Discussion with Theofanis Tasis*
Friday, October 2nd, 6pm
Our friend Theofanis Tasis will be discussing The Politics of Bios, a theme which is explored in his latest book ‘Politics of Bios: On Irony’ published by Eurasia Publications (2012). The discussion will take place in greek with english translation.


Text to evoke discussion

Politics of Bios: Creating meaning in iconic society. How to live my life? Perhaps like never before this question had such tension as today, for a large number of people, in iconic society. In recent decades we are witnessing a barage of self-help manuals, self-knowledge and self-improvement seminars. Full of confidence their promise is to help us to overcome our fears, to know ourselves and to learn to love. They offer guidance on the management of jealousy, separation, mourning or loneliness. They navigate in parenting, the midlife crisis or transition to old age, as well as treatment of substance abuse and changing habits. They are advising us for the conquest of success, but mostly for achieving happiness. Alongside those there is a rapid spread of new professions such as life-coaching based on self management or strategies such as gamification in order to assist us in fulfilling these objectives. At the same time, the lifestyle, always present on the Internet, media and traditional press, guides us on how to become hip, hot or cool, indicating modes of behavior, appearance and care of the self. Finally, New Age promises a modern spirituality compatible with contemporary life, in order to find peace and to bring harmony to our soul, body and spirit with the universe. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to describe the above as an industry of the art of life in response to the suffering of freedom that plague the subject in iconic society. Was Theodor Adorno accurate on his description of the condition of the subject in the disenchanted world: «es gibt kein richtiges Leben im falschen» and if not, what are the characteristics of a contemplative art of life?

Theofanis Tasis


* Theofanis Tasis is teaching contemporary philosophy at the Freie Universitat Berlin. He was a Stanley J. Seeger Fellow at Princeton University, a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Academie Louvain and a fellow Researcher at the Universite Saint- Louis de Bruxelles. He held visiting professorships at universities in Greece, Austria and Germany. His current research explores a philosophy of the art of living in what he defines as "iconistic modernity". The term "iconistic modernity" describes a mode of production and distribution of images - including the self-image of the subject - in which social significations are codified and replaced by images. His latest book Politics of Bios: On Irony published by Eurasia Publications (2012) is the first part of a planned trilogy and won the Kaftantzogleio Prize of the University of Athens in 2013. His monography Castoriadis, a philosophy of autonomy was published in Germany by DMV Publications and in Greece by Eurasia Publications. It won the Kaftantzogleio Prize of the University of Athens in 2008 and is now in its second edition. Besides his philosophical writings he has published two poetry volumes «Normal foundings», Kedros Publications (2001), «Afternoons in capitalism», Gutenberg Publications (2010) and a collection of philosophical aphorisms «Pharmacon», Eurasia Publications (2012). He has also translated and edited books by Martin Heidegger and Roberto Unger into greek. Theofanis Tasis is a member of the Greek Philosophical Society and a member of the German Humanist Association (Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands). He is a frequent contributor for the «Kathimerini» newspaper and has been interviewed on numerous occasions by various nationwide media in Greece and participated in televised round table discussions.