The Invisible College (U.S. node)
Declaration of Belief
(the following was originally published in Performance Philosophy, vol. 1 (2015).
Founded by the natural scientist Robert Boyle in the 17th Century, the Invisible College convened around a distrust for knowledge received through inherited institutional frameworks. As Joanne Zerdy reminds us, this ensemble, which included the likes of Christopher Wren, took as its motto Nullius in Verba (‘on the word of no one’), a phrase in which resides a distant echo of the proposition that we think without knowing what thinking is (Zerdy 2013). This group’s mission was to think anew by refusing the keywords and presumed certainties that pretended to vouchsafe the bedrock beliefs of the sciences (though of course, at the time, philosophy was integral to these scientific endeavors as well). Engaging in experiment and active observation of the physical world around them, Boyle and his colleagues built their own theories and inspired a new generation of non-conformist intellectuals.
Today, the Invisible College has been revived by academics and artists in Scotland where it names a group of individuals bound together not by institutional affiliation but by practices in common. Zerdy has taken active interest in one branch of the Scottish Invisible College known as NVA, a group of architects and artists working to investigate the history of land ownership in Scotland as well as the relationship between the built and natural environments. Looking specifically at NVA’s restoration of the modernist ruin Kilmahew/St. Peter’s estate in Cardross, Zerdy observes that, ‘NVA’s Invisible College then consists of a network of artists, academics, and local residents who participate in research activities that use objects, images, and texts to play with the physical remnants and symbolic meanings of Kilmahew/St. Peters. They take the site’s concrete, stone, and soil not as obstacles to locating an authentic history but as productive and provocative starting points to investigate the relationship between social histories, ecological change, human activity, and architecture. They share their findings online through a variety of media’ (Zerdy 2013).
With a desire to develop the practice of Performance Philosophy in the United States and, furthermore, to evince from that practice a renewed pedagogical philosophy, I find myself drawn to the Invisible College and have begun to wonder how such a collective might re-shape the terrain of higher education in this country. Returning to Laruelle’s indictment of Philosophy (as an academic discipline), might we not extrapolate from his claims in order to name and make visible some of the faults in our higher educational system? To name one example: the bifurcation of administrative and pedagogical languages within the University which has led to an impasse between the documentation and substantiation of learning outcomes, on the one hand, and the development of qualitative and critical thinking skills in the student body, on the other hand. This impasse makes it virtually impossible to discuss any possible ‘change’ within the University, because the futures imagined through such changes differ wildly depending on which perspective one adopts: the view from the administration or the view from (at least a small percentage) of the professoriate. As Stuart McLean has pointed out, the ‘change’ imagined by administrators frequently draws on the rhetorics of both the free market and neo-Darwinism as it urges universities to adapt to changing times in order to survive. As the fight ensues between administrators and teachers over the language used to frame the conversation, students lose out as faculty members become mired in extracurricular activities and ‘service’ that, paradoxically, seem only to prolong the fight instead of making substantive changes. Thus, despite aggressive turns toward ‘community and civic engagement’ within university curricula, which comes about ostensibly through decisions made by faculty governance, these curricular amendments implicitly discredit any type of philosophical thinking that yields no obvious ‘hands-on’ contact with the ‘community’ in favor of more practical learning outcomes that do. Again, McLean’s words are astute: ‘What if the demand for change were applied not to the university as a narrowly conceived purveyor of social goods and services but to the very conditions of our collective existence, including the now near ubiquitous assumption that it is the role of universities to prepare those who pass through them for the inexorable and inescapable world of work?’ (McLean 2013).
As one continues to map this bifurcation between administrators and teachers, the general picture that comes into focus is one in which critical thinking cedes to practical (and efficient) doing. Thus, thinking and doing are split apart and we fail to embrace my request that doing life is that which we must think. Rephrasing my claim, I would like to argue this: As Laruelle sees the discipline of Philosophy as a machine that endlessly produces problems suited perfectly to the answers that the discipline itself produces, I see the University as an institution that, more and more, seeks to commodify education and produce the language that would legitimate and sanction such an education, all the while blocking students’ paths to forms of learning that would cultivate not workers but life-artists, or, better, performance philosophers.
This is a work in progress. We are in the middle of it. The University has not irrevocably ceded ground to the forces of ignorance. But the battle is underway. The question: what is to be done? My solution (which the Performance Philosophy Community of Practice at Brown has been investigating) is to mobilize a double-pincer approach that would supplement traditional University offerings with experimentation within the Invisible College. The Invisible College has no defined curriculum but operates within the field of research mapped by Performance Philosophy, and as such it would have two guiding principles: 1.) To think such that we do not know what thinking is. 2.) Doing life is that which we must think.
But to do this, we have to establish new arms of the Invisible College and recruit into them.
(the following was originally published in Performance Philosophy, vol. 1 (2015).
Founded by the natural scientist Robert Boyle in the 17th Century, the Invisible College convened around a distrust for knowledge received through inherited institutional frameworks. As Joanne Zerdy reminds us, this ensemble, which included the likes of Christopher Wren, took as its motto Nullius in Verba (‘on the word of no one’), a phrase in which resides a distant echo of the proposition that we think without knowing what thinking is (Zerdy 2013). This group’s mission was to think anew by refusing the keywords and presumed certainties that pretended to vouchsafe the bedrock beliefs of the sciences (though of course, at the time, philosophy was integral to these scientific endeavors as well). Engaging in experiment and active observation of the physical world around them, Boyle and his colleagues built their own theories and inspired a new generation of non-conformist intellectuals.
Today, the Invisible College has been revived by academics and artists in Scotland where it names a group of individuals bound together not by institutional affiliation but by practices in common. Zerdy has taken active interest in one branch of the Scottish Invisible College known as NVA, a group of architects and artists working to investigate the history of land ownership in Scotland as well as the relationship between the built and natural environments. Looking specifically at NVA’s restoration of the modernist ruin Kilmahew/St. Peter’s estate in Cardross, Zerdy observes that, ‘NVA’s Invisible College then consists of a network of artists, academics, and local residents who participate in research activities that use objects, images, and texts to play with the physical remnants and symbolic meanings of Kilmahew/St. Peters. They take the site’s concrete, stone, and soil not as obstacles to locating an authentic history but as productive and provocative starting points to investigate the relationship between social histories, ecological change, human activity, and architecture. They share their findings online through a variety of media’ (Zerdy 2013).
With a desire to develop the practice of Performance Philosophy in the United States and, furthermore, to evince from that practice a renewed pedagogical philosophy, I find myself drawn to the Invisible College and have begun to wonder how such a collective might re-shape the terrain of higher education in this country. Returning to Laruelle’s indictment of Philosophy (as an academic discipline), might we not extrapolate from his claims in order to name and make visible some of the faults in our higher educational system? To name one example: the bifurcation of administrative and pedagogical languages within the University which has led to an impasse between the documentation and substantiation of learning outcomes, on the one hand, and the development of qualitative and critical thinking skills in the student body, on the other hand. This impasse makes it virtually impossible to discuss any possible ‘change’ within the University, because the futures imagined through such changes differ wildly depending on which perspective one adopts: the view from the administration or the view from (at least a small percentage) of the professoriate. As Stuart McLean has pointed out, the ‘change’ imagined by administrators frequently draws on the rhetorics of both the free market and neo-Darwinism as it urges universities to adapt to changing times in order to survive. As the fight ensues between administrators and teachers over the language used to frame the conversation, students lose out as faculty members become mired in extracurricular activities and ‘service’ that, paradoxically, seem only to prolong the fight instead of making substantive changes. Thus, despite aggressive turns toward ‘community and civic engagement’ within university curricula, which comes about ostensibly through decisions made by faculty governance, these curricular amendments implicitly discredit any type of philosophical thinking that yields no obvious ‘hands-on’ contact with the ‘community’ in favor of more practical learning outcomes that do. Again, McLean’s words are astute: ‘What if the demand for change were applied not to the university as a narrowly conceived purveyor of social goods and services but to the very conditions of our collective existence, including the now near ubiquitous assumption that it is the role of universities to prepare those who pass through them for the inexorable and inescapable world of work?’ (McLean 2013).
As one continues to map this bifurcation between administrators and teachers, the general picture that comes into focus is one in which critical thinking cedes to practical (and efficient) doing. Thus, thinking and doing are split apart and we fail to embrace my request that doing life is that which we must think. Rephrasing my claim, I would like to argue this: As Laruelle sees the discipline of Philosophy as a machine that endlessly produces problems suited perfectly to the answers that the discipline itself produces, I see the University as an institution that, more and more, seeks to commodify education and produce the language that would legitimate and sanction such an education, all the while blocking students’ paths to forms of learning that would cultivate not workers but life-artists, or, better, performance philosophers.
This is a work in progress. We are in the middle of it. The University has not irrevocably ceded ground to the forces of ignorance. But the battle is underway. The question: what is to be done? My solution (which the Performance Philosophy Community of Practice at Brown has been investigating) is to mobilize a double-pincer approach that would supplement traditional University offerings with experimentation within the Invisible College. The Invisible College has no defined curriculum but operates within the field of research mapped by Performance Philosophy, and as such it would have two guiding principles: 1.) To think such that we do not know what thinking is. 2.) Doing life is that which we must think.
But to do this, we have to establish new arms of the Invisible College and recruit into them.
Projects under development
Project A: Space to Think
Goal: To enliven the possibility of a gap year between high school and college.
Assumption(s):
The Invisible College can work to make visible this gap, this space that makes self-reflection and insight possible.
How this could work
Faculty members of the Invisible College invite applications for a program called "space to think." Requirements for such a program could be:
Students meeting these requirements are asked to submit a proposal for a plan of study. This proposal would include the following information:
Faculty members receive these application materials and proceed to create a proposed plan of study for individual students and groups of students. These plans will revolve around project-based learning experiences and should ideally have the added component of collaborative interaction. For example: Applications from three students, each living in a different part of the world, reveal a shared interest in the connections between popular music and inhibited rage. Faculty members with explicit interest in and/or experience with the surrounding disciplines of such a topic (performance studies, ethnomusicology, critical race theory, etc.) volunteer to create and oversee a project for this team of three students.
After creating the project—the guidelines of which will include a list of primary materials to study, a list of suggested secondary sources, at least two specific project prompts, and a method for checking-in with the team members—the Faculty mentors distribute the proposal to the students.
Upon receiving confirmation of acceptance to "space to think" and the proposal from the Invisible College faculty, students elect to commit to the plan of study, with the caveat that adjustments to the initial proposal are welcomed and encouraged - or else the student can choose not to participate. A decision to commit must be accompanied by a written statement in which the student clearly accepts the requirements of the task in front of her/him.
The project commences and continues until the faculty and students reach a stopping point.
After the completion of the project
The faculty mentors will have a keen awareness of these students' work habits, work ethic, and creative-intellectual strengths by the end of the project. This awareness will allow them to write letters of recommendation for the students which can then be used in applications for college or jobs.
The Invisible College will build a database of projects in order to begin assessing the types of work initiated by its applicants. If faculty members also teach in college/university, they can consider using the student projects as case-studies for their higher-education students, thereby introducing the work of the Invisible College to more and more people.
Goal: To enliven the possibility of a gap year between high school and college.
Assumption(s):
- The typical educational track in the U.S. Education System moves students through years of study without providing space to think. Without this space, many students never develop a deeply self-reflexive understanding of themselves as learners or a critical understanding of the learning process. In the U.S., most students operate in a mode that could be called "school-as-usual."
- Creating space to think is the first requirement for a renewed understanding of oneself and one's learning.
- One logical place for this space to think is between high school and college. In the U.K., for example, a gap year is a recognized option for many students.
The Invisible College can work to make visible this gap, this space that makes self-reflection and insight possible.
How this could work
Faculty members of the Invisible College invite applications for a program called "space to think." Requirements for such a program could be:
- Students must be finishing high school and are considering the next step of their education but either don't feel prepared to enter college or don't want to enter college
- Individual are capable of organizing and completing self-directed programs of study
- Students are committed to dedicating nine to ten months to the cultivation of this "space to think"
Students meeting these requirements are asked to submit a proposal for a plan of study. This proposal would include the following information:
- General themes or ideas the student wishes to explore. Explain these themes or ideas by relating them to a painting, sculpture, work of dance, movie, theatre/performance project, piece of music, or some other cultural artifact. For example: Kara Walker's A Subtlety inspired questions about racism and natural resources. The student wants to understand where this art work came from and why it has such a strong affect on her/him. Or: the debate about the Washington Redskins' logo has lead a student to question the responsibility of professional sports franchises in matters of ethics and discussions of race.
- Answers to this question: what are some methods you could deploy to explore this main theme and the artwork/cultural artifact in question? A possible answer: Regarding the relationship between racism and natural resources, one might imagine researching the effects of the BP oil spill on the African American population in rural Louisiana and, from there, discover connections between oil, sugar, and the history of slavery in the Southern United States. Or: regarding sports and ethics, one might imagine researching the history of the Olympic Games, which, after all, seem to be a place where national identity meets individual ability and friendly competition.
- List the topics you have encountered in school that have most excited you and offer some thoughts about how your teachers could have taken the study of those topics to a deeper level.
Faculty members receive these application materials and proceed to create a proposed plan of study for individual students and groups of students. These plans will revolve around project-based learning experiences and should ideally have the added component of collaborative interaction. For example: Applications from three students, each living in a different part of the world, reveal a shared interest in the connections between popular music and inhibited rage. Faculty members with explicit interest in and/or experience with the surrounding disciplines of such a topic (performance studies, ethnomusicology, critical race theory, etc.) volunteer to create and oversee a project for this team of three students.
After creating the project—the guidelines of which will include a list of primary materials to study, a list of suggested secondary sources, at least two specific project prompts, and a method for checking-in with the team members—the Faculty mentors distribute the proposal to the students.
Upon receiving confirmation of acceptance to "space to think" and the proposal from the Invisible College faculty, students elect to commit to the plan of study, with the caveat that adjustments to the initial proposal are welcomed and encouraged - or else the student can choose not to participate. A decision to commit must be accompanied by a written statement in which the student clearly accepts the requirements of the task in front of her/him.
The project commences and continues until the faculty and students reach a stopping point.
After the completion of the project
The faculty mentors will have a keen awareness of these students' work habits, work ethic, and creative-intellectual strengths by the end of the project. This awareness will allow them to write letters of recommendation for the students which can then be used in applications for college or jobs.
The Invisible College will build a database of projects in order to begin assessing the types of work initiated by its applicants. If faculty members also teach in college/university, they can consider using the student projects as case-studies for their higher-education students, thereby introducing the work of the Invisible College to more and more people.