cyborg economy Dr Sebastian Berger Senior Lecturer University of the West of England Overview What is the relationship between poetry and economics They are opposed But are they really strange bedfellows ID: 1019705
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1. Poetic EconomicsTransforming thecyborg-economyDr. Sebastian Berger, Senior Lecturer, University of the West of England
2. OverviewWhat is the relationship between poetry and economics?“They are opposed!” But are they really strange bed-fellows?What is economics and what could it be?Cyborg economicsPostmodern economicsIn what sense do we speak of poetry?What is poetic economics and the poetic economy?Re-root economics in poetryPhilosophy of economics and cultural economics
3. Art, Poetry, ScienceConfucius: Wen as art’s power to transform human nature towards virtue (stimulates mind, self-contemplation, sensibility, restrains resentment)Kant: artistic genius higher than scientific geniusGoethe: poetry and science are related, use poetic intellection to create humane-natural theories and cultivate natureNietzsche: poet, priest, philosopher as highest form of humanity: hallmark of the genuine humanSloterdijk: art and experience of beauty as anthropo-technics following a “call from above”Heidegger: poetry as ground of truthGadamer: experience of art as witness to truth eventPierce: poetry as highest form of truthDewey: experience of art has beneficial effects for science
4. Joseph Beuysart = capitalartist as a socially productive force
5. EconomicsMarx initially planned career as full time poetMill turned to poetic intellection to balance rationality Edgeworth was influenced by literary tradition in economicsKeynes was inspired by Edgeworth; member of Bloomsberry (Virginia Wolf etc.)Hayek cites romantic poet Novalis in his Road to Serfdom Kapp’s pioneering ecological economics was inspired by his teacher, the poet WiechertPostmodern Economics, Cultural Economics
6. EconomicsWhat is happening in the world of economics?What are the problems with economics? What is economics?What should it be?
7. Recent Critique of EconomicsRecent critiques of economicsinability to foresee the 2008 financial crisisfails to teach relevant skills (critical thinking, creativity, imagination)Recent attempts to change economics (SBSE; CORE; student movements; heterodox economics)But so far nothing of substance has changedCritique of CORE & SBSE (UWE Working Paper Series)
8. Standard Definition of (Neoclassical) Economics “Economics is a science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses” (Lionel Robbins, 1932)
9. Cyborg EconomicsNeoclassical economics as façade for the public to pretend economics is a rigorous and sound “science”Imitates trends in natural science (physics, biology experimental laboratory science, artificial intelligence)Fragmented body of knowledge (no foundation, no integration with other science)Void at the core is hiddenMathematical knowledgeMechanistic images (economy as machine)Commercialized (bought and sold)
10. Consequences Decreasing quality of research: inability to identify qualitative structural changes that lead to crises (2008 Financial Crisis!!!)Misallocation of intellectual capital: pursuit of private gain instead of public purposeLack of training in deliberating socio-ecological goalsLack of nurturing human wisdom (mindful of contradictions in knowledge) and loss of care of SelfLoss of other forms of knowledge/reasoning: experiential/ practical, philosophy, history, hermeneutics, poetics
11. Consequences Deformed realization of reasoning in historyLow level of self-reflectionSuppression of heterodox paradigms (Marx, Keynes, Veblen)Lack of study of factors that inhibit, distort, prevent dialogue Economics functions like a mechanism of exclusion like Latin in the pre-Reform era that disempowers the public from participating in the debate
12. Post-Modernism in EconomicsUnderstanding that economists tell stories much like poets and novelists Bring economics back into the conversation of the rest of societyHeal fragmentation of knowledge culturesTolerance, higher level of self-reflection
13. Discourse analysis: general patterns in types of texts, such as problem-solution, general-particular patters Genre analysis: how the communicative purpose of the writer and the conventions of the discourse community are reflected in the structure of the argumentFor example, Klamer (1984) analyses debates between economics aggressive approach to argument; criticism is met with annoyance and dismissed abruptly; detachment is not common among economistsApplied Linguistics
14. Rhetorical AnalysisAdvocacy of realities (rhetoric) displaces demonstration and proof“New Conversationalists”: analyse the persuasion, arrogance and deceit of rhetoric of economistsMeta-analysis of economics reveals: economists are really rhetoricians Knowledge is outcome of negotiation in communityNo secure foundation of knowledge
15. Literary TheoryRejection of literalism means that economic texts can be analyzed using the tools of literary theoryHero images influence theory formation Marx: proletariatNeoclassical economics: Max U. Theory formation is driven by vortices of images and metaphors cycling back and forth between natural and social sciencesExample: equilibrium; cyborg
16. HermeneuticsTexts and actions have multiple meaningsEconomists engage in interpretation: economy and economic behaviour as textConflict about nature and aim of interpretationFor example, Dilthey/Schleiermacher focus on the role of the author, psychological/historical factors that influence his mode of understanding Style is rooted in author’s personal/secret mythology (eg. Edgeworth picked expressions from artists and poets: Pope’s Essay on Man; Milton’s Paradise Lost: “the poetic sentence”)
17. Post-modern economics focuses mainly on linguistics, literary theory, rhetoric, and hermeneutics...but what is the role of poetry?
18. Heidegger: language & poetryLanguage is world making, enables the existence of historyThe highest good: an event that actualizes the highest potential of human being that is founded on languageHow does language happen?Poetry is founding via the word and in the wordPoetry founds that which remains the steady, the simple, the unchanging, that which carries existence in its entirety and permeates it and needs to be brought to lightPoetry is verbal founding of BeingBeing and the essence of beings cannot be calculated or derived from existing things but have to be created freely, posited and donatedFree donation = foundation (Stiftung)The existence of human beings is thus placed into a solid relation and on a foundation
19. Pound: The Cantos as an epic that frees humankind from the hell of avarice to the “light not of sun” (Paradise in Earth)Fought against fragmentation of human being, “scarcity economists” and the control of society by bankers“My poetry and econ are the same”Economics of generosity: money is for getting food and clothing justly distributed, especially to poets and artistsPlace for art/literature in economicsEconomy of beauty to redeem materialityEzra PoundCanto 45:…No picture is made to endure nor to live with but it is made to sell and sell quickly… CONTRA NATURAM
20. Fought evil and the destruction of the image of man Causes: cash nexus, contempt for the heart and idolatry of rationalityMove hearts, restore pure humanitas, “the unshakable”, the “God-child without name”, the ethical human beingLove (for all suffering creatures) is the greatest among themSimple life; quite performance of meaningful daily duties Form islands of solaceGovernment by an elite aristocracy of the goodPoem “60th birthday”:With my life it was not muchToo restless was this heart as suchBut who of us made a better offeringThan “rescue from deepest suffering”?Ernst Wiechert
21. Gadamer: Art ExperienceHumans are thrown into a world as beings who understand and interpret If we want to understand human being then we need to understand understandingUnderstanding is an event/happeningWork of art is a new event of being as it belongs so closely to that to which it is related that it enriches its being
22. Works of art are events that involve interpretersArt is only realized fully when presented and interpretedDoes understanding thus belong to the meaning of art and texts just as being heard belongs to the meaning of music? Understanding must be conceived as a part of the process of the coming into being of meaning, in which the significance of all statements - those of art and those of everything else that has been transmitted - is formed and made completeGadamer: Art Experience
23. Dewey: Experience of ArtEngages emotions (beauty, enjoyment, dignity) Balancing out logic/rationality Provides more complete criteria for judging the desirability of material goods (prevents moral and economic stagnation) Enhances the subtlety of perception of self and society and humanizes our convictions, which is a crucial component for scientific inquiry
24. sensitive to complex situations do justice to all facts entertain competing hypotheses responsive to unique or different situations patience and persistence to ensure the problem has been identified correctly possesses the creative imagination to envision new possibilitiesrecognize a bias toward objectivity and the ability to discount one’s own prejudices courage to revise one’s beliefs in light of new experience Dewey: Art and Experience
25. Pierce on Esthetics in ScienceThe construction of intellectual signs requires an artist’s mentalityConstruction begins with an artist’s struggle over form and contentThe scientist sculpts a meaningful form from a formless body of informationA beautiful theory is a sign that simultaneously signifies the surrender of our senses to and the capture by our intellects of an experience
26. Forming novel hypothesis:search, guess, playstab into unknown based on one’s feel for the situationsensitivity of touch, personal intuitionsympathetic understanding of experienceconsummate intellectual fantasyPierce: Scientific Creativity
27. Transform the cyborg economyCare for the Self, nurturing of human wisdom, return to philosophy and history, deliberation of socio-ecological goals Foster free, critical, courageous, ethical, creative, well-rounded, balanced mindsRadical pluralism in economics, study of all traditionsStudy of poet economistsFoster a deeper understanding of the tripple crisis: exploding inequality and poverty, financial instability, environmental catastrophe Poetic Economics
28. Poetic Economy Redeems materialityUnderstanding and ameliorating human beingArt of being“Simple life” approach frees time for higher pursuitsPrevent damages via social controls of the economy (pollution, injuries, poverty, unemployment, over-work)Basic income guarantee or employer of last resortLinks to discourses on well-being and sustainability
29. Does not say how such a poetic economy can be brought about in the age of the cyborg economy: social and political action or individual efforts? Need for sociology: how social processes enable or prevent the creation of a poetic economyProblems