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The Camden Philosophical Society will continue its critique of neoliberalism and its impact on contemporary culture at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, June 17, via an unusual turn — to Byung-Chul Han’s The Disappearance of Rituals. Dubbed “the Internet’s New Favorite Philosopher by The New Yorker, Han in this work provides a thought-provoking insight into the role of ritual throughout human history – and up to our internet age.
The June 17 session will, as usual, be a hybrid gathering from 3:30-5:30 pm EDT on the third Tuesday of the month. All are welcome to participate, in-person at the Picker Room of the Camden Public Library or by Zoom. That goes for visitors, as well as year-rounders in Maine, and friends of the society wherever you may be. If you wish to participate via Zoom, please let us know by return email (Reply All). You will receive a Zoom invitation on the day of the meeting. Click on the “Join Zoom Meeting” link in that invitation at the time of the event.
For Han, ritual helps us to define and understand who we are through performance and play. He argues that modern Enlightened societies, with their emphasis on production and individual authenticity, have erased the role of ritual performance and play. He sees play is a vital aspect of our shared humanity. With it, we engage, we create, we think, we imagine, we participate in our societies, cultures and communities. Without it, we become invisible nonentities lost within an endless stream of production, data and calculations.
Contrary to the emancipatory rhetoric espoused by neoliberalism, the shift from play to work and from performance to individual authenticity has created an environment empty of objective coherence, shared values, and collective meaning. Life, no longer being a game to master, becomes a life sentence of subservience, notwithstanding all of the professed freedom, individuality, and progress embedded in the neoliberal project.
For this month’s discussion we’ll focus on the following chapters of The Disappearance of Rituals:
1. The Compulsion of Production
2. The Compulsion of Authenticity
6. The End of History
9. From Myth to Dataism
Here’s a link to a free, online copy of Byung-Chul Han’s The Disappearance of Rituals: https://www1.xup.in/exec/cfxddl.php?fid=94047152&fname=Byung-Chul_Han_-_The_Disappearance_of_Rituals.pdf