The Project Society

Anders Fogh Jensen, Sten Moslund

Description

Today work, leisure, love, health, holidays, schooling and self-development seem to be flowing together in one big, chaotic mess. But in this book, the philosopher Anders Fogh Jensen explains that this mess has its own order: the project. We are dealing with time, space and each other in new ways - marked by temporarity, uncertainty, ad hoc solutions, overbookings, cancellations and the absence of clear expectations to the individual. The temporary 'yes' dominates our daily lives as the passage from one thing to another has become a chronic condition. The logic of the project can be found e.g. in dancing, in administration, in health politics, in football, in our love lives, in corporate culture and in what used to be referred to as private life. The book delves into these highly diverse examples from everyday life - and arrives at a contemporary diagnosis on that backdrop, describing the possibilities and problems that are created by today's project society.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: Aarhus University Press
• Date de parution: 02 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788771242744
• Langue: English

Extrait

A n d e r s F o g h J e n s e n

THE PROJECT SOCIETY

A a r h u s U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s

The Project Society

Anders Fogh Jensen

T HE PROJECT SOCIET Y

Translation: Sten Moslund

Aarhus University Press

The Project Society

© The author and Aarhus University Press 2012

Graphic design: Jørgen Sparre

Cover photo: Lars Bahl

Ebook production: Narayana Press

ISBN 978 87 7124 274 4

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Contents

1. ... Everyone Has a Project9

2. ... This Is How Project People Dance 18

3. ... From Plan to Project30

4. ... Space in the Project Society43

5. ... Time in the Project Society62

6. ... Acting in the Project Society73

7. ... Connections in the Project Society89

8. ... System and Style, Combination and Improvisation 116

9. ... Being Human in the Project Society126

... References and Suggestions for Further Reading145

. . . . . . 5

This page is protected by copyright and may not be redistributed

This page is protected by copyright and may not be redistributed

The Project Societyis a translation of my book in Danish,Projekt mennesket.Projektmennesket, and this translation accordingly, is a rewriting of the main points of a far more comprehen- sive book,Projektsamfundet(2009). Some of the arguments and analyses and all of the references of the latter have been left out in this edition in order to equip the busy individual of the project society with a chance of acquiring the ideas of the book and to recognise themselves. If you are eager for more, I refer you to this book’s big sister.

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7

Copenhagen, November 2011 Anders Fogh Jensen www.filosoffen.dk

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Contents This page is protected by copyright and may not be redistributed



Contents

This page is protected by copyright and may not be redistributed

1.

Everyone Has a Project

Everyone has a project. People have projects on behalf of them- selves and on behalf of others; they have their own projects and they have collective projects. We do projects at school and we carry out projects at work. Add to that all our spare time projects, and how it is sometimes hard to tell work projects from spare time projects. Projects cut across.  People have always had projects. Caesar had projects, Napo- leon had projects. Columbus also had a project. The difference is that today everyone speaks about their projects. They speak of everything they do as projects. “So, what is your project?” we ask our dinner partners. We used to ask people where they worked, if they had any children and how they spent their spare time.  Why does everyone speak in terms of projects? There is no doubt that it has a far more heroic sound to it to have a pro- ject than to have tasks to do or orders to fill. Projects express a kind of will or determination, something directed to the future, and something that exudes creativity. You are in the middle of doing something that will one day make good.  What is a project, then? It is something someone launches. Something someone is up to with someone else, with a cer- tain aim in mind. Actually ‘project’ means to throw something

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9

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