13: Sympathetic thought

In this video Slavoj Zizek(2010) points to the political theories and hierarchies that exist within our daily acts of charity and sympathetic gestures. He discusses Oscar Wilde’s suggestion that “it is much easier to have sympathy with suffering than it is to have sympathy with thought” (as cited in Zizek, 2010, 5:36). This quote asks us to think about the images we take at face value and our response to these faces. As we respond to suffering we often forget to question the perspectives and values that shape our image of that person who suffers and we respond without question. In early childhood we often respond to an image of the child as vulnerable and in need of help without sympathizing first with the thought that might have inspired this perspective. This speaks to the ideas of Sharon Todd (2009) that question how we look to ways of being in the world and being in spaces with others as possibilities for positive responses, and these single stories (Adichie, 2009) of desire for a peaceful, harmonious world deny other ways of being together that might invite generative spaces of dissensus. 

In our desire to know the answers to the world problems like poverty and war, or to provide the answer to the conflicts in our classrooms, we often forget that the answers we give come from particular perspectives that silence other possibilities. When we sit with the tension of conflict we can disrupt this certainty that denies voices of difference and other possibilities. Sharon Todd (2001) writes with Levinas’ ideas about the ethics of not knowing the other. Levinas speaks to the importance of recognizing the alterity of another person- the other’s unknowability. As we listen to this, we can hear Zizek’s(2010) questions about how the assumptions made about people as we create and maintain vulnerable positions of poverty through acts of charity, frame the other as a vulnerable subject in a way that limits the possibilities for other subjectivities to be allowed to emerge. How can we create global communities for theoretical discussions and practice that welcome difference? How can we create spaces for conflict and difficulty where hierarchies and systems of power can be disrupted? How do we address the suffering in the world in thoughtful ways that hopefully do not lead to more suffering? How do we address suffering in ways that embrace the generative potential of dissensus and difference? 

Adichie, C. (Speaker). (2009). The danger of a single story [Online Video]. New York: Ted Conference LLC. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Todd, S. (2009). Can there be pluralism without conflict? Ingesting the indigestible in democratic education. Journal of Philosophy of Education Annual Conference, 1-11. Great Britain. Retrieved from http://www.philosophy-of- education.org/conferences/pdfs/Todd.pdf

Todd, S. (2001). On not knowing the other, or learning from Levinas. Philosophy of Education, 67-74.

Zizek, S. (Speaker), RSAnimate (Producer). (2010). RSA Animate- First as tragedy, then as farce [online video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g&feature=related