Formalism

formalisme

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Summary

Dominique Pagani distinguishes formalism from attention paid to form: it is an ideology of form, different from formal work, just as ecologism differs from ecology and scientism from science1 2. He illustrates it with Procrustes' bed: an abstract measure is imposed on reality, which is cut or stretched to force it to fit3. In his view, formalism always avoids content and precise historical determination, while invoking history in general4. He gives as an example the modern philosophy of desire, born of the liberal-libertarian counter-revolution: out of anti-Marxism, it deprives desire of its concrete and historical content5 6. In 2024, he describes the period as split between two failings: a formalism that retains only the structure of reality, and an empiricism drowned in statistics7.

Summary produced automatically from 7 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Season 12 · 28 Feb 2024Clouscard by you: answers to your questions

20:17The age is split between a formalism that retains only the structure of the real and an empiricism drowned in statistics.
31:53Formalism is distinct from the importance of form, as ecologism is from ecology and scientism from science.

Season 1 · 10 Dec 2015#1.6 Between crisis and war: philosophising?

58:30An ideology of form, distinct from formal work: an abstraction seeks to force reality to conform to it, like Procrustes.

Talks · 26 Apr 2015The music of history

1:48:45Formalism systematically avoids content and precise historical determination, while invoking it in general terms.

Series · 30 Dec 2014P for People

11:11The bed of Procrustes figures formalism, which imposes on reality an abstract measure by cutting or stretching it.

Series · 17 Dec 2014D for Desire

8:51The philosophy of desire born of the liberal-libertarian counter-revolution is formalist: it strips desire of its concrete content out of anti-Marxism.