(Originally Written February 18, 2008 in the Journal)
Part III Introduction to Amiel's Journal (1893)
"A writer is precious and necessary for us only to the extent to which he reveals to us the inner labor of his soul... not the architectural structure in which usually, and I think perhaps always, distorting it, he packs his thoughts and feelings" (Maude, 14).
Amiel's undistinguished teaching career and his works poured into ready made molds (his lecture, treatises, and poems) are dead. But, his journal, which is formless is full of life, wisdom, instruction, and consolation will remain one of the best books ever written like other accidental works left to us by Marcus Aurelius, Pascal and Epictetus.
Pascal states there are three types of people:
1. Those who have found God and serve Him
2. Those who have not found him and are seeking him
3. Those who have not found him and are not seeking him
Tolstoy believes that this second category does not exist because those who are seeking and suffering have found God already. He states that Amiel's journal is a lifelong exposé of seeking God.
The power of Amiel's journal is it never ceases to be a search. He does not end at a truth; it is merely a search for it.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Notes on Tolstoy, On Truth in Art (1887)
(Originally Written February 18, 2008 in the Journal)
Part II On Truth in Art (1887)
Those who judge stories and fairy tales as untrue and mere fancy, judge them improperly.
"Truth will be known not by him who knows only what has been, is, and really happens, but by him who recognizes what should be according to the will of God" (Maude, 9) - a good theological/epistemological statement.
"Truth is a path" (Maude, 10).
Verbal compositions are good and necessary when they set value on what is good and evil. What is good conforms to what ought to be according to the will of God. What is evil is contrary to what ought to be according to the will of God.
A thought from me: Truth and fact are not synonyms. Fact can be truth, but truth is not necessarily factual as in correlation with the world as is.
In order to write on truth one must write on what ought to be, not what is.
Those men who do not know what is good or evil (what corresponds to what should or should not be according to the will of God) do not write on truth.
Fairy tales or fables in which events never happened or never could happen can be true because they describe the world as it ought to be according to the will of God.
If truth is lacking, no matter how factual a story can be, it is nonetheless false because it lacks the truth of the kingdom of God.
Christ spoke in parables and they have remained eternally true.
Part II On Truth in Art (1887)
Those who judge stories and fairy tales as untrue and mere fancy, judge them improperly.
"Truth will be known not by him who knows only what has been, is, and really happens, but by him who recognizes what should be according to the will of God" (Maude, 9) - a good theological/epistemological statement.
"Truth is a path" (Maude, 10).
Verbal compositions are good and necessary when they set value on what is good and evil. What is good conforms to what ought to be according to the will of God. What is evil is contrary to what ought to be according to the will of God.
A thought from me: Truth and fact are not synonyms. Fact can be truth, but truth is not necessarily factual as in correlation with the world as is.
In order to write on truth one must write on what ought to be, not what is.
Those men who do not know what is good or evil (what corresponds to what should or should not be according to the will of God) do not write on truth.
Fairy tales or fables in which events never happened or never could happen can be true because they describe the world as it ought to be according to the will of God.
If truth is lacking, no matter how factual a story can be, it is nonetheless false because it lacks the truth of the kingdom of God.
Christ spoke in parables and they have remained eternally true.
Notes on Tolstoy, Schoolboys and Art (1860)
(Originally Written Feb. 18, 2008 in the Journal)
What is Art? And Essays on Art
Leo Tolstoy
Translated by Aylmer Maude
Hesperides Books, NY 1962
Introduction
How books should be read:
"To understand any book one must choose out the parts that are quite clear, dividing them from what is obscure or confused, and from what is clear we must form our idea of the drift and spirit of the work" (Maude, viii). Basically, this means we must first understand what is clear and intelligible and then once we have done that we can use this understanding to comprehend what is confused or obscure.
What may be comprehensible to some may be confusing to others.
What is comprehensible to all me is the essence of the book.
Art (my thesis!): "an activity by means of which one man, having experienced a feeling, intentionally transmits it to others" (Maude, viii).
Schools can teach a person to create something that can resemble art, but only when a person creates from his feelings can art be achieved.
Unless form is met, no art can be created.
Art shapes, forms, and develops a man's feelings. That is why it is so important.
Art is judged on its form and its power to transmit feelings.
Part I Schoolboys and art (1860)
Not everything that exists, exists for use. There is also beauty and art is beauty.
Each boy understood the difference between utility and beauty differently, but they all knew there was a difference.
What is Art? And Essays on Art
Leo Tolstoy
Translated by Aylmer Maude
Hesperides Books, NY 1962
Introduction
How books should be read:
"To understand any book one must choose out the parts that are quite clear, dividing them from what is obscure or confused, and from what is clear we must form our idea of the drift and spirit of the work" (Maude, viii). Basically, this means we must first understand what is clear and intelligible and then once we have done that we can use this understanding to comprehend what is confused or obscure.
What may be comprehensible to some may be confusing to others.
What is comprehensible to all me is the essence of the book.
Art (my thesis!): "an activity by means of which one man, having experienced a feeling, intentionally transmits it to others" (Maude, viii).
Schools can teach a person to create something that can resemble art, but only when a person creates from his feelings can art be achieved.
Unless form is met, no art can be created.
Art shapes, forms, and develops a man's feelings. That is why it is so important.
Art is judged on its form and its power to transmit feelings.
Part I Schoolboys and art (1860)
Not everything that exists, exists for use. There is also beauty and art is beauty.
Each boy understood the difference between utility and beauty differently, but they all knew there was a difference.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Notes on "Art as Experience"
(Originally Written January 7, 2008 in the Journal)
"Art as Experience"
By: John Dewey
"Experience occurs continuously".
An experience occurs when it has run its course. Experience always happens, but an experience has a beginning and a consummation.
When we have an experience we experience a continual flow of parts. Each part blends to make a whole, yet each is distinct in spite of a continuous whole.
An experience has unity.
It has a movement, a beginning, anticipation, and conclusion. Each are fluid parts of the whole.
An experience has its own aesthetic quality.
"Art as Experience"
By: John Dewey
"Experience occurs continuously".
An experience occurs when it has run its course. Experience always happens, but an experience has a beginning and a consummation.
When we have an experience we experience a continual flow of parts. Each part blends to make a whole, yet each is distinct in spite of a continuous whole.
An experience has unity.
It has a movement, a beginning, anticipation, and conclusion. Each are fluid parts of the whole.
An experience has its own aesthetic quality.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Notes on "The Philsophy of Fine Art"
(Originally Written January 6, 2008 in the Journal)
"The Philosophy of Fine Art"
By: G.W.F. Hegel
In order for a thing to be considered art it must meet three standards:
1. It is man-made
2. It is made for man and addressed to his senses
3. It contains an end
As art is man-made it can be known and divulged, learned and reproduced.
A work of art originates in the human spirit.
Any work of fine art is of higher value than a work of nature because it has passed through the spirit and mind of man.
The function of fine art is to arouse feeling.
Art is not the mere imitation of nature.
Art is not purposed to achieve some moral end.
"The Philosophy of Fine Art"
By: G.W.F. Hegel
In order for a thing to be considered art it must meet three standards:
1. It is man-made
2. It is made for man and addressed to his senses
3. It contains an end
As art is man-made it can be known and divulged, learned and reproduced.
A work of art originates in the human spirit.
Any work of fine art is of higher value than a work of nature because it has passed through the spirit and mind of man.
The function of fine art is to arouse feeling.
Art is not the mere imitation of nature.
Art is not purposed to achieve some moral end.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Notes on Burke and Kant
(Originally Written January 5, 2008 in the Journal)
Actually Mr. Burke, I have a thought: any piece of art must be sublime in order to invoke emotion. The artist must master the use of the sublime. Sublime can be the syntax of art as language? Sublime as syntax, I like that. But does it work?
Study points: What are the components of language? Words, grammar, syntax... How does a language form? History, evolution? Are there paradigm shifts in language?
"Judgments about the Beautiful"
By: Immanuel Kant
Taste is the faculty of estimating an object by means of a delight or aversion apart from any interest.
When taste finds the object to be delightful, the object is called beautiful.
In order to make a judgment of taste (i.e. such and such is beautiful) one must be completely disinterested.
"The Beautiful is that which, apart from a concept, pleases universally".
What is beautiful is so, universally. That which is agreeable is particular. Whatever is agreeable, is 'agreeable-to-me'.
There are two types of Beauty:
1. Free beauty (pulchritudo vaga)
2. Dependent beauty (pulchritudo adhaerens)
Free beauty has no presupposition of what the object should be.
Dependent beauty presupposes a concept of what the object should be.
Those who are dependent beauties have a concept attached to them. Thus, a man/woman is a dependent beauty and each individual must be measured against the perfect concept of man.
Fine art is the art of genius.
Genius is natural endowment, talent.
Genius gives the rule to art.
Talent is an innate faculty of the artist.
Every art form presupposes rules which are at its foundation and render creation possible.
Only genius can give rule to fine art. Only genius can be the foundation of fine art and therefore genius is a necessary part of creating fine art.
Genius is a talent for producing art for which no definite rule can be given.
Originality is the primary property of genius. As such. genius cannot be taught.
Genius must establish itself as a rule to be imitated while being original itself.
Genius cannot account for how or why the thought came into his head, only that it did.
Actually Mr. Burke, I have a thought: any piece of art must be sublime in order to invoke emotion. The artist must master the use of the sublime. Sublime can be the syntax of art as language? Sublime as syntax, I like that. But does it work?
Study points: What are the components of language? Words, grammar, syntax... How does a language form? History, evolution? Are there paradigm shifts in language?
"Judgments about the Beautiful"
By: Immanuel Kant
Taste is the faculty of estimating an object by means of a delight or aversion apart from any interest.
When taste finds the object to be delightful, the object is called beautiful.
In order to make a judgment of taste (i.e. such and such is beautiful) one must be completely disinterested.
"The Beautiful is that which, apart from a concept, pleases universally".
What is beautiful is so, universally. That which is agreeable is particular. Whatever is agreeable, is 'agreeable-to-me'.
There are two types of Beauty:
1. Free beauty (pulchritudo vaga)
2. Dependent beauty (pulchritudo adhaerens)
Free beauty has no presupposition of what the object should be.
Dependent beauty presupposes a concept of what the object should be.
Those who are dependent beauties have a concept attached to them. Thus, a man/woman is a dependent beauty and each individual must be measured against the perfect concept of man.
Fine art is the art of genius.
Genius is natural endowment, talent.
Genius gives the rule to art.
Talent is an innate faculty of the artist.
Every art form presupposes rules which are at its foundation and render creation possible.
Only genius can give rule to fine art. Only genius can be the foundation of fine art and therefore genius is a necessary part of creating fine art.
Genius is a talent for producing art for which no definite rule can be given.
Originality is the primary property of genius. As such. genius cannot be taught.
Genius must establish itself as a rule to be imitated while being original itself.
Genius cannot account for how or why the thought came into his head, only that it did.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Notes on "The Sublime"
(Originally Written January 4, 2008 in the Journal)
"The Sublime"
By Edmund Burke
That which is sublime invokes a response in us.
Astonishment is the greatest response the sublime can invoke.
Astonishment occurs when the soul has all of its motions suspended so that we can think on nothing else and yet be unable to reason upon that object that has astonished us.
Terror and fear have more power to rob the mind of reason than any other passion.
Fear is an "apprehension of pain or death"
That which is terrible or invokes fear in us is therefore sublime.
In order for something to truly terrify, it must be obscure.
Well Mr. Burke, you were useless!
"The Sublime"
By Edmund Burke
That which is sublime invokes a response in us.
Astonishment is the greatest response the sublime can invoke.
Astonishment occurs when the soul has all of its motions suspended so that we can think on nothing else and yet be unable to reason upon that object that has astonished us.
Terror and fear have more power to rob the mind of reason than any other passion.
Fear is an "apprehension of pain or death"
That which is terrible or invokes fear in us is therefore sublime.
In order for something to truly terrify, it must be obscure.
Well Mr. Burke, you were useless!
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