"to critically examine differing beliefs or perspectives on various views of
art, the role of the artist in society, as well as the purpose and goals of art education" (Y. Senyshyn)
I've just finished reading "The Constant Fire" by Adam Frank. He has many fascinating things to say about the connections between Science and Religion. I think many of his ideas have a direct relation to the false security of Instrumental Rationality. He makes a compelling argument for the necessity of what he calls "the sacred" in all areas of our lives, and the role of hierophany in illuminating and giving meaning to our existence. Page 109 has a stirring description of the essential work of artists in expressing our vision of the world.
Publisher's Weekly says: "[H]ere is a scientist who respects religion and relates it to the same impulse that drives scientific inquiry—an aspiration to the true and the real. ... His history of ideas is real science braided with myth and metaphor—the titular constant fire comes from poet Wallace Stevens."
Article presentation by Gordon & Sonya: Arthur Danto's "Approaching the End of Art". (Click on image to see enlargement.) (See this link for a TimeGlider representation of Art Movements through the ages. You can scroll left to right to move through the complete timeline.)
Article presentation: Gordon "The Education of Feeling" by Rex Gibson (A limited preview is available here.)
A Wordle created from Gibson's article: (Click image for full size.)
A "Comic Life" summary of Gibson's article: (Click image for full size.)
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Feeling and Reason in the Arts: David Best: (presented by Helen H)
Best’s ideas vs Subjectivist beliefs (He believes in the crucial place of cognition in the Arts)
We can have both cognition & creativity (Friedrich Kekule and the Benzene Ring: Creativity in science)
Arts involve shared language & shared meaning: cognition is important for understanding
Discounts the Hydraulic theory – where we spew stored emotions à la Jackson Pollock.
(This is the flip side of Rex Gibson’s article: Just as Gibson wants feeling expressed in all subjects in the same way as they are manifested in the Arts, Best wants to recognize the role of cognition in all subjects, especially the Arts.) “It is only because we are capable of cognition and rationality that we can have artistic feelings.”
Tractatus Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is the only book-length philosophical work published by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein during his lifetime. ======= Wittgenstein “The whole modern conception of the world is founded on the illusion that the so-called laws of nature are the explanations of natural phenomena.”
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Article by Roger Scruton Biographical info Quotes from the text: Scruton” (Ian provided a handout!) Aesthetics, culture, education, -------
Questions to focus our reading: What is Culture? How can we promote a philosophy with art as its heart? What kinds of things can we learn from aesthetic inquiry? What is our collective culture? How is it represented in schools? ======
GP: Is “art” simply a vehicle or is it a carrier of a particular world view? (What does “aesthetic” mean for us today? An appreciation of music? Colour? Shape? Form? Can this be taught? Imparted?)
GP: How do we reconcile our sense of art as a "human experience" with cultures that have no colour or art to speak of? Is the way we think about things limited by the language we speak? (See "Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes" by Daniel L. Everett)
"Language for colors is an interesting frontier in investigating the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, that language shapes and limits how you think about something. We look at a rainbow, which is actually a continuous grading of hue, and we see several distinct colors. Other cultures do not see those same bands of color--they see as one color areas we would consider transitional; and as transitional areas we would call "blue" or "red"."
Kwe' aq pjila'si, I am a district Principal - Aboriginal Education for Surrey Schools in BC, Canada. (Formerly a coordinator of Library and Information Services for SD38) I have taught courses in Library Administration and Aboriginal Issues for UBC and have a Masters in Educational Technology and Learning Design. I am also proud to claim my Mi'kmaq heritage. Wela'lioq for visiting.
