The Culture of Silence versus “Producture” and the Dictatorship of Noise: Stanisław Grygiel’s and Cardinal Robert Sahar’s Reflections on Human Condition
Inga MIZDRAK
Department of Philosophy, Institute of Political Science, Sociology and Philosophy, College of Public Economy and Administration, Cracow University of Economics, ul. Rakowicka 27, 31-510 Kraków, Poland , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1689-2392
Abstract
The article attempts to answer questions concerning the status, role, and functions of silence in contemporary culture. The shades of the meaning of the concept of silence indicate a vast reservoir of content which, ultimately, reveals indefinability of silence. Broadly understood noise and, in particular, existential noise constitute threats to culture and factors that destabilize its social dimension. Noise undermines existential order, enslaves human beings, and makes them lose their identity. A culture permeated with noise declines. The author of the article refers to the ideas proposed by Stanisław Grygiel and Robert Sarah. Sarah describes noise as a factor that dehumanizes culture, while Gyrgiel discusses a degenerate form of culture—“producture” (produktura), as he terms it—in which authentic human relationships and personal ties are annihilated as a result of an escalating desire for material possessions. Both the threats are opposed by the culture of silence considered as a space in which creativity and freedom are possible and lives can be shaped according to lasting values.
Keywords:
silence, noise, culture, human being, valuesDepartment of Philosophy, Institute of Political Science, Sociology and Philosophy, College of Public Economy and Administration, Cracow University of Economics, ul. Rakowicka 27, 31-510 Kraków, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1689-2392
