines the depth of traditions of world art with stylistic breadth of personal art preferences. In this exceptional case it is reasonable to collect all ten books under one cover , making them the chapters of one fundamental book, the volume of which needn’t exceed 500 pages. If, for example, each chapter occupies 20 pages of text (in two languages) and 5 pages of illustrations, the overall volume of the book will constitute 250 pages. Of course, it is possible to publish any of the books, or even all of them, in the form of one fundamental book, without illustrations whatsoever, and on newsprint.. However, who would wish to take such a book in his or her hands and to open it for the purpose of travel of the soul? The illustrations offered in conceptual embodiment are destined to create bridges between philosophy and methods of image-like perception of it. Alexander Sizifus Director of Futurist Research Institute
Posted on: Mon, 01 Jul 2013 08:01:39 +0000
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