Cycle 14 · 28 Feb 2026Their “Europe” means war- 5:23One thinks one is going backward, but a small shift enlarges the circle. Likewise, the successive variation of a theme is worth more than its repetition.
Spiral
Worked through in 12 videos · 13 passages.
Summary
Dominique Pagani presents the spiral as the dialectical synthesis of the line, which progresses, and the circle, which repeats. One goes back, but never to zero: each turn keeps the previous ones and the radius grows1. He associates it with Hegel, in whom the system returns to its starting point enriched by a determination2. He also distinguishes it from the reactionary circle and from the straight line that claims to be progressive3. In Leibniz, he connects it to the handing down of the tool, which means the next generation does not start again from zero: it is a synthesis of repetition and liberation. In music, he sees it in the variation of a theme, which he prefers to its repetition4. He takes the example of the Rhinemaidens returning in another key in *Götterdämmerung*, where he hears a spiral rather than eternal recurrence5. Finally, he describes his own method in these terms: his workshops circle round and move forward through successive shifts, so that one can enter them through any video.
- 1“Speech is the best and the worst of things” (Aesop)19 Oct 2022 · 17:12
- 2Hegel on the Beach 3/52 Feb 2016 · 1:34:52
- 3#2 Harnessed to confinitude30 Mar 2020 · 1:10:30
- 4Their “Europe” means war28 Feb 2026 · 5:23
- 5#9.19 Twilight of the Gods, or from repetition to liberation (part 2)14 Apr 2021 · 4:36
Summary produced automatically from 13 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.
Cycle 14 · 28 Feb 2026Their “Europe” means war
Cycle 13 · 27 May 2025Flagrante Delights- 1:48:03Man makes back-and-forth movements, but without returning to zero: the radius of the spiral increases.
Cycle 13 · 2 Dec 2024Evil, or the “unknowing” of the self- 55:53A synthesis of cycle and progress: one returns without returning to zero, each circle preserves the others and widens.
Cycle 11 · 19 Oct 2022“Speech is the best and the worst of things” (Aesop)- 17:12Dialectical synthesis of the line, which progresses, and the circle, which repeats: the past returns, but each circle has a larger radius.
Cycle 9.2 · 14 Apr 2021#9.19 Twilight of the Gods, or from repetition to liberation (part 2)- 4:36The return of the Rhinemaidens in a different tonality is not a return to square one: a spiral rather than the circle of eternal recurrence.
Series · 7 Apr 2021#1 Mignon, or the song of silence- 4:29He proceeds concentrically, in a spiral, from the periphery toward the black point of silence from which the musics emanate.
Cycle 9.1 · 26 Nov 2020#6 Presentation of the dominiquepagani.fr website- 13:12His workshops do not follow a strictly chronological order: he goes in circles, he "spirals," he goes back and forth. One can therefore enter through any video.
Talks · 24 Nov 2020Between sea and mountain, the standing stones of Valinco (the Corsican Neolithic)- 30:56His discourse does not go back over itself: it turns in a spiral, each time with a shift that goes further.
Cycle 7 · 30 Mar 2020#2 Harnessed to confinitude- 1:10:30It advances while going back: it is the synthesis of the reactionary circle and the line that claims to be progressive.
Cycle 5.1 · 15 Oct 2018#5.0 Presentation of the 2018-2019 workshop- 10:12A method both linear and circular, which brings us back to the image of the spiral.
Cycle 3 · 1 Aug 2017#3.2 From Ulysses to Daedalus
Series · 2 Feb 2016Hegel on the Beach 3/5- 1:34:52A synthesis of linear progress and circular rotation: the system returns to its starting point enriched by a determination.