"If you understood everything I say,
you'd be me"
Miles Davis
Mission Statement
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We created this blog because we wanted to become better thinkers. And in order to become a better thinker, you have to write. A lot. You have to write on things you know a lot about, and also on things you know very little about. You have to experiment, be creative, embrace ambiguity, fail, and start over. Because only in those instances do you really start to think and create original ideas.
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We believe that creativity is at the centre of the philosophical practice. Philosophy is always something concrete, a thing in the world. Philosophy does not merely reflect upon reality from the outside, it is part of it. Hence thinking can never acquire a mathematical neutrality; it needs to relate itself incessantly to its own form and shape. And this bodily, worldly character of philosophy allows for creativity and experimentation, and hence for true change. The unexpected and incalculable that follows from the experiment, from creative play, is magic. Thinking can be magical, all words, and every combination of them, can bring about a unique enchantment when we make place for creativity.
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Unfortunately, few publications exist which are willing to publish the kind of experimental and idiosyncratic writing we are interested in, so we decided to create one ourselves. The result was Thought Magicians, a philosophical blog offering refuge to texts which would otherwise remain unwritten, unfinished, or unpublished. The texts that we publish do not belong to the strictly academic realm, but don't really fit the sphere of ‘public philosophy’ either. It's about experimentation and creativity rather than accessibilty and conciseness. This goes for our own texts, but also for texts written by others. Consequently, our mission revolves around actualizing three goals:
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To create a free and open space where we can develop original texts and maintain a long-lasting independent writing practice.
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To share ideas with people from all over the world and create a community of creative thinkers who actively engage with each other’s work.
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Organize community-based activities that manifest philosophy as a collective enterprise, like reading groups and seminars.
By focussing on these three goals, we want to inspire ourselves and others to keep writing, thinking and creating. We are constantly looking for ways to improve and expand our output aside from written material by, for example, organizing reading groups. In the future, we hope to develop this even further and create events, books, courses and conferences for like-minded individuals. If this sounds like something you are interested in, and you can see yourself as part of our team, feel free to reach out to us and maybe we can work together in the future!
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