The Pursuit of a Living Philosophy

In this chapter, we argue that when we apply Jacques Ranciere’s (Chronicles of consensual times (trans: Corcoran S). Continuum, London, 2010a; Dissensus: on politics and aesthetics (trans: Corcoran S). Continuum, London, 2010b) living philosophy to stimulate academic activism, we think of encouraging academics to think of how their research – in relation to teaching and scholarship – can stimulate fictitious imaginaries of a society in which people engage in iterations and the free exchange of provocative ideas. Such a society might even be an imaginative one where people live in harmony despite their differences that seem to be irreconcilable. People might even renounce antagonism and encourage the free integration of pluralist ideas of a common humanity. And, when such a living philosophy draws people back to their real experiences, it would contrast life in the idealised world with the perilous societal malaises of hostility, torture and continuous violence.