Philosophy III | Visualizing a Problem

Description

Practice thinking engaged with problematic configurations. Study how such thinking operates in philosophy as well as in arts, design, and graphic design. Experiment with ways to visualize and spatialize problems. Visualizing a problem means first spatializing it, exposing it, revealing or making it visible. Our explorations differ from data visualization through algorithms and databases, though we will also consider these. A problem is not data; it must be constructed or reconfigured. Constructing a problem allows one to move beyond false problems, shift perspectives, invent detours, detach from mere states of affairs, and disrupt stereotypical cognitive schemas that trap thought and dull intelligence. Those seeking a problem are not afraid of conflict zones. Searching for a problem, recognizing it, stating it, and making it visible requires abandoning the master’s logic, the guardian dispensing questions, answers, and solutions. A philosophy of the problem encourages distinguishing not only between questioning and problematizing but also between knowing and thinking. A problem is configured from elements of a situation or existing, stabilized knowledge, so as to deprive them of their obviousness, unsettle them, and set them in motion. How a pro