“sense without force”
The Neue Oper Wien performed Ernst Krenek’s opera Pallas Athene weint at MuseumsQuartier Wien.
Pallas Athene is a representative of George Herbert Mead’s generalized other, she represents the relationships of an ideal social community. Socrates shows how self-reflection can pave the way to a meta-level on which such an ideal can be reflected.
however, both Pallas Athene and Socrates are doomed to failure. Athens is populated by self-concerning individuals that use the common good as instrument for their own well-being. by doing so, they unavoidably shift away from the state of freedom to the catastrophe of Sparta’s rule of force.
Socrates reflects upon that situation with Krenek’s words: “in freedom disunited, we are powerless, united by force we are senseless; sense without force – when does such a light shine through our night?” (my translation from german: “in Freiheit entzweit sind wir machtlos, in Zwang geeint sind wir sinnlos; Sinn ohne Zwang – wann schimmert solches Licht durch unsere Nacht?”).
that’s the question of unity through diversity.
topical.