Capitalisme, production, séduction - Semaine de la Pop Philosophie

François L'Yvonnet

Seduction versus production: taking the side of appearances

Baudrillard sets “se-duction” against “pro-duction.” They belong to two irreconcilable logics.

In production, the ideal is to master things through work, in a goal-oriented, irreversible and unlimited process (production, as the materialization of a force, is always an endless drive forward). Man would therefore seem destined to objectively transform the world, to bring value into being through his work. There is, moreover, the idea of self-production: the worker would be destined, in keeping with an old humanist refrain, to produce himself through and within work.

Seduction is a “diversion”: it means diverting things in order to open them up to the play of appearances. Seduction immerses us in the universe of symbolic exchange, characterized by reversibility: gift and counter-gift, potlatch, challenge, reversal, turnabout.

With seduction, we enter a world of appearances, forms, illusion and play. Seduction is a fateful game in which everyone puts their identity at stake. To seduce the enigmatic young woman, Kierkegaard said, one must become an enigma to her. An enigmatic duel.

Françoise Gaillard

Playing, not enjoying

Seduction is a total social phenomenon rooted in our mental, historical and religious frameworks. It belongs to the realms of play, challenge and escalation, and is an end in itself—a point well understood by Johannes, the hero of The Seducer’s Diary, and summed up by Jean Baudrillard in a concise formula: “playing, not enjoying.”

In doing so, it stands in opposition to what underpins the rationalism of modern society: truth, meaning and purpose. That is what makes it dangerous. Does it not threaten everything that serves as our reality principle, starting with production?

What if it offered us a different economy, another kind of exchange...

Samuel Lacroix

Seduce and give pleasure. How capitalism made itself likable

“Metro, work, libido,” “pleasure destination,” “to each their own urges.” In recent years, we have seen this kind of message proliferate on billboards in prominent locations. Whether they advertise dating apps, platforms that deliver condoms in minutes or sex-toy brands, these ads have in common that they do not merely use sexual imagery or themes (a scantily clad woman selling a car, for example), but promote sex directly.

This may be one of the latest signs of capitalism changing in nature, gradually moving from a repressive to a permissive stage. Unlike an “old-school capitalism” inherited from the Industrial Revolution, based on hard work, austerity and prudishness, and championed by the conservative right, contemporary capitalism has increasingly taken on a “cool” and libidinal character, one that a progressive, feminist left can identify with. How did we get here? Alongside Jean Baudrillard, the great thinker of seduction, these were themes anticipated by certain socialist thinkers—Marx above all—as well as, more recently, philosophers such as Michel Clouscard, author of the aptly titled Capitalisme de la séduction.

Organization: PLACE PUBLIQUE

The Rencontres Place Publique, founded in 1994 by Jacques Serrano, initially brought together French and international intellectuals to invite them to apply the systems of thought specific to their disciplines—sociology, philosophy—to the field of art. They are considered by many intellectuals and art professionals to be the most relevant opportunities for reflection on art in France today. In opposition to popularization, and in favor of sharing knowledge, they have always prioritized intellectual rigor, and done so with pleasure.

Based in Marseille, Les Rencontres Place Publique have been invited to venues including Columbia University in New York, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Palais de Tokyo, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (Paris), and the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, giving Marseille and its region international visibility in the field of art theory.

La Semaine de la Pop Philosophie, founded in 2009, is an event that aims to create philosophical explorations inspired by iconoclastic objects from popular and media culture, and also seeks to encourage innovation in the formats used for intellectual exchange.

https://www.helloasso.com/associations/place-publique