Gintautas Mažeikis: Detraumatizing Eastern Europe

Gintautas Mažeikis in conversation with Przemysław Bursztyka Eastern Europe is, to state the trivial, a cultural space saturated with history. For centuries, it was the stage for horrific events: genocide, mass deportations, and the brutal debasement of entire nations, ethnicities, and social groups. Some of these events were caused by external forces, other were the effects of clashes between the peoples inhabiting the region. Thus, it is a space wrapped in many layers of unexamined, collective, and transgenerational traumas. The more they are invisible the more remain operative. Can they be healed? What are the methods and prospects for achieving reconciliation between the peoples of the region? And what role philosophy can and should play in the process of detraumatizing Eastern Europe? Gintautas Mažeikis claims that the starting point of any serious reflection on our region is a fundamental distinction between the historical truth and social justice. It is from here that we can move toward self-recognition and mutual recognition. Gintautas Mažeikis: Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania. His current research interests lie in post-critical theory and symbolic thinking. In this area, he explores critical iconology and literary criticism, as well as the similarities and differences between A. Warburg school of iconology and post-critical interpretations. He analyzes the phenomena of metamorphosis and anamorphosis of consciousness in cultural and social contexts, the diversity of rationalities, and philosophical negotiation and diplomacy. The podcast series “Philosophy of/in Eastern Europe” aims at a philosophical reexamination of our region. What is Eastern Europe? Where is it located? What categories and concepts do we need while thinking about it, especially in these turbulent times? What are its basic axiological, normative and, more broadly, cultural coordinates? Should we consider it to be just an outdated cultural construct, or rather in positive terms, that is, as specific way(s) of living? We confront these questions, and many others, in our conversations with eminent thinkers from the region. Authors: Przemysław Bursztyka, Marcin Rychter, Jan Molina Music: Piotr Baran (www.front-music.pl)