'Pataphysics, a term coined by the French writer Alfred Jarry, is a philosophy dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics. Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (September 8, 1873 – November 1, 1907) was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mothers side. ... The Philosopher (detail), by Rembrandt Philosophy is a study that includes various diverse subfields such as aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics. ... Plato and Aristotle, by Raphael (Sistine Chapel, Rome). ...

History

The term first appeared in print in Alfred Jarry's article "Guignol" in the 28 April 1893 issue of L'Écho de Paris littéraire illustré. Jarry later defined it as "the science of imaginary solutions, which symbolically attributes the properties of objects, described by their virtuality, to their lineaments" (Gestes et opinions du Docteur Faustroll, II, viii). Raymond Queneau has described 'pataphysics as resting "on the truth of contradictions and exceptions." It is a parody of the theory and methods of modern science and is often expressed in nonsensical language. A practitioner of 'pataphysics is a 'pataphysician or a 'pataphysicist. (Jarry mandated the inclusion of the apostrophe in the orthography "to avoid a simple pun," the pun probably being "patte a physique" -- or "leg of physics".) April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 247 days remaining. ... 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Raymond Queneau (February 21, 1903 – October 25, 1976) was a French poet and novelist. ... In contemporary usage, parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it. ... Theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on the context and their methodologies. ... Nonsense is an utterance or written text in what appears to be a human language or other symbolic system, that does not in fact carry any identifiable meaning. ...

The Collège de 'pataphysique, founded on May 11, 1948, in Paris, is a group of artists and writers interested in the philosophy of 'pataphysics. The motto of the college is Eadem mutata resurgo ("I arise again the same though changed"), and its head is His Magnificence, Baron Jean Mollet. According to Warren Motte, noted members of the college have included Noël Arnaud (Regent of General 'Pataphysics and Clinic of Rhetoriconosis, as well as Major Confirmant of the Order of the Grand Gidouille), Luc Étienne also known as Luc Etienne Périn (Regent), Latis (Private General Secretary to the Baron Vice-Curator), François Le Lionnais (Regent), Jean Lescure (Regent of Anabathmology), and Raymond Queneau (Transcendent Satrap). As such, its members are linked with Oulipo. Publications of the college include the Cahiers du Collège de 'Pataphysique and the Dossiers du Collège de 'Pataphysique. May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Luc Etienne Périn, also known as Luc Étienne, was a French writer and a proponent of Pataphysics. ... Luc Etienne Périn, also known as Luc Étienne, was a French writer and a proponent of Pataphysics. ... Also Lati. ... François Le Lionnais (October 3, 1901 – March 13, 1984) was a French chemical engineer and mathematician, perhaps best known as a founder of the literary movement Oulipo. ... Raymond Queneau (February 21, 1903 – October 25, 1976) was a French poet and novelist. ... Oulipo stands for Ouvroir de littérature potentielle, which translates roughly as workshop of potential literature. It is a loose gathering of French-speaking writers and mathematicians, and seeks to create works using constrained writing techniques. ...

French authors Raymond Queneau, Jean Genet, Boris Vian and Jean Ferry have described themselves as following the 'pataphysical tradition. Philosopher Jean Baudrillard is often described as a 'pataphysician and did consider himself as such for some part of his life. One American writer, Pablo Lopez, has even developed an extension of the "science" called the pataphor. Raymond Queneau (February 21, 1903 – October 25, 1976) was a French poet and novelist. ... Jean Genet (December 19, 1910 - April 15, 1986), was a prominent, sometimes infamous, French writer and later political activist. ... Boris Vian (March 10, 1920 - June 23, 1959) was a French writer, poet, singer, and musician, who also wrote under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan. ... Jean Levy known as Jean Ferry (1906 - 1976) was a French writer and follower of the pataphysical tradition. Categories: French writers | 1906 births | 1976 deaths | European writer stubs ... Jean Baudrillard (born July 29, 1929) is a cultural theorist, philosopher, and sociologist. ... The pataphor is an unusually extended metaphor invented by writer Pablo Lopez (aka musician Paul Avion), based on Alfred Jarrys science of pataphysics. ...

Although France had been always the center of the 'pataphysical globe, followers grew up in different cities arround the world. In 1966 Juan Esteban Fassio was commissioned to draw the map of the Collège de 'Pataphysique and its institutes abroad. In the 1950s, Buenos Aires and Milan were the first cities to have 'Pataphysical institutes. London, Edinburgh, Budapest, and Liege—as well as many other European cities—caught up in the sixties. In the seventies Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada and many other countries showed that the internationalization of 'pataphysics was irreversible.

In the 1960s 'pataphysics was used as a conceptual principle within various fine art forms, especially pop art and popular culture. Perhaps the most famous mention of 'pataphysics remains The Beatles' 1969 song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer." Actual works within the 'pataphysical tradition tend to focus on the processes of their creation, and elements of chance or arbitrary choices are frequently key in those processes. Select pieces from Marcel Duchamp and John Cage characterize this. At around this time, Asger Jorn, a pataphysician and member of the Situationist International referred to 'pataphysics as a new religion. Rube Goldberg and Heath Robinson were artists who contrived machines of a 'pataphysical bent. The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... Conceptual art, sometimes called idea art, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved are considered the real substance of the art, in distinction to the traditional expectation of a made art object to be the criterion. ... The term fine art was first attested in 1767, as a translation from the French term beaux arts. ... Image:Roy House I.jpg House I, created by Roy Lichtenstein in 1996, is designed to be an optical illusion. ... Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in any given society. ... The Beatles were a pop and rock music group from Liverpool, England, who continue to be held in the very highest regard for their artistic achievements, their huge commercial success, and their groundbreaking role in the history of popular music. ... Maxwells Silver Hammer is a song performed by The Beatles, with Paul McCartney singing the lead, and is included on their album Abbey Road. ... Marcel Duchamp. ... John Cage John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer, writer and visual artist. ... Asger Jorn (March 3, 1914 - May 1, 1973) was born in Vejrum, Jutland, Denmark under the name Oluf Jørgensen. ... The Situationist International (SI), an international political and artistic movement, originated in the Italian village of Cosio dArroscia on 28 July 1957 with the fusion of several extremely small artistic tendencies: the Lettrist International, the International movement for an imaginist Bauhaus, and the London Psychogeographical Association. ... Rube Goldberg Reuben Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970) was a cofounder and first president of the National Cartoonists Society. ... William Heath Robinson (May 31, 1872 - September 13, 1944) was a British cartoonist and illustrator, who signed himself W. Heath Robinson. ... Look up Artist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Artist Artist is a descriptive term applied to a person who engages in an activity deemed to be an art. ... Wind turbines A machine is any mechanical or organic device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of tasks. ...

During the Communist Era, a small group of 'pataphysicists in Czechoslovakia started a journal called PAKO, or Pataphysical Collegium. Alfred Jarry's plays had had a short but lasting impression on the underground philosophical scene, apparently.

In the context of modern science, it has been suggested that far-reaching concepts such as string theory are actually mathematical pataphors, insofar as these concepts correspond to the 'pataphysical notion of "supposition built on supposition". In other words, as string theory is speculation based on ideas that are themselves speculative (in this case, the theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics) string theory is not physics, but in fact 'pataphysics. Interaction in the subatomic world: world lines of pointlike particles in the Standard Model or a world sheet swept up by closed strings in string theory String theory is a model of fundamental physics whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects (strings) rather than the zero-dimensional points (particles... General relativity (GR) is the geometrical theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915. ... A simple introduction to this subject is provided in Basics of quantum mechanics. ...

The London Institute of 'Pataphysics

The London Institute of 'Pataphysics was established in September 2000 to promote 'pataphysics. It organised the Anthony Hancock Paintings and Sculptures: A Retrospective Exhibition. This article is about the year 2000. ... Anthony Hancock Paintings and Sculptures: A Retrospective Exhibition is claimed by some to be an exhibition held at The Foundry in September 2002 by the London Institute of Pataphysics (LIP). ...

It has six departments:

• Bureau for the Investigation of Subliminal Images
• Committee for Hirsutism and Pogonotrophy
• Department of Dogma and Theory
• Department of Potassons
• Department of Reconstructive Archaeology
• The Office of Patentry

For the article about subconscious level message delivery, see subliminal message. ... Hirsutism is the excessive growth of hair, particularly on a womans face, torso and limbs, and is generally caused by increased androgens. ... The act of culivating,or growing and grooming, a mustache, beard, sideburns or other facial hair. ... // Dogma (the plural is either dogmata or dogmas) is belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization to be authoritative and not to be disputed or doubted. ... Theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on the context and their methodologies. ... This article is about the honor; for other uses, see Toast (disambiguation). ... Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive, and...

In music

• The Beatles' song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (from Abbey Road) discusses Joan, a student who "was quizzical / studied 'pataphysical science in the home."

The Beatles were a pop and rock music group from Liverpool, England, who continue to be held in the very highest regard for their artistic achievements, their huge commercial success, and their groundbreaking role in the history of popular music. ...

See also

• Absurdism
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• Dada
• Oulipo
• Pataphor
• Patapsychology
• Situationism

Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of humanity to find meaning in the universe will ultimately fail because no such meaning exists (at least in relation to humanity). ... Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 (pronounced ) was a name intended for a Swedish child who was born in 1991. ... Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... Oulipo stands for Ouvroir de littérature potentielle, which translates roughly as workshop of potential literature. It is a loose gathering of French-speaking writers and mathematicians, and seeks to create works using constrained writing techniques. ... The pataphor is an unusually extended metaphor invented by writer Pablo Lopez (aka musician Paul Avion), based on Alfred Jarrys science of pataphysics. ... Patapsychology is the philosophy that there is no such thing as normal. Its name is derived from Parapsychology as a catch-all for paranormal studies, but it is not limited to purely psychological pheomena. ... The Situationist International (SI), an international political and artistic movement which has parallels with Marxism, dadaism, existentialism, anti-consumerism, punk rock and anarchism. ...

Bibliography

• Beaumont, Keith (1984). Alfred Jarry: A Critical and Biographical Study, U.S.: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-3120-1712-X.

External links

• (French) Collège de ’Pataphysique
• London Institute of 'Pataphysics
• tout-fait article, 'Marcel Duchamp and 'Pataphysics'
• (Spanish) Novísimo Instituto de Altos Estudios Patafísicos de Buenos Aires
• Pataphors