On Baudrillard: The Precession of Simulacra

A reading of passages from the first chapter of Simulacra and Simulations by Jean Baudrillard, attempting to make sense of some of the basic concepts applied by the French philosopher through the use of examples, both from the book, as from current affairs.

Touches on various subjects, such as the use of crises to rejuvenate the real (watergate, 9/11, the current economic crisis), the blur of truth and fiction (and the resulting explosion of the interpretation of modern day events, such as conspiracy theory), nuclear weapons and the death of the social.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Baudrillard
• Zizek
• Lacan
• Social
• Studies
• Philosophy
• 9/11
• Matrix
• Economic
• Crisis
• Simulation
• Simulacra
• Precession

[pierreodengard]

Why do you say that there is no God? This theory doesn't speak of such things?

[NegaSado]

@pierreodengard: Baudrillard on Iconoclasm: "Their rage to destroy images rose precisely because they sensed this omnipotence of simulacra, this facility they have of erasing God from the consciousnesses of people, and the overwhelming, destructive truth which they suggest: that ultimately there has never been any God; that only simulacra exist; indeed that God himself has only ever been his own simulacrum."

[pierreodengard]

@NegaSado Taken out of its context, anything could be derived from any text and this would then in itself be a simulacra.

The preceding text to your copy/paste is:

"-- the visible machinery of icons being substituted for the pure and intelligible Idea of God? This is precisely what was feared by the Iconoclasts, whose millennial quarrel is still with us today."

In my interpretation, he's saying that making images of "an IDEA of God" would create a simulacra.

[NegaSado]

@pierreodengard: But what if God, in itself, is a simulacrum? This is, I think, the fundamental question here. Then, the question is not such a 'banal' question of existence. It doesn't matter whether God exists or not. The deeper issue is one of representation, and referentiality, not existence. Our condition is one where we're permanently unable to seperate the copy and the original; God doesn't escape this logic. God's raw existence fades in the images that attest to his existence.

[Valkyrie963]

This was incredible stupid and confusing for me at first -- this has helped immensely. I thank you!!

[shaunseh]

Nihilism?

[pierreodengard]

@NegaSado God escapes all logic, that is why we can't observe God "as is" but make images of an "idea". We observe the metaphorical "map of Gorge" and start making resons around the map rather than the reality which it represents, and thus create simulacrum.

Read the allegory of the cave by Plato for further understanding.

[grandmasterqz]

@NegaSado It's beginning to. Basically anything that we create as a projection of our imagination or fantasy (that does not imitate an already existing thing) is a simulacra. so going to your disneyland example. Disneyland is not a real castle, nor is it an imitation, its just the representation of a fantasy, an attempt to bring illusion to life and not really knowing the difference.

[NegaSado]

Sorry for the (really late) reply. You have a great point here that obviously shows you can ask a good set of critical questions to Baudrillardian (or postmodern thought for that matter) thought, that is, if you are inquiring about the practical implications. I would like to raise the example of South Korea, though, where proliferation of mass media causes severe social problems. It is clear that the media age alters the way human societies work. Is this for the good, or for the bad? :)

[NegaSado]

the simulation of demand. And we all play along, for if we'd no longer simulate, we'd lose all purpose for living in this bizarre post-capitalist system. We're all pretending to be sick, we're showing the symptons of the sickness, as to not to have to work after a rough weekend of partying. And by now, it has become impossible to seperate the really sick from the fakers; so, we treat ALL people as sick, per default.

Thanks for watching the video, I hope I make some sense. :)