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From ‘0’, the Logic of Imagination, to ‘Ground Zero’, the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Blackbird’ and Current US Action

Year 2009, Volume: 12 Issue: 2, 1 - 18, 01.04.2009

Abstract

Wallace Stevens has signified ‘the logic of imagination’ in his “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” with the image of the blackbird that is the focal point of many debates. Stevens, the Post-Modern theorist, who rejects the logic derived from universal norms and based on pure and absolute reason, substitutes the power of imagination for it. For him, imagination recreates the objective world by synthesizing it. When perceived, the object, having been nullified, is reinterpreted and attributed meaning through the mechanism of imagination. By this way, man brings order and meaning to the disordered and chaotic universe with the ideas he develops. Therefore, imagination is a plane of reality whereby the object is present through concrete
perception and absent through abstract perception. This Post-Modern perception resonates with the angle of perception that is claimed by the US following the incident of ‘the ground zero’ when the towers of the World Trade Center were demolished. In line with this, the twin towers being both present in minds as abstraction and absent as concrete have become a reference point in American National imagination. Taking a leap onward from this point, US has seemed to declare war on international terror. However, in this study, it is put forward that America does not take action with the logic of imagination that is a Post-Modern approach, but with the power of imagination of the US Empire that is a Post-Post-Modern approach. According to this, US international policy makers that accept the references of the Nation State America as absolute and permanent reality have created the concept of virtual reality to fill in the void that has appeared after the towers with democracy, equality, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, American ego, the Church built on the rock and the philosophical logic of the western mind, the composition of virtual myth. This approach is the power of ‘the imagination of logic.’

From '0', the Logic of Imagination, to 'Ground Zero', the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens' 'Blackbird' and Current US Action

Year 2009, Volume: 12 Issue: 2, 1 - 18, 01.04.2009

Abstract

Wallace Stevens, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” başlıklı şiirinde yarattığı ve pek çok tartışmanın odak noktası olan ‘kara karga’ imgesi ile ‘hayal gücünün mantığını’ betimlemiştir. Evrensel normlara dayalı, salt akılcı ve değişmez mantığı kabul etmeyen Post-Modernist kuramcı Stevens, bunun yerine hayal gücünü koymaktadır. Ona göre, hayal, nesnel dünyayı sentezleyerek yeniden yaratır. Algılandığında, nesnel varlık sıfırlanarak hayal mekanizmasıyla yeniden yorumlanır, anlamlaştırılır. Böylece, insan hayal gücüyle anlamsız, düzensiz ve kaotik evrene geliştirdiği fikirler bağlamında bir düzen ve anlam getirir. Şu halde, hayal, nesnenin hem somut bir algılama ile var olduğu hem de soyutlanarak yok olduğu bir gerçeklik düzlemidir. Bu Post-Modern algılama, ‘sıfır noktası’ olarak adlandırılan Dünya Ticaret Merkezi kulelerinin terror saldırısıyla yerle bir edildiği olayla birlikte Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nin benimsediği bir bakış açısıyla da örtüşmektedir. Buna göre, hem zihinlerde soyut olarak var olan hem de nesnel bir gerçeklik olarak yok olan ikiz kuleler, Amerikan ulusal hayal gücünde bir referans noktası olmuştur. Bu noktadan hareketle Amerika uluslararası teröre savaş açmış gibi görünmektedir. Ancak, bu çalışmada, Amerika’nın, post-Modern bir yaklaşım olan hayal gücünün mantığıyla değil, Post-Post-Modern bir yaklaşım ile, Amerikan İmparatorluğu’nun hayal gücü ile hareket etttiği öne sürülmektedir. Buna göre, Ulus Devlet A.B.D’nin referanslarını mutlak ve değişmez gerçeklik olarak kabul eden dış siyaset odakları, ikiz kulelerden geriye kalan boşluğu demokrasi, eşitlik, yaşam hakkı, bağımsızlık, mutluluk arayışı hakkı, Amerikan egosu ile ve ‘kayanın üzerine inşa edilen Kilise’ kriterleriyle sanal bir gerçeklik mitosu yaratarak doldurmuştur. Bu yaklaşım, mantığın hayal gücüdür

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Primary Language English
Subjects Engineering
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Nüzhet Akın This is me

Publication Date April 1, 2009
Published in Issue Year 2009 Volume: 12 Issue: 2

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APA Akın, N. (2009). From ‘0’, the Logic of Imagination, to ‘Ground Zero’, the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Blackbird’ and Current US Action. Cankaya University Journal of Science and Engineering, 12(2), 1-18.
AMA Akın N. From ‘0’, the Logic of Imagination, to ‘Ground Zero’, the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Blackbird’ and Current US Action. CUJSE. April 2009;12(2):1-18.
Chicago Akın, Nüzhet. “From ‘0’, the Logic of Imagination, to ‘Ground Zero’, the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Blackbird’ and Current US Action”. Cankaya University Journal of Science and Engineering 12, no. 2 (April 2009): 1-18.
EndNote Akın N (April 1, 2009) From ‘0’, the Logic of Imagination, to ‘Ground Zero’, the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Blackbird’ and Current US Action. Cankaya University Journal of Science and Engineering 12 2 1–18.
IEEE N. Akın, “From ‘0’, the Logic of Imagination, to ‘Ground Zero’, the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Blackbird’ and Current US Action”, CUJSE, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 1–18, 2009.
ISNAD Akın, Nüzhet. “From ‘0’, the Logic of Imagination, to ‘Ground Zero’, the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Blackbird’ and Current US Action”. Cankaya University Journal of Science and Engineering 12/2 (April 2009), 1-18.
JAMA Akın N. From ‘0’, the Logic of Imagination, to ‘Ground Zero’, the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Blackbird’ and Current US Action. CUJSE. 2009;12:1–18.
MLA Akın, Nüzhet. “From ‘0’, the Logic of Imagination, to ‘Ground Zero’, the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Blackbird’ and Current US Action”. Cankaya University Journal of Science and Engineering, vol. 12, no. 2, 2009, pp. 1-18.
Vancouver Akın N. From ‘0’, the Logic of Imagination, to ‘Ground Zero’, the Imagination of Logic: The Enigmas of Wallace Stevens’ ‘Blackbird’ and Current US Action. CUJSE. 2009;12(2):1-18.