Just Sharing, Just For Fun.

I haven't been working on AZI for a while. Well, I haven't been writing it. I've been reading for it. Lots of reading. Lots of preparing.

So, I just want to drop a little something to remind my loyal followers (lol) that I'm still working on it.

This is the working outline for Part IV of AZI. I suspect It will change by the time I finish the project. But here is what I'm looking at these days:

PART IV: Art, Culture, And Politics

IV.1. Politics And War

1. What is Politics?

2. What is Power?

3. What is Violence?

4.What is War?

5. What is Civil Disobedience?

6. What is Satyagraha?

7. Can There Be War Without Violence?

8. Zizek on The Violence Of Language and the Nature of Habit: Foucault, Ideology, and The Struggle of Life and Minds

IV.2. Politics And Culture

-introducing the key analytical terms

9. John Gray On Culture as The Foundation Of Politics

10. Amusement, The Corruption of Consciousness, and the Dulling of Empathy: Collingwood, Carr, And Claxton on Distraction In Western Culture And Politics

- Trying to talk about real examples of it

11. Language, The Fragility of Simulation Theory, And The Dangers of Theory-Theory

12. The Limitations of Vocal and Written Expression: The Cultural And Political Consequences Of D-Mode

13. Language and the Rutting of Thought: Impediments to Creativity

14. Language and the Rutting of Neural Paths: Art and Creative Brains

IV.3. Art And Individual Politics

15. The Problem of Foucault: The Individualization of Politics

16. Foucault as Artist: His Autobiographical Monographs as Imaginative Expressions of Emotion

17. Gandhi And The Role Of The Individual

18. Personal Issues As Political Issues

19. Personal Actions As Political And Apolitical

20. Art And The Struggle Against Individual Corruption Of Consciousness

21. Against The Use Of Militaristic Metaphors

IV.4. Art And Politics

22. Art As A Source Common Culture and Politics

23. Fighting The Collapse of Magic: Reinvigorating Ritual and Small Talk

24. Gandhi As An Existential Aesthetician

25. Zen, Simulation Theory, The ‘Corruption of Consciousness’

26. Synthetic Experience and Creativity

27. Revolution And Synthetic Experience: Collingwood On Progress In History

28. Art As A Source Of New Status Function Declarations

29. Collingwood, Philosophy as Art, and the Reinvigoration of Moral Politics Through Moral Philosophy

30. Art As A Source Of Mindfulness

31. The Artist As Modifying The Capital Of The Economy of the Imagination

32. Copyright Law and Creativity: David Shields and Economic Analysis of Art

Conclusion: Am I An Artist?

So that is the current working outline for the remainder of AZI. Parts IV.1, 2, and 3 look pretty solid to me. They make sense. Part IV.4, however, feel scattered and undirected. Which makes sense, because that is the part of the project that is focused on the reality of political change and art. The concluding section 'Am I An Artist?' will simply be a reflection the the entire project.

I feel so funny about the whole project. It has been such a long term thing. It has been a very valuable way of structuring my reading and my thinking. But I'm ready to be done with it, I think. To be working on a project for 6 months is a long time. But dissertations take years. I need to get accustomed to long term projects.

Oh well. I hope to start actually writing Part IV soon. But just to keep ya'll informed, that is what the outline looks like.