Chances are you're too young to remember Carly Simon's tune 'No Secrets' from her 1972 album No Secrets, in which she sings to her lover "We have no secrets, we tell each other everything." However, telling everything - all those past lovers, all those hidden fantasies - may not be the best recipe for a healthy relationship. The song's refrain ends, "Sometimes I wish... that I never knew, some of those secrets of yours." Perhaps we are in danger of discarding this wisdom, in a society where everything that is hidden is looked upon with suspicion, and transparency is hyped as a great virtue.
We are frequently assaulted by calls for transparency. A quick Google search on the need for transparency' delivers lists of reasons why more transparency is needed, especially in business, politics, and education. I am sure many readers recognise the boss calling for a process of transparency'. Yet philosophical inquiry will reveal that transparency intrudes upon privacy, kills spontaneity, and robs the individual of interiority. In the Age of Transparency, interiority, secrecy, and Hermetic hiddenness are forms of resistance.
Hypervisibility
Calls for 'transparency' betray an optical preference - a hidden assumption that the only knowledge that is worthwhile is knowledge for which the evidence can be seen. This can be summed up in the expression 'Seeing is believing'. Other ways of knowing become secondary. Walter Benjamin further pointed out that the Scientific Revolution of Copernicus and Galileo set us on a course leading to an "optical connection to the universe" (One Way Street and Other Writings, 1979, p.111). And we talk about 'eye-witnesses', even when the witnesses relate testimony that was only ever heard, never seen.
Denne historien er fra October/November 2023-utgaven av Philosophy Now.
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Denne historien er fra October/November 2023-utgaven av Philosophy Now.
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Anselm (1033-1109)
Martin Jenkins recalls the being of the creator of the ontological argument.
Is Brillo Box an Illustration?
Thomas E. Wartenberg uses Warhol's work to illustrate his theory of illustration.
Why is Freedom So Important To Us?
John Shand explains why free will is basic to humanity.
The Funnel of Righteousness
Peter Worley tells us how to be right, righter, rightest.
We're as Smart as the Universe Gets
James Miles argues, among other things, that E.T. will be like Kim Kardashian, and that the real threat of advanced AI has been misunderstood.
Managing the Mind
Roger Haines contemplates how we consciously manage our minds.
lain McGilchrist's Naturalized Metaphysics
Rogério Severo looks at the brain to see the world anew.
Love & Metaphysics
Peter Graarup Westergaard explains why love is never just physical, with the aid of Donald Davidson's anomalous monism.
Mary Leaves Her Room
Nigel Hems asks, does Mary see colours differently outside her room?
From Birds To Brains
Jonathan Moens considers whether emergence can explain minds from brains.