The Owl's Legacy: Philosophy, or the Triumph of the Owl

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“The owl? What about it?” --Theo Angelopoulos

After a dozen episodes that begin and end with the image of an owl, PHILOSOPHY begins with the owl and its symbolism, and shows us how many of the participants in the series react to the birds or images of them.

What is philosophy? Does all philosophy draw on the Greeks? And are there any philosophers left? Kostas Axelos argues there have been no philosophers since Hegel; all we are left with now are thinkers. (Mind you, Axelos is considered by many to be a philosopher.) Cornelius Castoriades emphasizes that the Greeks had no fundamental sacred texts, while Guivi Margvelachvili emphatically argues precisely the opposite. And lest we find all this philosophical talk too abstract, much of this episode is filmed at a banquet in the Republic of Georgia, when that state was on the verge of declaring its independence from the Soviet Union—a time and place in which thought and action were closely linked.

“We should raze the Sorbonne and put Chris Marker in its place.” —Henri Michaux

“The primary pleasure of the series, which is incredibly inspiring, is linked to this great banquet of participants, the sum of knowledge they invoke, but above all to the playful flows the editing establishes between their ideas, constructing a formidable network of meanings, historical and cultural perspectives - a veritable encyclopedia of development." —Le Monde

“Why did we have to wait so long for this electrifyingly intelligent film?” —Le Point

“Thirteen words to uncover an entire civilization and reestablish its considerable influence on our modern societies.” —Les Inrockuptibles

“With erudition, Chris Marker questions in each episode what remains Greek within us.” —Philosophie Magazine

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Main credits

Marker, Chris (film director)
Peck, Bob (narrator)
Belkhodja, Catherine (interviewee)

Other credits

Music, Eleni Karaindrou [and 11 others]; camerapersons, Andreas Sinanos [and 7 others]; editing team, Khadicha Bariha, Nedjma Scialom.

WEBVTT

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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[SPEAKING FRENCH]

00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:44.040 align:middle line:90%

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Because of her looks, I think.

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Because of her--

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The owls are mysterious
figures for me.

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[SPEAKING FRENCH]

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[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

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[SPEAKING FRENCH]

00:05:19.950 --> 00:10:43.830 align:middle line:90%

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Eleusis-- its mysteries,
its temples, its shipyards.

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[SPEAKING FRENCH]

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All that time, Leonid
listened in silence.

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Then he proposed a toast.

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It was at Tblisi in March 1988,
one of the few places on Earth

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where words had a meaning,
where philosophy had a price.

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[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

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For most of our
guests, brainstorming

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was no longer a risk exercise.

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Here, the brain was still
a weapon and also a target.

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It fitted into a
very ancient debate--

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the philosopher
versus the tyrant.

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[SPEAKING FRENCH]

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We have to acknowledge
that the Greeks failed,

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in their own civilization,
to find a solution.

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They did-- their cities fought.

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They themselves
competed and struggled.

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And whatever institutions
of democracy,

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whatever philosophical
constructions

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that acknowledge the rationality
of all males and females,

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the possibility of
an ordered universe

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in which men could all
be wise and happy--

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they never came close
to realizing it.

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The closest they came was
after they had been conquered

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and were no longer
in any position

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to impose their own military
or political order on anybody.

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Then, all that was best the most
beautiful amongst the Greeks

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could be taken out and
employed, and the rest

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could be abandoned.

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But it\'s a real puzzle
to me-- and again,

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a real importance
to our own culture--

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which in some ways is so
similar with the same emphasis

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on individual excellence
and competition

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really, the idea
that your success is

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at the expense of somebody else.

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Your nation\'s success is
only really valuable, again,

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if it\'s at somebody
else\'s expense.

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Your generosity to other
nations is only a, sort of,

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afterthought for it to make
yourself feel a little morally

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superior.

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But the assumption being
that your politicians are

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answerable only to the
members of their own nation,

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just as the
individual Greeks were

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answerable to the members
of their own polis.

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And you, yourself,
are answerable

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to your own immediate family.

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[SPEAKING FRENCH]

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[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

00:20:55.645 --> 00:22:48.130 align:middle line:90%

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Then our banquets ended
one after another.

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Our guests went home.

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And the Greek words
continued traveling around

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the world, visible or
invisible, obscure or shining.

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Some of them looked
at us suspiciously,

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those we had had to set
aside as we went along--

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academy, barbarian,
chromosome, dolichocephalic.

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But we couldn\'t afford
to be equitable.

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We had to favor the magnetic
alliance words rather than

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the ideas so neatly
put on paper.

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In fact, these episodes
have built themselves

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according to their humor.

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They had followed the
orders of a hidden grammar.

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And perhaps that
was one more proof

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that words and myths
were still around us

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like the inventors\' angels.

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After the Athenian
symposium, our friends

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remained there for a chat.

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In ancient banquets too,
it was hard to part.

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On the empty table, our
prop man, [? Yogas, ?]

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was working out a
game of patience.

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Thus, once more, the owl
had had the last word.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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The Owl's Legacy: Philosophy, or the Triumph of the Owl

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