| being in Time |
| What is “the power of art”?
gary e. davis |
October 9, 2025 |
The Nobel Prize Committee today awarded the prize for Literature to a novelist whom, “in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art.” In Germany of the mid-thirties, the terror could not yet be foreseen as apocalyptic, yet it was an era of terror. Heidegger chose the route of many German writers of the period: internal emigration. Then, he affirmed (1936) that “art is history, in the essential sense that it is the ground of history” going forward, humbly, since futuring humanity relative to historical scale in one’s thinking cannot be a vanity suggesting a wannabe philosopher king (let alone regarding engagement as retrospective, historiological, traditionist, or Originist [Creationist]). Rather, one prospects hopefulness by “going as far as one can,” Heidegger lamented (“What Are Poets For?” [1946]). I get the impression that Krasznahorkai’s “power” is about resilience in the face of terrible conditions of life, not about prospecting how to make our futures promising. What can be the basis for inception when a society is incapable of democratic reistance against autocracy? How does humanity recover for the sake of future generations, when democratic life isn’t feasible? That cannot be conceived in resilience. It must be conceived in some way of learning how to become a basis for a good life, in turn the basis for good neighborhood and community which can turn integral values into durable futures: political, social, cultural, and personal. I am regularly overwhelmed by the reality of Gaza these days. I am overwhelmed by the savage vanity of Putinism. But I am not overwhelmed by the adolescent complacency of Trump’s revenge-minded politics via blasé, pathogenic dim-mindedness. Trump’s propaganda-produced support (“thanks” to predatory capitalist media power) is an ongoing lesson for me, as to how Hitler kept power through his police state, which Trump clearly echoes.So, I am chronically troubled by Trumpism. But I see USAmerica’s jurisprudence doing well to constrain the huckster. And I see a lot of intermal emigration by Democrats who will, I trust, surprise MAGA world, autumn 2026. Meanwhile, because Trump is a man-child who admires Hitler, I’m learning something of what it’s like to live in an era of revenge. As universities in the U.S. cringe in silence, even capitulating, I feel I’m learning something about being an academic person in Germany circa 1936 (though Hitlerist times were incomparably worse, of course). I think about how the humanities must be a beacon of humanity in a technocratic world. The end of philosophy must be contributions to [re]instituting open mindfulness for open futures making and sustaining open society. |