Constructivist theater and the “Society of the Spectacle”: on the problem of constructing imaginative knowledge

• Published in: St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University Journal. Humanities and Social Sciences 2021-01, Vol.12 (3), p.20
• Main Author: Mureyko, Larisa V
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; rus
• Subjects: Subjectivity; Theater
• ISSN: 2304-9758
• DOI: 10.18721/JHSS.12302

The purpose of the study is to develop a hypothesis about the possibility of an epistemological study of the “Society of the Spectacle” on the model of Constructivist Theater. The research is aimed at clarifying the ontological, usually unconscious cross-section of technologies for creating, translating and assimilating automatic acts of imaginative thinking. The methodological basis of this work is the director’s ideas of V. Meyerhold (including their development in the modern experimental theater) and the concepts of G. Deborah, B. Laurel etc. about the trend towards the general theatricalization of society due to the development of the mass media environment. The comparisons of the field of science and the theater scene proposed by P. Bourdieu, J. Baudrillard, D. Dennett, B. Baars are taken into account. The empirical material is theater productions focused on a technological game with images of reality. In general, the above-mentioned purpose of the article is implemented using a communicative-epistemological approach. Results. When highlighting the special role of mechanically (automatically) functioning images of the objective world in V. Meyerhold’s productions, the thesis is clarified, according to which theatrical constructivism is inherently anti-psychological. It is proposed to interpret the phenomenon of a human-“automaton” who is under the influence of certain technologies as follows: the technical, machinelike component combining with the automatically flowing affective one is able to produce a new subjectivity. Conclusion. The author’s contribution to the problem under consideration is the development of the idea according to which the use of the metaphors of the theater in philosophical research especially vividly demonstrates the conceptual inconsistency in the understanding of consciousness and subjectivity. The mechanistic nature of imaginative thinking is ambiguous and may be accompanied by subjectivity. Such knowledge is necessary for the development of new technologies for controlling imitations of subjects.