Theatrical Theories

the art and science of seeing

Everything can be seen directly except the eye through which we see.

〰 E.F. Schumacher 〰

photo © Enric Domas on Unsplash

A View of Theory as (almost) Scientific Proof

We are powerfully imprisoned by the terms in which we have been conducted to think.

〰 R. Buckminster Fuller 〰

When Charles Darwin worked on his theory of evolution, he could not foresee that one day a frustrated Austrian artist would grab hold of that blooming theory, graft his own worldview onto it, and found a dangerous cult.

Obsessed with the idea of supremacy, this cult leader believed it was his divine duty to ‘eliminate all imperfect specimen’ from the population of Germany and create a new human race, which he called Aryan.

With the support of plenty of henchmen he managed to found a new religion, under the guise of a name which sounded like a political party, and abused the so-called Darwinian theory as ‘divine justification’ for his evil scheme. A fanatic interpretation of a theory with devastating consequences.

Now we know that the ‘survival of the fittest’ is a misinterpretation of how living nature organises herself. It wasn’t Darwin’s fault. He was only formulating a theory. Others cottoned on to it and turned a humble theory into a doctrine › creed › faith › divine law.

Thanks to updated research and new theories, the very idea of a ‘natural hierarchical order’ has been superseded by the evolutionary theory of cooperation, based on symbiosis and symbiogenesis.

Every gardener can see that soil and plant-life thrive through cooperation rather than competition. This theory is obvious to anyone who cares to look at what’s going on underfoot.

The most shocking revelation about how the violent historic events during WWII unravelled, is not just that the misunderstanding of a theory, and its abuse as a basis for a new fascist religion, has lead to the murder of millions of innocent people. Genocides seem to follow a common pattern of power-thirsty dictators using hand picked ‘expert views’ to support their inhumane plans.

Even more baffling is the phenomenon that any reasonably intelligent person would mistake a theory for a fact, or an absolute god given truth ~ that millions of people believed in the theory of a theory used as ‘solid foundation for a new dogma’, which openly married politics with a homicidal religious cult.

Theory ~ the English word was adopted from Greek theōria back in the 1590s. The original meanings of theōria include
contemplation, speculation

the act of looking at, viewing
a sight, show, spectacle,
things looked at

In the 1610s ~ only two decades after its conception in English ~ the word theory adopted the meaning of “principles or methods of a science or art”. This was first used in reference to musical compositions, to distinguish the musical theory from the practice and performance.

From the 1630s ~ another two decades later ~ this meaning was extended to other scientific disciplines. From then onwards, the word theory could be used in the sense of “an intelligible explanation based on observation and reasoning.”

Within less than half a century, the verbiont theory had gone from an open-minded looking to forming an explanation ~ an opinion deducted from what a person was able to see and what they thought about it.

Currently, Merriam Webster’s dictionary lists the following definitions under the entry theory

a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena

a belief, policy, or procedure proposed or followed as the basis of action

an ideal or hypothetical set of facts, principles, or circumstances

in the phrase in theory

a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation

an unproved assumption, conjecture

a body of theorems (= formula, proposition, or statement in mathematics or logic deduced from another formula or proposition) presenting a concise systematic view of a subject

the general or abstract principles of a body of fact, a science, or an art

abstract thought, speculation

the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another

Note that no definition explicitly states that a theory is divine law or unshakeable proof.

Theory has always been a way of seeing.

In the Anthropocene, theory has become the scientific way of seeing. We have come to take scientific theory for granted as the only valid way. Seeing through the lens of evidence [from Latin ex = out of, from + videre = to see]. Seeing only what is visible in the frequencies of matter.

As we move into the Symbiocene, this view of the world is changing.

Since the initial publication of the chart of the electromagnetic spectrum,

humans have learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear

is less than one-millionth of reality.

〰 Buckminster Fuller 〰

NASA electromagnetic chart

To illustrate how much the human eye is able to see, here is a chart of the spectrum of electromagnetic frequencies. ‘Visible light’ is the narrow rainbow-coloured strip a.k.a. ‘optical window’. I suggest that the human ‘window of mental vision’ in relation to the whole spectrum of reality may well be of a similar order.

The Art of Theatrical Gazing

In a portrait, you have room to have a point of view.

The image may not be literally what's going on, but it's representative.

〰 Annie Leibovitz 〰

In the world of our ancient ancestors the ways of seeing of art and science were inseparable, like conjoined twins breathing from the same pair of lungs.

The intimate connection between art and science was severed around the time when the French philosopher, scientist and mathematician René Descartes (1596-1650) came up with his theory of a separation between a ‘thinking soul’ and a ‘non-thinking body’.

According to Descartes, there were ‘animal spirits’ within the body, allegedly produced in the blood. They had a good side and an evil one.

On the beneficial side, they caused the body to move ~ which the philosopher/ scientist gave a thumbs up. On the other hand, they could also ‘attack the soul and force the body to commit inappropriate actions’ ~ which got the stamp of disapproval because it seemed rather evil.

Descartes’ life motto Cogito ergo sum (translated as ‘I think therefore I am’) must be seen in this context. He wanted to be in control of his life ~ (don’t we all?!). His declaration of the ‘evil animal spirits in the non-thinking body’ as separate from the ‘good thinking soul’ went a long way to help him achieve his goal...

The theatrical theory, however ~ Descartes’ way of seeing the world ~ didn't last forever.

Now we know that what Descartes called ‘animal spirits’ turned out to be the nervous system, which is neither ‘produced in the blood’ nor does it ‘attack the soul’.

(More on the Cartesian theories in my recent chapter of The Heartwood of Synchronosophy)

Cartesian science and its worldview is a dramatic illustration of how easy it is to turn a theory into spectacular theatre. Science itself is an ongoing evolution of theories and their falsification. Although scientists set out to explore and discover the laws of nature, the limitations of human perception always get in the way (that’s a theory until falsified).

The noun theory is based on the Greek verb theōrein = to consider, speculate, look at.
The act of theōrein is committed by a person who does the looking, viewing, seeing etc. Such a person is called theōros = spectator, viewer.

From the Ancient Greek theōros we have inherited the word theatre ~ a dedicated space where spectators go to watch spectacles, dramas, comedies and plays performed on a stage.

Theatre [from Greek theatron = amphitheatre; spectators in a theatre] has been an English word since late 14 c. In the sense of a dedicated open air place, purpose built for viewing spectacles and plays. The related Greek verb theasthai. means literally to behold, a beautiful old English word for seeing, holding within one's gaze, observing something spectacular.

Theatre invites spectators not just to watch a play, but to give their full attention to the spectacle.

From the 1570s onwards theatre was used for buildings, where plays were shown.

From the 1580s theatre could mean ‘place of action’ in a generic sense.

From the 1660s theatre included the meaning of ‘play, performance, script written for theatre, the production of a play, the stage on which a production is performed.’

In 1914 theatre also became a term for “region where war is being thought” (as in theatre of war, theatre of operations)

The classical form of a dedicated place for the performance of spectacles was an amphitheatre [from Greek amphi = on both sides + theatron]. The stage was in the centre with rows of seats for spectators arranged in a semicircle.

The Agnew Clinic by Thomas Eakins (1889)

A Spectacle in Operation

The world doesn't change in front of your eyes, it changes behind your back.

〰 Terry Hayes 〰

When scientists and philosophers began to offer lectures, presenting their theories to crowds of students, they used the tried and tested format of the amphitheatre. Lecture theatres were a natural offshoot of the classical amphitheatron, adopted by the Romans for gladiatorial contests, and used for bullfights on the Iberian peninsula to this day.

The word operating theatre comes from the first anatomical theatre in Padua, Northern Italy, inaugurated in 1595.

“This theatre constituted the model for the anatomical theatres built during the seventeenth century in the main universities of Europe: all would have been based on the Paduan archetype.”

Anatomical theatres ~ used for lectures in anatomy, as the name suggests ~ were venues for true spectacles in the 16th century.

The theatrical roles of performers and viewers still apply, whenever the dissection of dead bodies is involved. Classical and contemporary versions of anatomical theatres are used for teaching purposes to this day.

On the same principle, surgical operations were publicly performed in operating theatres all over Europe and America from around 1800 onwards.

Old Operating Theatre, London 1822

“Early operating theaters in an educational setting had raised tables or chairs at the center for performing operations surrounded by steep tiers of standing stalls for students and other spectators to observe the case in progress. The surgeons wore street clothes with an apron to protect them from blood stains, and they operated bare-handed with unsterilized instruments and supplies.”

Many theories and practices have changed since the early days of turning a surgical operation into a public performance, apart from the name ~ operating theatre.

One puzzling phenomenon, however, is staying alive, resisting even the attempts at surgical removal. This surreal spectacle unfolds time and again under the wondrous gaze of its observant beholders:::

Outdated scientific ways of seeing (= theories) develop a life of their own.

As if the spectacle has the power to remain alive in the collective mind of spectators who have watched the cast of a scientific performance enact their piece on stage.

Take for example the evolutionary theory of the survival of the fittest

or the Cartesian theory of dualism

or the theory that physical matter exists

How can the spectres of theories survive, long after the theories themselves have died in the operating theatre?