Iconoclastic discourse, as a critique of ‘idols’ of various kinds, has been appropriated by a range of different thinkers and traditions – often not always explicitly religious – throughout history. One of the more recent targets of iconoclasm is metaphysics, understood as a way of doing philosophy that appeals to an ideal or transcendent ground that is used to offer a totalising explanation of ‘reality’. For some reason, the issue of ‘metaphysical idolatry’ has become entangled with the problem of ‘writing’, or ‘representation’ more generally, which is pictured in some rather strange ways by a range of thinkers and theorists – including philosophers and theologians such as Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Marion, and Catherine Pickstock – in order to either challenge, or to be held accountable for, the ‘idolatry’ of metaphysical thought. It seems, however, that these strange pictures of writing compound rather than solve the problem of metaphysics, and it is towards pictures such as these that we direct our own iconoclastic critique. What many critics of metaphysics have failed to comprehend, we argue, is that metaphysics is a certain type of philosophical practice, and it must therefore be judged from this perspective. Idolatry itself has, since biblical times, been understood as a form of sinful practice, and unless we understand iconoclastic problems in a praxeological way, we risk basing our critical arguments on delusional assumptions. We turn to the work of thinkers as diverse as Marx, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Ryle, Bourdieu, Ingold, and others, who have challenged metaphysics, and the strange pictures that metaphysical thought has inspired, through the adoption of what we call a praxeological approach. It is from this perspective, we argue, that we can make iconoclastic judgements, and justify these judgements, in a way that avoids the speculative conundrums of some other more problematic approaches.

A proposta deste trabalho constitui-se através do acompanhamento de um projeto de habitação popular na Vila dos Tocos (Palmares do Sul / RS), realizado no ano de 2004. Ele é o ponto de partida para pensarmos as intervenções públicas nas formas de habitar. Analisaremos os elementos que antecedem os projetos, as propostas apresentadas no papel e os efeitos desta junção para pensarmos em alternativas que ampliem a autonomia dos sujeitos e mantenham a esfera do desejo presente. Como alternativa possível para alcançarmos um respeito mútuo inclusivo, capaz de não apagar o desejo, propomos um olhar maior sobre as utopias iconoclastas. Estas se apresentam como possibilidade por serem capazes de mostrar os limites de nosso pensamento, propondo um tempo de espera e uma possibilidade outra de vir-a-ser. / The purpose of this paper is established through the observation of a housing project in Vila dos Tocos (Palmares do Sul / RS), held in 2004. This project is the starting point for thinking about public interventions in diverse forms of living. We will analyze the elements prior to the project, written proposals and the effects of this junction to think of alternatives to enhance the autonomy of individuals and keep the desire present. As a possible alternative to achieve an inclusive mutual respect, one that will not erase the desire, we propose a greater look on iconoclastic utopias. These are presented as a possibility for being able to show the limits of our thinking, proposing a standby time and potential outcomes.

A proposta deste trabalho constitui-se através do acompanhamento de um projeto de habitação popular na Vila dos Tocos (Palmares do Sul / RS), realizado no ano de 2004. Ele é o ponto de partida para pensarmos as intervenções públicas nas formas de habitar. Analisaremos os elementos que antecedem os projetos, as propostas apresentadas no papel e os efeitos desta junção para pensarmos em alternativas que ampliem a autonomia dos sujeitos e mantenham a esfera do desejo presente. Como alternativa possível para alcançarmos um respeito mútuo inclusivo, capaz de não apagar o desejo, propomos um olhar maior sobre as utopias iconoclastas. Estas se apresentam como possibilidade por serem capazes de mostrar os limites de nosso pensamento, propondo um tempo de espera e uma possibilidade outra de vir-a-ser. / The purpose of this paper is established through the observation of a housing project in Vila dos Tocos (Palmares do Sul / RS), held in 2004. This project is the starting point for thinking about public interventions in diverse forms of living. We will analyze the elements prior to the project, written proposals and the effects of this junction to think of alternatives to enhance the autonomy of individuals and keep the desire present. As a possible alternative to achieve an inclusive mutual respect, one that will not erase the desire, we propose a greater look on iconoclastic utopias. These are presented as a possibility for being able to show the limits of our thinking, proposing a standby time and potential outcomes.

A proposta deste trabalho constitui-se através do acompanhamento de um projeto de habitação popular na Vila dos Tocos (Palmares do Sul / RS), realizado no ano de 2004. Ele é o ponto de partida para pensarmos as intervenções públicas nas formas de habitar. Analisaremos os elementos que antecedem os projetos, as propostas apresentadas no papel e os efeitos desta junção para pensarmos em alternativas que ampliem a autonomia dos sujeitos e mantenham a esfera do desejo presente. Como alternativa possível para alcançarmos um respeito mútuo inclusivo, capaz de não apagar o desejo, propomos um olhar maior sobre as utopias iconoclastas. Estas se apresentam como possibilidade por serem capazes de mostrar os limites de nosso pensamento, propondo um tempo de espera e uma possibilidade outra de vir-a-ser. / The purpose of this paper is established through the observation of a housing project in Vila dos Tocos (Palmares do Sul / RS), held in 2004. This project is the starting point for thinking about public interventions in diverse forms of living. We will analyze the elements prior to the project, written proposals and the effects of this junction to think of alternatives to enhance the autonomy of individuals and keep the desire present. As a possible alternative to achieve an inclusive mutual respect, one that will not erase the desire, we propose a greater look on iconoclastic utopias. These are presented as a possibility for being able to show the limits of our thinking, proposing a standby time and potential outcomes.

The following thesis investigates the British punk movement of the mid-late seventies and suggests that, by performing acts of imaginative re-identification, we may gain greater insights into both the phenomenon of punk and aspects of Jesus’ life, ministry, and teaching despite their axiomatic and sometimes problematic differences. To do this we explore the power of the sartorial creations that the movement adopted and the way in which they conveyed an oppositional protest message and stance. We explore punk graphics and the way in which they could offer a targeted critique of the nation. We look at punk performances and how they confrontationally engaged with their audiences and what they wanted to elicit in return. We reflect on women in punk, punk in Northern Ireland and the relationship between punk and the black community and the degree to which punk exhibited a counter-cultural attitude to relationships. Concluding our look at punk we investigate how society, the authorities and commerce reacted to the movement, before investigating punk as a trans-historical essence. Having explored punk and established imaginative connections we then revisit aspects of Jesus’ life and consider him as a subversive who negated some of the national symbols of Israel, collided with Jewish national authority and reversed many of the nation’s perspectives. We look at the more confrontational nature of Jesus, his use of symbolic physical statements and his interaction with women, teaching on enemies and the way he related to the outcast. We then conclude by showing the degree to which the present-day church has been absorbed into the surrounding culture and explore two instances in post-war theology where there has been a recovery of the more seditious pattern within Jesus’ life before seeing whether there is anything that the church may learn from imaginatively identifying with punk.

Figure patricienne incontournable du panorama de la création théâtrale, digne successeur d’Eugene O’Neill, de Tennessee Williams et d’Arthur Miller, Edward Albee (1928-2016) a insufflé une nouvelle vitalité au théâtre américain. Son œuvre iconoclaste, reçue avec ricanements, consternation ou enthousiasme, rejette l’existence d’une coupure entre la réalité, ses apparences, et l’imaginaire. Meneur de jeu imaginatif et provocateur, Albee cherche à produire un théâtre “réaliste” en abordant le problème des rapports entre apparences et réalité dans le théâtre du monde (Theatrum Mundi), sur le plan social (rôle et dimension humaine), logique (sens et non sens) et psychologique (raison et folie), ainsi que sur le plan de la représentation théâtrale (personnage et acteur). Cette étude explore, sous l’angle de la métaphore du jeu, les dernières pièces du dramaturge, riches en questionnements philosophiques, qui présentent le parcours initiatique du Sujet entre représentation et expérience, imaginaire et réalité. Du jeu au “je”, le personnage protéen, dans les coulisses du théâtre de l’intime, prépare son audition sur la scène du théâtre du monde. Empreinte de mystère, de poésie, de sagesse, de cocasserie ou de pathétique, l’aire de jeu inédite du dramaturge, où se prépare une expérience de vérité, déploie une vision humaniste optimiste qui ouvre in fine sur l’expérience esthétique de la catharsis. / A patrician key figure of the theatrical landscape, the worthy heir of Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, Edward Albee (1928-2017) has breathed new life into the American theatre. His iconoclastic body of work, which was met with sneering, dismay or enthusiasm, disproves the split between the real, its appearances and imagination. An imaginative, provocative playmaker, Albee aims at producing a “realistic” drama by tackling the problem of the links between appearances and reality in the Theatrum Mundi on various levels : social (role and human dimension), logical (meaning and absurdity), psychological (reason and madness), as well as on the level of performance (character and actor). Through the game metaphor, this study focuses on the playwright’s last plays, which are rife with philosophical interrogations and stage the Subject’s initiatory journey between representation and experience, imagination and reality. As a player, Albee’s protean character prepares backstage to audition for his role on the stage of the Theatrum Mundi. Imbued with mystery, poetry, wisdom, comicality and pathos, the playwright’s original playground, where an experience of truth is under way, brings forth an optimistic, humanistic vision that opens onto the aesthetic experience of catharsis.