See Update | Harrie for the latest news. In October 2022 a new content overview has been released. It makes it easyer to find a way in the different chapters and themes of this 'hyper-subject'.

From different 'writing easels' chapters have been released between march 2022 and march 2023. Chapter 22 is a cultural inventory of insights that I would like to start with if I ever get the chance to return after death. In chapter 23 (Zola) the focus is shifted to the different ways language and philosophy can be connected. More specific the views of Wittgenstein and Benjamin/Adorno are compared. Chapter 24 Speechless describes experiences with being ill and alive in 18 short stories (march-august 2022). Chapter 25 Rue du Cheval Blanc 13 is a research project of personal archives (real hand written correspondence between friends, lovers, authors, painters), of a prominent cultural French family. The output is used by my wife Annemiek who writes a novel about her aunt (Piet Bolscher, a movie and theatre costumière) who was part of that family. Chapter 26 Experience and so on dives deeper in to our dayly use of this word and into the philosophical writings about experience by Voegelin, Gadamer and Aristotle. Chapter 27 Tuning will be the last chapter. It consists of a number of episodes, written mainly by or with others about what that word means to them.

After finishing chapters 4-21 (see below)  about professional practices in organizations, systems, design and change I have shifted my focus completely to Literature and philosophy.

In april 2021 I finished the project Anxiety (or Fear) and Love in life and [ fiction ] with a lengthy essay 'Double Life'. That is chapter 1. 

The chapters 2 and 3 on Constructivism and Social Constructionism (and Ignorance) have been added in 2019.

Most of the other chapters (4-21) contain historical and philosophical reflections about three main questions:

How to live? How to live together? How to organize? 

(The summary is still under construction; to find more you have to scroll down past the Dutch version below).

Samenvatting deel 1 voorstelling en deel 2 kroniek 

Startnotitie voor het geval ik nog een keer terug kom

Zie hoofdstuk 22 dat april 2022 is geplaatst

Angst en liefde in leven en [ fictie ]  

Zie hoofdstuk 1 met de resultaten van mijn filosofische huisvlijt over dit onderwerp.

Constructivisme en sociaal constructionisme

(Gudmundsson)

Hoofdstuk 2 uit 2019 bevat vijf teksten over Constructivisme en sociaal constructionisme:

• een bibliografisch overzicht over ontstaan en ontwikkeling van sociaal constructionisme;
• over de huidige erfgenamen Practice Theory en Process Organization Studies;
• over niet weten en sociaal constructionisme;
• over mijn conclusies in 'De passer in het eigen huis zetten';
• en een afsluitende Kroniek november 2019 - april 2019.

Hoofdstuk 3 is een kritisch artikel van Jac Christis over Constructivisme en sociaal constructionisme.

Deel 1 voorstelling bestaat verder uit de oorspronkelijke studie naar de culturele (her)structurering. Die beslaat hoofdstuk 4 tot en met 21 en bestaat uit achttien hoofdstukken (elk op twee webpagina's). Onderstaand geef ik een kort overzicht van de inhoud van deze hoofdstukken.

Je vind deze hoofdstukken in de inhoudsopgave van deel 1 voorstelling en je kunt ze daar aanklikken. Je kunt elk hoofdstuk ook met de navigatieknoppen in de linker balk openen én doorbladeren. Met de verticale balk rechts kun je over de tekst op een pagina scrollen.

Deel 2 kroniek 2012-2017 is hetzelfde opgezet, met dezelfde navigatiemogelijkheden, met elk jaar op drie of vier webpagina's. 

Misschien is het een aanrader om daarbij ondertussen te luisteren naar alle sonates van Beethoven (met bladmuziek). Zo heb ik namelijk ook vaak zitten werken aan Watiknietbegrijp.

Op het eind van elk hoofdstuk en van elk kroniekjaar kun je doorklikken naar een pdf versie (met uitgebreide noten).

Het onderzoek naar (her)structurering van onze culturele ervaring 

Afwisselend zijn (naar Lefèbvre) twee paden bewandeld: ik heb het hoger liggende pad opgezocht van (filosofische) manieren van denken om overzicht te krijgen over het geheel en ik ben gewoon het pad omlaag afgelopen door het dichte struikgewas van de ervaring, van de praktijk in organisaties en van de geschiedenis. 

Op de vraag: wat is je bedoeling met Watiknietbegrijp, luidt mijn antwoord dat ik een wijsgerige interpretatie probeer te geven van het leven aan het begin van de 21e eeuw. Zoals altijd oriënteren we ons in een ruimte die voor het grootste deel onbekend is. Zelfs wanneer we er steeds meer wetenschappelijke en technische middelen bij hebben. Wij maken:

1. een verschuiving mee van het psychologisch naar het neurologisch mensbeeld en

2. eveneens een verschuiving van technologie 'buiten' ons naar technologie 'in' ons (relationeel)

3. met als gevolg het vervagen van een heleboel onderscheidingen, maar vooral die van mens en niet mens.

Dat test ook de rationeel filosofische benadering die de moderne tijd domineert.

Hoofdstukken 4-8  Gaan over de vraagstelling (herstructurering van culturele ervaring), de verschijnselen en permanente systeemverstoringen, mijn interesse voor het wijsgerig en sociologisch interpreteren van het bestaan en van mijn eigen denken en handelen in deze tijd. Tussen Wenen 1900 en 'Wereld' 2060. Valt er een nieuwe deur in mijn hoofd in te bouwen?

Hoofdstukken 9-13 Gaan over deelvragen uit die overkoepelende vraag. Belemmert betekenisvol organiseren in de zorg het doorbreken van het bureaucratisch regime (h.9)? Wat is waarnemen in de sociale systeemtheorie van Luhmann die een einde maakt aan een subject-objectbenadering (h.10)? Welke inspiratie voor objectief denken bieden Rand en Arendt (h.11)? En welke filosofen blijven ondanks alle mogelijke kritiek, verder werken binnen de redelijke benadering en hoe dan precies: Wittgenstein/Hacker, Arendt, Williams, Taylor, Bieri en Nussbaum (h.12)? De worsteling van mensen met waarheid en illusies, met egoïsme en mededogen wordt in literatuur uitvergroot en geeft voeding aan ons morele oordeelsvermogen (h.13). 

Hoofdstukken 14-18 Halverwege kijk ik in de achteruitkijkspiegel: zo ontstaat een plattegrond van de tot dan toe afgelegde weg in het zoeken van antwoorden op de vragen ‘hoe te leven’?, ‘hoe samen te leven’? ‘hoe te organiseren'? (h.14).
Betekenisvol organiseren komt opnieuw aan bod, in dit geval in woningcorporaties, met een ‘nieuwe’ practice theory onderbouwing bij het fuseren van veranderen en ontwerpen (h.15). Thompsons systeemtheorie uit 1967 wordt uiteengezet en toegelicht aan de hand van de destijds nog ondenkbare platformorganisatie Amazon Go uit 2017 (h.16). Met behulp van informatiefilosofie (Floridi) en sociale systeemtheorie (Luhmann) worden twee taaie vraagstukken - zwak bestuur in woningcorporaties in h. 17  respectievelijk falende verbetering van de kwaliteit van de controlepraktijk in h.18 - geanalyseerd.

Hoofdstukken 19-21 Gaan over objectief denken. Ondanks alle bezwaren tegen subject object denken biedt Jaspers' filosofie als zelfopvoeding (grenservaringen, transcendentie, ruimte voor rede en existentie) een open huis, zelfs voor bijvoorbeeld de grammaticale analyse van Wittgenstein (h.19). Om in deze metafoor te blijven: zo’n huis kan op allerlei manieren verbouwd worden, maar om welke redenen staat het op deze plek? In mijn geval is die keuze beïnvloed door de manier van denken van Camus en Adorno (en Gadamer). Zij legden de fundamenten van mijn objectieve denken: empathische ervaring en rede, mimesis en verzet (h.20).
Deel 1 sluit af met de pleister van kapitein Haddock (h.21). Daarin staat wat mijn blinde vlekken blijven ondanks alles wat ik echt zelf geleerd denk te hebben.

Wat staat er in deel 2 kroniek? 

Tussen 2012 en 2017 zijn allerlei dagelijkse zaken opgetekend die ik niet wil vergeten. Gebeurtenissen die van belang zijn gezien de aard en het doel van dit project - van boeken en films tot politiek en economie, van cultuur en technologie tot persoonlijk of professioneel - probeer ik beschrijvend zo dicht mogelijk op de huid te kruipen. Ik waarschuw alvast: in deel 2 wordt nog veel meer overhoop gehaald dan in deel 1.

Het (na)lezen van dit externe geheugen is tamelijk vermoeiend. Maar is ook wel weer handig om ons bewustzijn in overeenstemming te brengen met de realiteit. Je kunt beginnen in 2012 en met mijn wederwaardigheden meelopen naar 2018 of die weg omgekeerd afleggen door bij 2018 te beginnen en terug te bladeren naar 2012. Of je eigen weg zoeken door in deel 1 en 2 heen en weer te gaan springen tussen thema's of onderwerpen die jou interesseren, namen (die van jezelf?), gebeurtenissen (zie index/cloud/literatuur).

SUMMARY (under construction)

WhatIdontUnderstand consists of Part 1 Performance and Part 2 Chronicle 2012-2017. The navigation structure (horizontal and vertical to the left) shows you the way through the pages, which can be turned and which can be scrolled up and down (on the right).

Anxiety and Love in Life and [ Fiction ]. See chapter 1. Published in april 2021.

In 2019 two chapters were added on Constructivism and Social Constructionism.

In the period of seven years 2011-2018, I studied three questions: 'how to live, how to live together and how to organise'? Eighteen chapters and seven chronicled years are the result that you can also find at this website. In Dutch (mixed with a lot of German and English). I am aware that looking at the Dutch language to a foreigner looks a bit like what I experience when 'reading' Italian, Danish or Spanish. Onskuld. 

First I have to say that the project as a whole is an attempt at a philosophical interpretation of being human at the beginning of the 21st century. Human beings always have to orientate themselves in a space much larger than their capabilities or their infrastructures can encompass. With Jaspers I call this the 'space of reason and existence' in which individuals can gradually learn about themselves and the world(s).

I detect three shifts that are considerably testing our collaborative capacities, our cultures, our institutions, our contexts and practices, our cognitive, bodily and emotional characteristics and capabilities:

1. the decline of the psychological and the rise of the neurological view of man

2. the shift from technology as opposed to man to relational (embedded) technology

3. the whithering away of the human/non human distinction (together with a lot of other distinctions that our lives are built upon).

The three 'how' (to live, to live together, to organise) questions are posed within an overarching and - of course much too big (to fail) - subject: i.e. the (re)structuring of modern cultural experience. This subject has been narrowed down by selecting three historical periods: Fin-de-Siècle Vienna 1900, the crises of 2012-2017, i.e. the national and international cultural, political, economical and technological issues of our time, and the agendas for the future 2060. As you will understand only parts (fragments) of it are touched upon. This is an attempt in Essayismus (Musil), a critical search process rather then the explanation of appearances and facts from within some or other grand theory.

In the material a lot of names will be very familiar to nonDutchspeaking readers. For the moment I will only give short impressions of each chapter and chronicled year. 

The website has also a trans or metalingual side. You don't have to speak Dutch to listen to the music, to look at the pictures, to go along the names and videos of lectures and interviews and connect the dots between words, names, pictures and videos. Many of them are quite familiar to anybody with some professional experience and advanced education. So you can 'understand' more than you suppose you can anyway. You already know it, so to say, and will recognize it.

In the production process of this website I became aware of the fact that German philosophy and culture in general are an important part of my world and philosophical orientation. Which is definitely not common to all Dutch readers either. As there is a lot of German text, they may have difficulties in reading as well.

On the other hand, because of this German orientation the website probably is more accessible to German readers. 

Taken together both parts can be regarded as the form and content of my 'egocentric network', (Stephenson), supporting my perceptions, decisions and experiences. In this form it is ready to communicate with your egocentric networks within the reality that surrounds us, directs us, in which we have to find our ways and live a life worth living not only for ourselves. But together, that is the hard thing to do for all of us. 

Summary

Part 1 performance

chapters 2 and 3 are studies into Constructivism and Social Constructionism

chapters 4-21 contain the original study into the (re)structuring of our cultural experience

chapters 4-8 were written at the start of the project in 2011 and 2012.

In chapter 4 (Dialogue with a reader) the author speaks about the content of chapters 4-8 with a reader. Chapter 5 (How it began), 6 (Appearances), 7 (Standpoint) - form the point of departure. Together with ch 8 (Regime transformation) they frame both the overarching subject (restructuring of modern cultural experience) and the design of the research to be done as well as the disciplines to be used (mainly business science, organisational change theory and practice, sociology and philosophy) in this project.

The focus of this study are two major orientations and constraints of modern culture: reason/rationality and individualization. What happens to those orientations in a time in which the psychological image of man is whitering away against a neurological image and technology is transforming from hierarchical to relational, more and more embedded in human bodies, minds and relations, and in artificial intelligence and big data as well? In general a growing number of the core distinctions at the roots of practices, organisations, institutions and societies (nature/technology; human/non human; man/woman; consumer/producer etc.) are changing or even disrupted. Which can be deduced from the appearances, the major disturbances of sytems in every sector - even if a lot still goes well.

In doing the project I hoped to find a new way of looking at fundamental system disturbances that are hindering or even harming us. Permitting myself to visit side tracks, leave its main course or to make U-turns if necessary. The dialogue in ch. 4 with a imaginary reader contains all the doubts I have at the start. But it also shows the hopes and expectations to have a great time while doing this research outside of any scientific or philosophic protocol. Just following my path, which of course started many years ago, while still studying for degrees.

Chapters 9-13 deal with detailed questions: is meaningful organizing in health care inhibiting bureaucracy because it stops where design interventions in structures are needed for viability (ch. 9), is Luhmanns theory of perception and his rejection of subject object thinking valuable (ch. 10), what are similarities (if any) in objective thinking in Arendt and Rand (ch. 11)? In chapter 12 six different philosophers - Wittgenstein/Hacker, Arendt, Williams, Taylor, Bieri and Nussbaum and their stance towards reason and rationality are uncovered. The struggle of people with truth and illusion, with egoism and altruism is highlighted through literature (i.e. in ten novels) (ch. 13).

Chapters 14-18 Halfway the project I look in the rear mirror to see the trajectory covered so far (diagrams; ch 14). Meaningfull organizing is again taken up in ch. 15: a consultancy traject in a housing association is discussed and the proposition developed to integrate it with design of structures by sharing a common point of departure in practice theory. Then (ch. 16) Thompsons seminal book on systems and organizations (1967) is introduced and applied to the most advanced of advanced retail concepts: the platform Amazon Go. Ch. 17 again turns to housing organisations with the public task of social housing; a number of political and financial scandals in this sector are analyzed with the newer information philosophical approach of Floridi. In ch. 18 a similar public problem (the failure of accountancy controls) is analysed through Luhmanns systems theoretical approach, which is extensively introduced as well.

It looks by then that I have left old ways of thinking, and maybe I have. But actually the previous chapters helps me to feel more free in uncovering in chapters 19-21 what maybe called my stance in work and existence: objective thinking within a subject object frame of reference where the object is not subjected to the categorical or even identified, but recepted as different. Where the limits of reason are transcended because we have boundary experiences and have to live up to the illusions we produce, even if we pretend to be anti metaphysical. A number of philosophers and writers are at the core of this way of thinking, of this way of philosophy as self education. Some of those discussed previously in ch. 12 (f.i. Arendt, Taylor, Bieri) but also Jaspers, Gadamer, Adorno and Camus. They provide the concepts empathy, reason, resistance and mimesis that help human kind to develop in ways that benefit all in stead of only the few. To build further in the space of reason and existence (Jaspers). To do good for the right reasons. Even if we can fail while trying. Of course I don't answer the three 'how' questions, but you knew that from the beginning.

In part 2 the chronicle of the years 2012-2017 - (actually 2018), describes in chronicle language (if there is such an expression in English) features of our time with regard to the psychological and neurological views of man, the technological developments, the national and international troubles, politics and culture. Professional encounters and experiences of a more private character are shared as well. And the books, articles I read or go back to, for my research.

This part is my 'organised external memory' (Luhmanns 'Zettelkasten') of features, facts, appearances that we are likely to forget and about recent events that we were and still are embedded in. In reading through them I am grateful for having written them down. But I also find it tedious work to read through them again, hard labour so to say. But valuable.

For now the titles of part 2 give some idea about the subsequent pages of part 2.

2012 Mind traveller
| 1 The chronicle begins | 2 Discovery of Higgs particle | 3 Skyfall

2013 Winter steps 
| 1 Explosion of problems | 2 Spring in Joppe | 3 Boundary experience | 4 Climatological reason, the Underwater-family

2014 Festivals and war
| 1 Debris removal | 2 Exit crisis? | 3 Between A and B

2015 The year of the sieve
| 1  Care | 2 Sociology of the mobile | 3 Assistant farmer | 4 Next level frames

2016 Style icons that can't be missed
| 1 Hopeless work | 2 Increasing house prices, increasing poverty | 3 Lots of care

2017 [   ] comes to an end
| 1 Beyond expectations | 2 Time covered in conjectures | 3 With words in the world

2018  Round up | 1 Format stress and mimesis

(to be continued)