Lizzie Lewis: PHIL 306 Blog Posts

9/2/19 ~ The Beauty of Motorcycle Maintenance

As we completed the first reflection for this class and described our own encounters with beauty, it reminded me of the book I am currently reading, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. In it, the main character is meditating essentially on how to live a better life and how to take a more romantic approach to it. He also is noticing that he must reflect on and find the beauty in life more in order to truly experience what life has to offer rather than simply living life to achieve success and what one person wants out of it for themselves. In one moment in the book, the main character describes in detail the inner workings of his motorcycle’s engine and notices how the elevation of that particular area is causing the engine to run rich. Even in this description, he meditates on this experience and is fully experiencing life in it and discovering the beauty in the mundane even though it is a part of his daily ritual to check his engine. As I wrote the reflection and reminisced on my own encounters with beauty, it was an important reminder to do this myself and that beauty surrounds me and can be richly present even in just one moment that seems to be filled with ugliness. I am excited to hear about the perspective that many philosophers bring on this subject as we begin this course and dive into the material.  

10/1/19 ~ Harrison and Participating With Versus Participating About 

In Jane Harrison’s work, Ancient Art and Ritual, she discusses what art and ritual do together and how they merge. Later in the work, she discusses the difference between the one performing versus watching a performance of a dance or ritual. While the ritual dance allows such a direct and immersive encounter with art and beauty, the performance of dance allows for another such direct encounter but in a different form. As Harrison so aptly says, when encountering a performance, the individual “feels about rather than with it” (Harrison 166). In both examples, the individual has the opportunity to encounter beauty through losing themselves in that which evokes strong emotion and feeling, though in different ways. Beauty is an elusive thing, to be sure, but to encounter art whether through ritual or performance, is to catch the scent of the unearthly aroma called beauty. This was especially illuminating for me to consider as I have experienced both. I used to be a professional ballet dancer and performed many times throughout the year and as such vividly remember the transcendent experience of performing and being completely immersed in a performance and feeling like I was directly encountering beauty and participating with it and even creating it. However, after I quit dance, I would still watch many performances and while I was still encountering beauty, it was in a different form and felt more about it rather than directly with it. 

10/6/19 ~ Was Nietzsche Preaching Escapism? 

While many philosophers seem concerned with discussing what art is, Neitzche is more concerned with why there is such a thing as art. What purpose does it serve? From this reading in the Nature of Art, he seems to say that art makes life more bearable in our tragic existence. With his distinction between Apollonian art and Dyonisian art, he talks about how the former creates a dream world in which one can escape, while the latter gets rid of individuality and allows us to become one with other forces. His philosophy resonated with me and is very interesting to consider, especially in this day and age when society is placing more and more value on the STEM fields and technological advances and seems to disregard the value of art and what it adds to the human life. While these fields also allow much improvement to society overall, do we also run the risk of ignoring that which can give us relief from the horrors of everyday life? I don’t think Neitzche was preaching escapism, but a deeper unity with the universe and those in it as a whole. Art reminds us of the mysticism in life and helps us discover its beauty that must be recognized in order for us to see the value and work towards technological advancement not simply for its own sake but for the sake of the betterment of man. This is what I believe art can remind us to do. 

10/14/19 ~ Van Der Leeuw and His Views on Dance

Van Der Leeuw’s perspective on dance gave me a language for experiences I couldn’t express while I was a dancer. He talks about how every movement becomes “…an expression of the movement of the soul and every movement of the soul is so much a step in the great progress of man to, from, and in God, that we must speak of complete harmony.” Participating in this art means forgetting oneself in the movement and communing with the greater movement of the universe as a whole. Even the audience is able to participate and according to Van Der Leeuw, “when the dance is genuine, one can no longer speak of an action which one performs, but of a dancer which sweeps one away” (29). In both examples, the individual has the opportunity to encounter beauty through losing themselves in that which evokes strong emotion and feeling, though in different ways. I will never forget one of my experiences on a stage in which I was completely lost to the world around me and was completely immersed in the movement. The particular story we told in that performance was one of loss which deeply resonated with me and allowed me to express emotion that I had experienced, but also what I knew every audience member had felt in their lives at some point. felt as though I was somehow deeply connected not only to the other dancers whirling on stage around me, but also to the audience who we were attempting to transport along with us as we showed them a story through our movements and thus became a part of something much bigger than ourselves. 

10/30/19 ~ Aristotle and Horror Movies  

In Aristotle’s discussion of art, he claims that we find art pleasurable in virtue of its representational character. Because of this representation, we can enjoy an artwork whose content would disgust and horrify us if it were real. For example, the audience would be completely repelled if Oedipus had returned to the stage after having gauged out his eyes for real. When we experience this masterpiece as a performance, we are able to learn from the dramatic representation of Oedipus’s fate and take pleasure in it. This concept reminded me of the genre of horror films. Though I take absolutely no pleasure in that type of film myself, I know many people who do and consider it an art form. In a popular TED Talk, the speaker describes how horror movies can teach us about ourselves, our emotions, and what makes us and others human. He argues that it is a place where humans can view their monstrosity from a safe distance and evaluate themselves while removed from the horror and brutality of it that is magnified on the screen. Disturbing as this might be, this view, in a sense, may mirror Aristotle’s. 

10/30/19 ~ Simone de Beauvoir and the Ethics of Art

De Beauvoir’s views on art and beauty are fascinating to me in the Ethics of Ambiguity. She takes on a new perspective of art that is different from the other philosophers we have studied this semester in that she views on through the lens of ethics. The artist’s work expresses the subjective passion that grounds us to ethics and what ties us to the person next to us by emphasizing the relationship between individual freedom and collective freedom. Both artists and writers depict the future as open and contingent on what we do in the present, thus challenging the mysteries of the future that individuals can use as a justification of sacrificing the future for the present. This concept raises the stakes in my mind surrounding art and its role. Especially when thinking of the artists in my family and as well as the importance of funding art education in the school systems, it gives new perspective to their important role in society that others may not realize.

11/2/19 ~ The Subjectivity of Art 

In class, we watched a video in which a portion of it was devoted to 3 women portraying what the class thought was either birth to life, or a nuclear bomb strike. Our discussion emphasized the subjectivity in art and its ability to be interpreted in so many different ways, and strike people at different levels. Each human and their judgements are so complex, and it made me think of the variety of different people’s opinions on what art is. Some would say that a toilet is art. Others would reject this claim and say that a painting is art, while others would say that certain types of paintings, such as modern paintings, are not art. I mean, how many times have you heard the sentence, “I could do that!” when around modern art? While I am fascinated by the topic of aesthetics, it can be overwhelming to think about every philosopher’s opinion, and I wonder if this subjectivity is the central point and what allows for beauty in the first place. Even a plastic bag can be beautiful, if the viewer views it so.  

11/7/19 ~ Tolstoy and the Communication of Feelings

In the section on Tolstoy in The Nature of Art, he describes art as the communication of feeling, not just rational thoughts. Art, to him, is central and vital to human existence as it makes the feelings of other humans accessible to others. This accessibility is vital because humans are then able to have some level of solidarity because it allows someone access to the felt experience of those in circumstances other than one’s own. This philosophy is reflected in one of my favorite books, Anna Karenina where Tolstoy, a man, is able, through the medium of the art of literature, to express the deep experience of a woman who lives a tragic existence. He also depicts the character Levin’s deep despair of life and longing to find the true meaning of existence. He shows how Levin is truly able to find this meaning and satisfaction in life when he is able to share his emotions and feelings with others, such as the woman he eventually falls in love with and shares his deepest cares and fears with. This philosophy of art does not only allow characters in a novel to find this meaning, but has real life implications for all individuals in society. 

11/9/19 ~ Does Freud Contradict Himself? 

Freud’s influence on the world runs wide and deep with his contributions to philosophy and psychology and other fields. However, I did not know that he had a philosophy concerning art. One of Freud’s main concepts in the repression of the unconscious mind which then manifests in different forms unbeknownst to the individual. However, he claims that the artist is repressing their unconscious mind less than the average individual. Instead, anything that their subconscious brings up, they express in the form of an artwork which essentially ends up being a reconfigured childhood experience and also fulfills one of the artist’s wishes as well as provide some of that same pleasure to the viewer, thus explaining why others are also moved by the artwork. However, Freud also seems to think that art is not good as it can allow the artist to dwell on the past and to deny the reality of the present world. But according to his own psychological philosophies, this is an interesting point because he often viewed the subconscious emerging as a good thing as it allows the individual insight into what is affecting them now. For example, if the artist does not express those wishes of his subconscious, wouldn’t he still be living in the past because those experiences would be dictating how he reacts and acts in the present? At least according to Freud’s own psychological theories, the answer I think would be yes, which seems to contradict his theory of art if I am understanding it correctly. 

11/11/19 ~ Theater Students and the Responsibility of Art Teachers

In class, the theater students came to discuss their recent play and we got onto the topic of how the experience as an actor differs based on how their teachers or directors treated them. This was very interesting to me, especially in the light of everything that we’ve discussed in class so far and how though each philosopher has viewed art’s role slightly different from each other, they each view it to play a vital part in life. Therefore, if one holds what any of those philosophers says as true, those teachers of art, dance, etc., have a weighty responsibility as cultivators of something larger than themselves and of something that is essential to life. In a sense then, they are even cultivators of life itself and this must be stewarded well! Some of the students described how their teacher completely killed their love of an art form whether it was theater or dance which is a huge and tragic loss.   

11/11/19 ~ The Garden of Earthly Delights and the Public Consumption of Art

The Garden of Earthly Delights is fascinating, delightful, disorienting, and terrifying all at one. During the presentation, I was struck by its meaning and non-meaning all at once which I believe may be one of its central points. Whatever the artist’s original intention for the work, it is lost with the artist. This mainly led to me thinking about how interesting it is that the artist’s work, interpreted so many different ways, can continue to transform lives even though each person can take a different meaning from it that may even contradict another’s opinion. This I believe speaks to each person’s ability to find beauty in so many different things and in so many different ways in the world. However, it also can limit the artist if their purpose is to send out a particular message but if they don’t take care to make sure it stays with the work, then it could be lost. But is this again a necessary part of the universality of art and the importance of making it available for the public’s consumption? Things to think about.

11/18/19 ~ Basquiat, the Art World, and Consumerism

'Basquiat'' regards its main character as a fresh, naive talent whose abilities were exploited by all sides. What remains in the film is the depiction of the genius artist and social commentator Basquiat being used, consumed by success, and addicted to drugs. One scene in this film in particular stood out to me. Basquiat is painting in a basement, and a few people come down to survey his work and potentially to buy it. They stand there criticizing the works literally right in front of Basquiat and condescendingly talk over him saying what they like and what they don’t like. The themes of the exploitation of this artist is very clear in this scene as those surveying the art have become consumers rather than appreciation of art. It seems that they were no longer in a search for beauty, but saw the possession of art as a symbol of status and even as evidence of their education level. They had no real appreciation for the art nor the artist, or so it seemed in my perspective. To me the film was just as much a commentary of how consumerism has affected the art world as it also depicts the life of Basquiat and the life pressures and social injustice he was forced to operate under. 

11/25/19 ~ Art as a Bison

In class, we watched a video about the discovery of ancient and absolutely beautiful drawings in caves. There was one drawing that showed animals in motion by seemingly drawing the figure multiple times on top of each other, each at different stages of movement. The thought of ancient individuals thoughtfully watching animals and recreating them in caves is captivating. It may be impossible to ever truly know the culture of these people, their motivations, the inner workings of their society, their family life, and it would be naive to assume that we could. With this awareness, we also become acutely aware of the gulf of time between us and them and the fact that we may never know things about them though we attempt to extract any piece of knowledge we can from the caves. They remain shrouded in mystery. However, the artwork itself, regardless of the factual knowledge it gives us, does something larger; it connects us to them in a way that transcends time as it shows that we are connected in our gaze at the things around us in the attempt to discover the beauty in a bison that is deeper than simply the food he provides. This is what art can do, and just as Heidegger describes, it unites all aspects of life beyond what each aspect can do for us. 

12/2/19 ~ Heidegger and How Art Saves Us

In his work, The Question Concerning Technology,” Heidegger is very concerned about the state of society and its rampant instrumentalism. To him, art is what he calls the saving power to the technological mode of thinking that assumes the world can be grasped and controlled. He takes us back to ancient Greece, where techne - the root of our word "technology” - included both instrumentality and the fine arts (poiesis). Heidegger imagines a classical Greece in which art was not divided from other societal functions, but a unifying force that brought together all aspects of life. As I consider this concept that I learned in a previous class, I think about how I previously thought that art was in fact a separate function than other aspects of life. Once taking this class, this view was especially challenged when we watched the video with the filmmaker’s obsession with the beauty of the plastic bag. To him, beauty unified all aspects of life, the wind (nature), the bag dancing in the wind though it was not a natural product or meant to be art. 

12/4/19 ~ Underground Man and the Sublime

Throughout this entire semester, The Underground Man kept coming to mind. In this work, Dostoevsky chronicles a man’s rambling opinions about the state of society who then anticipates his supposed audience’s response and retorts it. He does whatever he wants and considers himself superior to those around him and seems obsessed with the ability to make a free choice. The phrase the beautiful and sublime is one that the underground man mentions often is from Kant’s work where he explores the two emotions we feel when looking at things like breathtaking scenery or artwork. Kant describes the sublime as the superiority of reason over nature and grounds this concept in the notion of individual freedom while the beautiful is different in that is represents more positive emotions or responses. 

The Underground Man describes his "attacks" of the sublime and beautiful. When we discussed Kant in class, I believe that the Underground Man represents Kant’s concept of the sublime. The underground man is radically individual and consistently violates moral boundaries. However, in his individuality, he seems to act in this “freedom” not for his own sake, but for the sake of individuality for its own sake. This is one one of Kant’s tenants surrounding sublimity which is freedom from dependence on self interested motives but instead acting in freedom to assert the right of every person to reason for themselves and recognize that each person is an autonomous moral agent. However, the underground man takes this to an extreme and damages people with this concept which I hope is an interpretation that Kant was against.