First Blog Post: Reflect
A.O Scott opens up his book Better Living Through Criticism with a thorough comparison of two answers to the same philosophical inquiry: "what is taste?". He first introduces Immanuel Kant's theory which argues that taste is not an intellectual judgement and is not logical, therefore making it an aesthetic judgment; Kant believed that taste was fully subjective. Conversely, Kant's contemporary Edmund Burke was of the belief that taste is objective and that the community's taste was homogeneous; Burke names this paradox 'Subjective Universality'. Scott's comparison of the two intellectuals forces the reader to inspect the meaning of taste and calls into question the reader's own taste. This self reflection allows the reader to better understand both Scott's examination of the societal role of criticism and their own role in criticism. Both Kant and Burke's theories are relevant in understanding the immortality of art. The ability of great art to withstand time and survive far past it's conception suggests that their value is not solely based on logic. However, it's continued societal relevance also proves that it is not merely subjective. Scott calls into question the biological necessity of art and what role it plays in human prosperity. This is especially interesting as it causes the reader to remember the most raw human instincts. The reader asks: If art does not increase our reproductive potential or help us to evade predators why has it withstood time and played a role in molding human societies from the very beginning?
First BLOG POST: INCORPORATE
First BLOG POST: synthesize
In the beginning of A.O. Scott's Better Living Through Criticism he writes "if you know anything, surely you know what you like. How could you not know". I found this statement interesting and, as someone with many conflicting and fluctuating opinions, I have been unsure of what I want and what I like in the past. Additionally, I have learned that often people's opinions are swayed by those around them. This concept reminds me of mob mentality as throughout history the 'correct' tastes and opinions are adopted by the majority and opinions and ideas which contradict the majority are shunned and suppressed. I drew a diagram to represent Kant's three part hierarchy with the largest group The Agreeable on the bottom, The Beautiful in the middle, and finally on the top of the pyramid is The Good. Edmund Burke's theory that beauty is objective and that, if a beautiful beast were to be displayed before a crowd the entire crowd would agree on it's beauty reminds me of Twilight Zone's The Eye of The Beholder (season 2, episode 6). This episode conveys the idea that beauty is relative and that there is no definition of beauty ingrained in our minds but rather societal standards decide what is beautiful. Scott's contemplation of the definition of art reminds me of a youtube video by H3H3Productions in which the host Ethan Klein visits the MoMA and attempts to define modern art for himself. When I first read Rilke's sonnet on page 25 I thought that Rilke was writing about Jesus Christ in his description due to the tone of righteousness and the insistence that the reader changes their life. I wrote down the opposites that Rilke uses in the "Archaic Torso of Apollo" to challenge the antithetical artistic principle that a piece must be either restrained, orderly and rational or wild, sexy and full of feeling. Rather, Rilke includes all of the themes into his piece.
(In both my annotations and my commonplace book I am using different colors to represent my thoughts:
Green = Key Ideas
Red = Word Choice (words that I do not know, words that I feel worked well in the given context/ I found interesting in the given context, etc...)
Blue = Questions/ confusion
Black = Notes)
(In both my annotations and my commonplace book I am using different colors to represent my thoughts:
Green = Key Ideas
Red = Word Choice (words that I do not know, words that I feel worked well in the given context/ I found interesting in the given context, etc...)
Blue = Questions/ confusion
Black = Notes)
First Blog Post: Explain
Based on the reading and writing I have done so far, I am expecting this class to involve diving deep into different texts and understanding their meaning and what impact the author is trying to have on the reader. Additionally, I am expecting to write reflections on many of the texts that we read in class. Just reflecting on the 31 pages I have read so far has been very time consuming and required a lot of intense reflection as I attempt to understand the profound ideas that Scott is introducing, so I am also expecting the class to be quite challenging.