Writer's Diary

5/17/24

From a reader:

You wrote, “I really can't unify experience by describing it. I can only describe the rending and separation that we experience in coming into contact with the world, the world we're creating,” and I think this perfectly articulates the general question of my [college philosophy] thesis. You disagree with Hegel's dialectics, and implicitly side with Adorno's negative dialectics. I guess your conceptual move reminded me of A's emphasis that the value of philosophy is to run into tensions and contradictions, to truly experience them. I am curious about what this means for the future of art. Can art work out its own inner contradictions and make them visible, can it be re-enchanted? Regardless of the answer, I think these tensions are most tangible in theater.

Here’s my response: