Q&A's: Art and Philosophy

Q&A #4

2012-02-10T17:47:00.003-05:00

1. Read: Dewey, Chapter 27.

2. Q: What is the significance of Dewey's claim that "art is...prefigured in the very processes of living"? (p. 303)

3. Write 2 questions of your own.

Q&A #3

2012-02-04T10:45:00.002-05:00

1. Read: Hume, "On the Standard of Taste," ch. 11.

2. Question: If, as Hume claims, there is a "natural equality of taste," so that "all sentiment [taste] is right," how can he claim further that the "principles of taste are universal"?

Here's some background reading on Hume's (and Kant's) aesthetics. Scroll down a page or so to access directly the material on Hume:

http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/phil%20of%20art/hume_and_kant.htm

3. Write 2 questions of your own.

Q&A #2

2011-10-01T11:05:00.005-04:00

1. Read: Tolstoy, chapter 22. Research Tolstoy online. Learn some things about his life and work that you might share with the class. (For example: http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/)

2. Question: Why does Tolstoy insist that, in order for an artist to succeed, his/her product must communicate a specific emotion or feeling?

3. Raise 2 questions of your own.

Q&A #1

2011-09-15T11:24:00.007-04:00

1. Read: Text, Part I, Chapters 3-4. Read also the essay from Ian Johnson discussing Plato's notion of "making" (poesis):

http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/introser/republic.htm

2. Question: What is the significance of Plato's claim that art is an "imitation of an imitation" (from The Republic, especially)?

3. Write 2 questions of your own.