(Originally Written on December 25, 2007 in the Journal)
Aesthetics - What is Beauty? What is Art?
Part I: What is Beauty?
Questions for consideration:
1) Is beauty subjective, objective, or a combination thereof?
2) What is taste?
Part II: Explore different mediums, define art (as a language?)
Research Topics
Immanuel Kant
David Hume
Ludwig Wittgenstein
John Dewey
Leo Tolstoy
Plato
Nelson Goodman
Arthur C. Danto
Martin Heidegger
Jerrold Levinson
Terry Eagleton
Michel Foucault
Friedrich Nietzsche
Aristotle
Edmund Burke
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Topics: mediums, perception of art, why create?
"Of the Standard of Taste"
By: David Hume
It is useful for us to seek a "standard of taste".
A standard of taste is "a rule by which the various sentiments of men may be reconciled".
Showing posts with label Goodman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goodman. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Aesthetic notes for test 2
(Originally written March 29, 2007 in Book 16)
"Phonography"
Lee B. Brown
Different technologies produce different sounds.
The phonophile will idealize canned music. He will prefer the recordings to live music.
The viaphile or phonophobe will idealize the live music experience.
Sonic Manipulation of Art
Can some manipulation be art? That is, can the art be the recording rather than the music itself.
Improvisational music is not reidentifiable.
Without recording improv music can be repeated only by imitation.
Test 2: Study Guide
Sibley
- Aesthetic features do not logically depend upon on-aesthetic features
- the impossibility of universal rules
- rule applying is non-aesthetic
- aesthetic terms: unified, balance, vivid, moving and tragic
- non-aesthetic terms
Walton
- historical considerations are crucial for categorizing and evaluation, artwork
- variable properties - non essential features to the piece's genre
- standard properties - essential failures of the piece's genre
- contra-standard properties - features that almost eliminate the piece from genre
- non-aesthetic considerations:
--number of standard features
--maximum aesthetic appeal
--artist intention
--well-established category
Collingwood
-Art is fundamentally an expression of one's emotion
-Art is spontaneous, it is the imagination coming to life
Bell
-Significant form: the lines and colors that which form the emotions in the viewer
Hagberg:
- 'Paradoxical Expression' - art is public. Emotion is private. Art is expression of emotion.
- Hagberg solves the paradox by denying that emotions are private via Wittgensteinian philosophical behaviorism. Emotions are disposition to "X".
Weitz
- Art is undefinable
- Art as a category bears the Wittgensteinian family resemblance model
- Defining criteria are necessary and sufficient conditions. Recognizing criteria are the "boundary conditions" for what is being recognized
Dickie
- Art as a social institution
- Art world - these who view and create art, publishers, artistic, critics, etc.
- Circularity problem: Art is that which deemed by the art world. To create art one must make an artifact and present it to the art world
- Solitary art problem: no first piece of art
Dante
- Art world is logically dependent on theory
- Art "is" vs. identity and prediction
Goodman
-Autographic - works that cannot be reproduced without it being forgery
-Allographic - repeated or copied work, the one as authentic as the original
Dutton
- Forgery is misrepresenting achievement
Two kinds of "philistinism"
1) All that matters is consideration of origin
2) All that matters is form
Eaton
-Aestheticism - art is immune to ethical judgments
-Moralism - art is good or bad based on the effect it has upon the viewer's/hearer's moral nature
-Ethicism - uses morality as a value criteria, but not as the sole criteria
Eagleton
Literature:
1) Is essentially imaginative
problem - some literature is historical. Some imaginative stuff is not literature.
2) Russian Formalism - literature is that which transforms and intensifies language
problem - presupposes knowledge of literary and ordinary language
3) non-useful writing
4) valued writings
1) Authorial intention - meaning is in the author's mind
problem - Author died, unknown
2) Structuralism - meaning in the text
problem: author intent is meaningless
3) Post-Structuralism - meaning in reader's understanding
problem: authorial intention and structuralism is meaningless, relative
Foucault
Author - concept of author emerged as way of wielding power
Author function - guides an institution of discourse determines the status of particular discourse within a society
Shusterman
Hermeneutic universalism - all experience is interpreted
Foundationalism - indubitable axioms deduction from aims we know we know when we know.
"Phonography"
Lee B. Brown
Different technologies produce different sounds.
The phonophile will idealize canned music. He will prefer the recordings to live music.
The viaphile or phonophobe will idealize the live music experience.
Sonic Manipulation of Art
Can some manipulation be art? That is, can the art be the recording rather than the music itself.
Improvisational music is not reidentifiable.
Without recording improv music can be repeated only by imitation.
Test 2: Study Guide
Sibley
- Aesthetic features do not logically depend upon on-aesthetic features
- the impossibility of universal rules
- rule applying is non-aesthetic
- aesthetic terms: unified, balance, vivid, moving and tragic
- non-aesthetic terms
Walton
- historical considerations are crucial for categorizing and evaluation, artwork
- variable properties - non essential features to the piece's genre
- standard properties - essential failures of the piece's genre
- contra-standard properties - features that almost eliminate the piece from genre
- non-aesthetic considerations:
--number of standard features
--maximum aesthetic appeal
--artist intention
--well-established category
Collingwood
-Art is fundamentally an expression of one's emotion
-Art is spontaneous, it is the imagination coming to life
Bell
-Significant form: the lines and colors that which form the emotions in the viewer
Hagberg:
- 'Paradoxical Expression' - art is public. Emotion is private. Art is expression of emotion.
- Hagberg solves the paradox by denying that emotions are private via Wittgensteinian philosophical behaviorism. Emotions are disposition to "X".
Weitz
- Art is undefinable
- Art as a category bears the Wittgensteinian family resemblance model
- Defining criteria are necessary and sufficient conditions. Recognizing criteria are the "boundary conditions" for what is being recognized
Dickie
- Art as a social institution
- Art world - these who view and create art, publishers, artistic, critics, etc.
- Circularity problem: Art is that which deemed by the art world. To create art one must make an artifact and present it to the art world
- Solitary art problem: no first piece of art
Dante
- Art world is logically dependent on theory
- Art "is" vs. identity and prediction
Goodman
-Autographic - works that cannot be reproduced without it being forgery
-Allographic - repeated or copied work, the one as authentic as the original
Dutton
- Forgery is misrepresenting achievement
Two kinds of "philistinism"
1) All that matters is consideration of origin
2) All that matters is form
Eaton
-Aestheticism - art is immune to ethical judgments
-Moralism - art is good or bad based on the effect it has upon the viewer's/hearer's moral nature
-Ethicism - uses morality as a value criteria, but not as the sole criteria
Eagleton
Literature:
1) Is essentially imaginative
problem - some literature is historical. Some imaginative stuff is not literature.
2) Russian Formalism - literature is that which transforms and intensifies language
problem - presupposes knowledge of literary and ordinary language
3) non-useful writing
4) valued writings
1) Authorial intention - meaning is in the author's mind
problem - Author died, unknown
2) Structuralism - meaning in the text
problem: author intent is meaningless
3) Post-Structuralism - meaning in reader's understanding
problem: authorial intention and structuralism is meaningless, relative
Foucault
Author - concept of author emerged as way of wielding power
Author function - guides an institution of discourse determines the status of particular discourse within a society
Shusterman
Hermeneutic universalism - all experience is interpreted
Foundationalism - indubitable axioms deduction from aims we know we know when we know.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Class notes on Aesthetic views
(Originally written March 15, 2007 in Book 16)
Aesthetic Notes
Nelson Goodman
Most famous for the "new riddle of induction"
Autographic vs. Allographic works
Autographic - works that cannot be reproduced without it being a forgery/copy
Allographic - works that can be reproduced and the reproduction will be as genuine as the original.
Autographic - one stage (painting)/multiple stages (prints)
Allographic - one stage (literature)/multiple stages (film)
Dutton
Some art work can be aesthetically enjoyed without knowing/experiencing the creation process; whereas others, to experience art is to experience the creative process itself.
Forgery of art is such a terrible crime because the forger is misrepresenting achievement.
Two kinds of Philistinism in assessing the value of art:
1) All that matters is consideration of origin
2) Aesthetic Philistinism - all that matters is form, no consideration of origin
Eaton - Art & Ethic
Three views:
1) Aestheticism - art is immune to moral judgment. Art & Ethics are separate
2) Moralism - Art is good or bad based on whether or not increases or decreases the morality of the viewer
3) Ethicism - uses morality as a criterion in evaluating art, but not as the sole criterion
Two breeds of Ethicism
1) Moral qualities are a kind of aesthetic quality
2) Moral qualities are not a kind of aestheict quality
Aesthetic Notes
Nelson Goodman
Most famous for the "new riddle of induction"
Autographic vs. Allographic works
Autographic - works that cannot be reproduced without it being a forgery/copy
Allographic - works that can be reproduced and the reproduction will be as genuine as the original.
Autographic - one stage (painting)/multiple stages (prints)
Allographic - one stage (literature)/multiple stages (film)
Dutton
Some art work can be aesthetically enjoyed without knowing/experiencing the creation process; whereas others, to experience art is to experience the creative process itself.
Forgery of art is such a terrible crime because the forger is misrepresenting achievement.
Two kinds of Philistinism in assessing the value of art:
1) All that matters is consideration of origin
2) Aesthetic Philistinism - all that matters is form, no consideration of origin
Eaton - Art & Ethic
Three views:
1) Aestheticism - art is immune to moral judgment. Art & Ethics are separate
2) Moralism - Art is good or bad based on whether or not increases or decreases the morality of the viewer
3) Ethicism - uses morality as a criterion in evaluating art, but not as the sole criterion
Two breeds of Ethicism
1) Moral qualities are a kind of aesthetic quality
2) Moral qualities are not a kind of aestheict quality
Friday, July 28, 2006
Philosophy and Language - A.J. Ayer
(Originally written July 28, 2006 in Book 7)
Philosophy and Language
An Inaugural Lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 3 November, 1960
by A.J. Ayer
He thanks H.H. Price and states that all the philosophers of his generation are in his debt.
Philosophy's conception comes from a variety of sources:
1. A legacy of logical positivism
The job of a philosopher is to tell us what statements mean, not to tell us whether or not they are true.
Linehan - what's the point then? Are we merely commentators announcing the game of life?
"A philosopher wh had no mastery of language would be as helpless as a mathematician who could not handle numbers" (Ayer, 7).
Linehan - I'm going to finish this lecture although it is very dry and cumbersome.
How I hate linguistic philosophy!
A point to study: A. Tarski: "The concept of Truth in Formalized Languages"
Based on Tarski's logical theory of language, establishing truth in a sentence is basically establishing a sentence.
Philosophers have attempted to answer the questions of meaning and testability in developing theories of truth.
Point to study: Goodman's paradox (Nelson Goodman)
Reductive analysis is the product of rational empiricism (reductive analysis is breaking everything down to its smallest components, I think?)
Reductionism did not have enough respect for language.
And now the question I've been waiting for!!
"Why should this be of any philosophical interest?" (Ayer, 16).
1) It will free us of any deep perplexities that arise from our misinterpretations of language
2) "A careful examination of the workings of our language will give us an insight into the structure of the world which it describes" (Ayer, 16).
Linehan - I don't see how, All I see is that it will give us is an insight into how we interpret the world.
Analysis of words like 'inadvertently', 'deliberately', 'mistakenly', and 'intentionally' may dispose of the problem of free-will.
Ayer denies that language though can or will solve problems like that of free-will.
"The difficulty here is that the distinction between questions of fact and questions of analysis is not so easily drawn as most philosophers now seem to think" (Ayer, 20).
Logical positivists eliminated metaphysics. (This alone is enough for me to doubt their propositions). They did so by the verification principle.
When philosophy produces facts it becomes an empirical science and thus no longer having anything to do with philosophy (which is purely conceptual).
Linehan - Is philosophy purely conceptual? Have I dedicated my life to something completely devoid of facts? Ayer has a way of making a positive conclusion, the doubting it leaving you with nothing. It is infuriating to attempt to pin down his position on a given point. I feel he admits logical positivism, but is unwilling to follow them as a logical positivist himself. He seems to me to be playing both sides of the fence soon not to step on any toes.
Ayer
The verification principle serves two purposes.
1) Plays an essential part in the vindication of ordinary language
2) Sustains the doctrine that the meaning of an expression is to be identified with its use
12 more pages!! Only 12!
Point to study: G. Ryle "The Concept of the Mind" and "The Myth of the ghost in the machine"
Linehan - Is there really a point to distinguishing between statements like:
1. He intended to do it
2. He meant to do it
3. He designed to do it
If he did it intentionally, (and that it is not disputed) then why study the language usage of someone describing it? Would it not be more fruitful to study the action (whatever it is) or the consequences of the action or why he did it intentionally?
Ayer finally explains a position to me in his final sentence. He vouches for analytic philosophy and warns agains the threat from scholasticism.
Linehan - for my part, I find a study of linguistic philosophy to be completely unfruitful. It seems pointless. A 'hat' would be the same thing even if language calls it a 'shoe'. What difference does it make what we call it? It would be the same thing no matter its title. Language does not constitute what a thing is, it only gives us a tool to facilitate communication about objects. Objects are objects, regardless of language's involvement.
Philosophy and Language
A.J. Ayer
Oxford University Press
London, England 1966
Philosophy and Language
An Inaugural Lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 3 November, 1960
by A.J. Ayer
He thanks H.H. Price and states that all the philosophers of his generation are in his debt.
Philosophy's conception comes from a variety of sources:
1. A legacy of logical positivism
The job of a philosopher is to tell us what statements mean, not to tell us whether or not they are true.
Linehan - what's the point then? Are we merely commentators announcing the game of life?
"A philosopher wh had no mastery of language would be as helpless as a mathematician who could not handle numbers" (Ayer, 7).
Linehan - I'm going to finish this lecture although it is very dry and cumbersome.
How I hate linguistic philosophy!
A point to study: A. Tarski: "The concept of Truth in Formalized Languages"
Based on Tarski's logical theory of language, establishing truth in a sentence is basically establishing a sentence.
Philosophers have attempted to answer the questions of meaning and testability in developing theories of truth.
Point to study: Goodman's paradox (Nelson Goodman)
Reductive analysis is the product of rational empiricism (reductive analysis is breaking everything down to its smallest components, I think?)
Reductionism did not have enough respect for language.
And now the question I've been waiting for!!
"Why should this be of any philosophical interest?" (Ayer, 16).
1) It will free us of any deep perplexities that arise from our misinterpretations of language
2) "A careful examination of the workings of our language will give us an insight into the structure of the world which it describes" (Ayer, 16).
Linehan - I don't see how, All I see is that it will give us is an insight into how we interpret the world.
Analysis of words like 'inadvertently', 'deliberately', 'mistakenly', and 'intentionally' may dispose of the problem of free-will.
Ayer denies that language though can or will solve problems like that of free-will.
"The difficulty here is that the distinction between questions of fact and questions of analysis is not so easily drawn as most philosophers now seem to think" (Ayer, 20).
Logical positivists eliminated metaphysics. (This alone is enough for me to doubt their propositions). They did so by the verification principle.
When philosophy produces facts it becomes an empirical science and thus no longer having anything to do with philosophy (which is purely conceptual).
Linehan - Is philosophy purely conceptual? Have I dedicated my life to something completely devoid of facts? Ayer has a way of making a positive conclusion, the doubting it leaving you with nothing. It is infuriating to attempt to pin down his position on a given point. I feel he admits logical positivism, but is unwilling to follow them as a logical positivist himself. He seems to me to be playing both sides of the fence soon not to step on any toes.
Ayer
The verification principle serves two purposes.
1) Plays an essential part in the vindication of ordinary language
2) Sustains the doctrine that the meaning of an expression is to be identified with its use
12 more pages!! Only 12!
Point to study: G. Ryle "The Concept of the Mind" and "The Myth of the ghost in the machine"
Linehan - Is there really a point to distinguishing between statements like:
1. He intended to do it
2. He meant to do it
3. He designed to do it
If he did it intentionally, (and that it is not disputed) then why study the language usage of someone describing it? Would it not be more fruitful to study the action (whatever it is) or the consequences of the action or why he did it intentionally?
Ayer finally explains a position to me in his final sentence. He vouches for analytic philosophy and warns agains the threat from scholasticism.
Linehan - for my part, I find a study of linguistic philosophy to be completely unfruitful. It seems pointless. A 'hat' would be the same thing even if language calls it a 'shoe'. What difference does it make what we call it? It would be the same thing no matter its title. Language does not constitute what a thing is, it only gives us a tool to facilitate communication about objects. Objects are objects, regardless of language's involvement.
Philosophy and Language
A.J. Ayer
Oxford University Press
London, England 1966
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