Judging by the current situation at Middlesex prima facie it may seem like it was a relation of frontal opposition that we are talking about: business vs. philosophy, or so we have implicitly or explicitly heard in many of the campaign statements of the last weeks. A barbaric managerialism symptomatic of the 'McKinsey approach to the world' let loose on one of the last refuges of intellectually and socially vital, yet economically unproductive and unmeasurable activity. So the narrative goes. But let us examine the situation more carefully. If indeed it was an antagonistic relation then philosophy would certainly not be much of an opponent. Over are the days of Rousseau or Hegel when the mental productions of philosophers would shake and shape whole nations, or the days of Sartre or Russell, when a philosopher could at least acquire a broad social impact. The dominant 'analytic' form of philosophy as it is practiced today at the vast majority of university departments has renounced both the historical aspirations of philosophy and its promises. Devoid of both critical edge and comprehensive ambition, it is hardly more than an interpretative auxilary science which appears in endless variations as 'philosophy of x' (of mind, of science, of physics, etc.) and limits itself to conceptual analysis and clarification of the subject matter of other disciplines. As the best among the practioners of these other disciplines are perfectly capable of clarifying their thoughts themselves, the philosophers of x are essentially a useless bunch. Not that they would necessarily object to this classification – since Wittgenstein, being seen as entirely useless is considered somewhat sexy in a debonair way in certain philosophical circles of the analytic persuasion. In this dismal environment the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP) at Middlesex had successfully established itself over the last years as a pocket universe sprouting a different thought culture. Through series of seminars, events and conferences, the affiliated journal Radical Philosophy, and not least through the taught programmes at the department, the centre had managed to garner a small but dedicated following around the 'continental' idea of philosophy as a sort of transformative meta-theory of world and society. As a real anomaly without proper location in the current academic division of labour and its imperatives of specialisation and compartmentalisation, the CRMEP sphere had been institutionally isolated since its inception, situated by its founders at a post-92 university on the fringes of academic and intellectual life, despite some vital connections to the critical and curatorial art scene. The concept which was often employed with regard to the enclave-like position of the center was that of 'relative autonomy', Adorno's ideal for the semi-detached position of modern art.
As recent events have shown, relative autonomy is an illusion, perhaps a transcendental illusion sustained by temporary liberal tolerance in times of abundance. Crisis brings crystallisation. And with the wave of austerity reforms which are sweeping across Europe we are bound to see hitherto tolerated interstices and spaces of relative alterity vanish, swallowed up by the levelling effects of the kind of managerial decisions we experience at Middlesex University today. What is being enforced here and elsewhere is a rationality which submits all activities and all social relations to the equalising plane of monetary measurement, on which their merits and demerits are determined through cost-benefit calculations and the principle of profit-maximization. In short, it is the final enforcement of a Chicago School type economisation of life – a 'Freakonomics' of everything, the genesis of which Michel Foucault surveyed in his late courses on governmentality. It is not quite right to speak of a specifically neoliberal phenomenon, bouts of neo-Keynesian government policies sustained by a surge of behavioural economics at the academy and in publications like the Economist or the FT as we have seen post-2008, have not essentially endangered the social reality of homo economicus one bit. Yet, what potentially can alter this reality is exactly the kind of indignation which we have seen in the campaign of the last weeks. What are seeing forcefully expressed in various ways is the unwavering will to protect and to celebrate the unique intellectual and cultural value produced in and around CRMEP (a use value in the language of classical political economists) and to oppose its reduction to immediate and short-term measurement in profits (the exchange value). But make no mistake, this is not simply a campaign of opposition or resistance. On its own and devoid of a constructive element 'resistance' has never been enough. The inspiring force of this campaign and its remarkable potency are grounded in the persistently creative ability of the campaigners to project the real value of the kind of transversal thought culture characteristic of CRMEP outward and to attract the sympathy and support of a diverse range of people. It is if and when movements around similar causes emerge and interlock in a kind of reinforcing meshwork that an affirmation of purpose over profit can shift from personal decision to suprapersonal social force, changing collective perceptions and the very parameters of socioeconomic activity. But we are no idealists. A change in perception alone doesn't change anything. What is necessary is to translate the power of the supportive network consisting of various institutions and individuals into workable models of associational socioeconomic design. In practice this means to actively explore the ways in which the cybernetic structures of the 21st century in which we are already thoroughly embedded and which essentially carried and empowered the current campaign, can be used by way of expanding collaborative efforts across disciplinary and spatial boundaries, constructing new channels of distribution and experimenting with P2P and participatory modes of finance. Abominable as this may sound to the ears of purists, it is the way forward, given firstly the inconsistency of a campaign which would run solely and exclusively on the universalist call for free education while concretely demanding the reinstatement of a tolerated department at a profit focussed higher education corporation, and secondly the absolute imperative for CRMEP or similar institutions to avoid the current situation in future whether at Middlesex University or elsewhere. The question is here not the too facile choice between either totally rejecting the system or to be coopted by it. Reality consists not of a master system but of a plurality of dynamic systems, sub-systems, meta-systems and pocket systems which together form a complex tapestry the overarching character of which is an emergent property of local interactions and transactions and not one prescribed by a central monolithic logic.
The task at hand is hence to combine the macro-vision of an all-inclusive and radically democratic education with series of micro-interventions and micro-experimentations with collective and open learning environments powered by collaborative and associational models of finance. Spread this constructive and multidimensional method to a multitude of singular sites around social reality and an emerging movement for the transformation of society will be connected by the collective spirit of a shared vision and powered by the creative force of numerous efforts and alliances, avoiding the eternal pitfall of protest movements founded purely on resistance – the eventual lapse into inoperative modes of organisation ultimately obstructive to human unfolding. Thus correctly guiding and focussing available energies, philosophy as transformative meta-theory of world and society can do what an interpretative and specialist philosophy can never do: contribute to a shift in the dominant socioeconomic construction of reality, such that, instead of the annihilation of philosophy by business, philosophy may transform business.
Stick around on this site. More on the MDX situation, value theory, micro-revolutions, cybernetic cosmology and synergetic design soon.
