Bank Windhoek Socratic Forum

The closing meeting of the Bank Windhoek Socratic Forum for the year, annually dedicated to the Namibian celebration of UNESCO World Philosophy Day, takes place on 6 November 2018 at Safari Hotel Namib 2 at 18:00. The topic for the meeting is Art and Liberation – On humiliation, the seven deadly sins and a new life orientation and will be introduced by Dr. Leon Fouché. Herewith a photograph and short bio sketch of Dr. Fouché, as well as an abstract of his presentation.Leon Fouché was born in Port Elizabeth, matriculated in Roodepoort, studied theology and philosophy at Stellenbosch University and completed a PhD on the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer. For 38 years, he served as minister in the Dutch Reformed Church – 9 years in Knysna and 29 years in Stellenbosch-Welgelegen. At Stellenbosch University, he lectured part-time for more than 19 years in the Department of Philosophy. He retired in 2017 and now lives in Jeffrey’s Bay. Leon published ten articles in a series that served as preaching aid for ministers and three philosophical articles were published in scientific journals. He published three popular books on the meaning of the primeval history in Genesis, the seven deadly sins, and the last one on the Reformation (published by Amazon). He used to be a marathon athlete and completed 23 Knysna Marathons and 18 Two Oceans Marathons amongst others. At this stage, Leon completed more marathons than books ... and he is currently trying to correct the balance!He is married to Sara - also the illustrator of his books. They have three daughters, a son in law and one granddaughter. Art and Liberation – On humiliation, the seven deadly sins and a new life orientationThis lecture links on to the theme of humiliation. Since Hélène Oppermann Lewis’s lecture on Humiliation as pathway to violence in November 2017, it has been the theme of every lecture this year. The trauma of humiliation never vanishes. It remains dormant in the subconscious. It can pop up at any time. However, it can be transformed into constructive energy. All the lectures of the past year illustrated this point. In this lecture, it will be demonstrated that art can help to cope with the trauma of humiliation. The philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer provides a fruitful perspective on the experience of art. According to his view, art is not a beautiful representation of the world. Art is rather the creation of a new world that shows the truth of our world. According to Gadamer the perception of an artwork has the structure of a game. A game draws the players into the excitement of its happening. A work of art draws the onlookers likewise into its new world. It liberates the onlookers from their familiar world and then it becomes possible to dream about a different world. This lecture also links to the concept of the seven deadly sins that was promoted during the Middle Ages. On the one hand the seven deadly sins were the seven faces of evil (or humiliation one can say). On the other hand, it was a strategy to overcome these sins or humiliation. The seven deadly sins were depicted and used by several artists. In pictorial art Hieronymus Bosch portrayed it in his Seven Deadly Sins and the Last Four Things. His artwork is a warning to be aware of our situation. We live under the watchful eye of God between death, judgement, heaven and hell. In literary art, Dante Alighieri used the seven deadly sins in his Divine Comedy as a therapy for trauma. He was unfairly expelled from Florence. To cope with this political humiliation, he wrote a “comedy”. A classical comedy is a work that reflects an ordered universe. It also has a happy ending because of divine providence. Dante’s Divine Comedy portrays the journey of the soul through hell, purgatory and paradise. In this journey, he met several of his political enemies receiving punishment for their deadly sins. It is a journey from humiliation to the vision of God. Thus, there is a happy ending. The Divine Comedy is much more than only coping with humiliation. It is a transformation of humiliation into love and provides a new life orientation. The liberating function of art is not that it makes choices on our behalf. It also doesn’t lead us necessarily to a different life style. Art liberates us from the complacency with our world. It also liberates us from the feeling of being trapped in historical humiliation. It liberates us to see our familiar world in a new way. However, there are other factors that play a role in any subsequent new life orientation. Art liberates us to see the world as more possibility than reality. But it is who we are and in what circumstances we are, that urge us to a new life orientation. Media Partners – Namibia Media Holdings The Namibian

Bank Windhoek Socratic Forum

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