When Wisdom Becomes Performance

VIDEO DESCRIPTION They speak correctly, and people applaud them, yet you feel like something else is going on. This video explores the subtle relationship between wisdom and power, wisdom and delivery, wisdom and rhetoric. We are used to thinking of “wisdom” as good and “power” as bad. But is there always a rhetorical component in the way something is delivered? How do we separate true competence from performative competence? __________________________________ HANDOUT OF THE LECTURE: https://rebeckaahvenniemi.com/when-wi... ___________________________________ TIME STAMPS: 00:00 Intro - When wisdom becomes performance 00:20 What is power? 03:38 Syracuse, Plato, and Socrates 05:45 Rhetoric complexity - Logos, ethos, and pathos 08:12 The subtlety of dramaturgic influence 08:43 The authority of old sculptures 09:32 Case study: Stoicism 11:45 Case study: “Universal” classical music 14:43 Detecting bullshitting 14:54 I. Who benefits from a framing 16:44 II. There meanings of words change 22:48 III. Create your own concepts ___________________________________ IMAGES: Platon (HEAD): “The statue of Plato” — sculpture by Leonidas Drosis (1880), photograph by George E. Koronaios, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Platon (HEAD 2): “Plato’s head” — marble sculpture (ca. 340–300 BC), photographed by zk (2014), via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Socrates (HEAD): “Statue of Socrates in Trinity College Library” — photo by Bar Harel (2015), via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Muscular statue “Doryphoros from Pompeii (Naples)” — photo by Yair-haklai (2023), via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Socrates: “Statue of Socrates” — photo by C messier (2016), via Wikimedia Commons. Original sculpture by Philip Halling. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Platon: Plato statue at the Academy of Athens — photo by George E. Koronaios, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Ronald McDonald 1: “Statue of Ronald McDonald, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia” — photo by Shoestring at Wikivoyage (2011), via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Ronald McDonald 2: “Thailand Ronald McDonald ‘wai’ gesture greeting” — photo by Chainwit (2021), via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Conductor: “Illustration of a conductor from a gramophone advertisement” — advertisement published in Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung (1908), via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... IMAGE: infantile turn "The Infantile Turn" - image by R. S. Ahvenniemi (2024) IMAGE: Mozartkugeln “Mozartkugeln Schluckwerder” — photo by Erich73 (2018), via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... IMAGE: Spice Girls “Spice Girls at the O2” — Victoria Beckham, Melanie C, Melanie B, Emma Bunton and Geri Halliwell, photo by Kura.kun (2008), via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... ___________________________________ REFERENCES (LITERATURE): Abbate, C., & Parker, R. (2012). A history of opera: The last four hundred years. Penguin Books. https://www.vice.com/en/article/girl-... Ahvenniemi. R. S. (2024, May 28). Symfoniorkesteret: En infantil institusjon? Ballade. https://www.ballade.no/musikken-og-li... Koskinen, T (ed.) (2006). Kirjoituksia neroudesta, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. Plato. (1997). Apology (G. M. A. Grube, Trans.). In J. M. Cooper (Ed.), Plato: Complete works (pp. 17–36). Hackett. (Original work published ca. 399 B.C.E.) Stevens, J., & Vice staff. (2016, November 4). How the spice girls ripped “girl power” from Its radical roots. Vice. Weber, W.. (2008.) The Great Transformation of Musical Taste. Concert Programming from Haydn to Brahms. Cambridge University Press. ___________________________________ VIDEO MANUSCRIPT, FILMING AND EDITING: Rebecka Sofia Ahvenniemi