Etymology
The appellation "situationist" refers to one who engages in the construction of "situations" or specifically a member of the Situationist International. In adjectival form, the term means relating to the theory or practical activity of constructing "situations." Situationist theorist Guy Debord defines the term "situation" as "a moment of life concretely and deliberately constructed by the collective organization of a unitary ambiance and a game of events." According to Debord, the Situationist International is so named because the construction of situations is the central idea of their theory, a process he describes as "the concrete construction of momentary ambiances of life and their transformation into a superior passional quality." In other words, any method of making one or more individuals critically analyze their everyday life, and to recognize and pursue their true desires in their lives. The experimental direction of situationist activity consists of setting up temporary environments that are favorable to the fulfillment of such desires.
The Situationist International strongly resisted use of the term "situationism," which Debord called a "meaningless term . . . here is no such thing as situationism, which would mean a doctrine for interpreting existing conditions." Situationists were philosophically opposed to all ideology, viewing them as repressive delusions, rendering the idea of "situationism" absurd. In The Society of the Spectacle, Debord asserted ideology is "the abstract will to universality and the illusion thereof," which is "legitimated in modern society by universal abstraction and by the effective dictatorship of illusion."
The concept of the "situation" may originate in Sartre's concept of a Theatre of Situations. What Sartre calls a situation in a theatrical play is what breaks the spectator's passivity towards the spectacle.
Read more about this topic: Situationist International
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)