Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 8-10 ("On Significance in Music," "The Genesis of Artistic Import," and "The Fabric of Meaning" respectively), plus ch. 7, "The Image of Time," from her Form and Feeling (1953). Is music a language? If it's "expressive," what exactly Continue Reading …
Ep. 292: Langer on Symbolic Music (Part Two for Supporters)
Concluding from part one on Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key (ch. 8-10). We continue discussion whether and how music is symbolic, contrasting Langer's take with Scruton's on Eduard Hanslick: you can't just consider music as "intransitively referential" or referring only to itself, because that's not reference at all.. Wes brings up Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Continue Reading …
Ep. 292: Langer on Symbolic Music (Part One for Supporters)
On Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key (1942), ch. 8-10 ("On Significance in Music," "The Genesis of Artistic Import," and "The Fabric of Meaning), plus ch. 7, "The Image of Time," from her Form and Feeling (1953). Is music a language? If it's "expressive," what exactly does it express? Langer focuses on music to get at the sorts of symbolism associated specifically Continue Reading …
Ep. 289: Aesthetic Sense Theory: Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Hume (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On David Hume's "The Standard of Taste" (1760) and its two main influences: The Moralists: A Philosophical Rhapsody (1709) by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, aka the third Earl of Shaftesbury, Part III section 2 "Beauty," and An Inquiry Concerning Beauty, Order, Harmony, Design (1725) by Continue Reading …
Ep. 289: Aesthetic Sense Theory: Hume (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one, we get into more detail on David Hume's "The Standard of Taste" (1760). Hume starts out with a paradox: On the one hand, we believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder; it's not a property of objects but of the interaction between an object and an observer. On the other hand, some works are obviously, objectively more beautiful than others, Continue Reading …
Ep. 289: Aesthetic Sense Theory: Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Hume (Part One for Supporters)
On David Hume's "The Standard of Taste" (1760) and its two main influences: The Moralists: A Philosophical Rhapsody (1709) by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, aka the third Earl of Shaftesbury, Part III section 2 "Beauty," and An Inquiry Concerning Beauty, Order, Harmony, Design (1725) by Francis Hutcheson. Featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. How do we know what opinions about Continue Reading …
Ep. 288: Scruton on Ethical Art (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On Roger Scruton's Beauty (2009), ch. 5-9, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. The latter half of the book completes the survey of types of beauty that we discussed last episode by considering issues in our appreciation of artworks, and then develops a moral and political argument for Continue Reading …
Ep. 288: Scruton on Ethical Art (Part Two for Supporters)
Concluding our treatment of Roger's Scruton's Beauty (2009), ch. 5-9, from part one. We consider why we'd really be attracted to something that according to Scruton's account takes a lot of work. Dylan brings in architecture, which Scruton also wrote about, leading us to wonder about the form/function distinction and whether that standard in architecture (the fact that a Continue Reading …
Ep. 288: Scruton on Ethical Art (Part One for Supporters)
On Roger Scruton's Beauty (2009), ch. 5-9, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. The latter half of the book completes the survey of types of beauty that we discussed last episode by considering issues in our appreciation of artworks, and then develops a moral and political argument for why relativism about taste, i.e. the "democracy of tastes" that says that all aesthetic Continue Reading …
Ep. 287: Roger Scruton on Beauty (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On Beauty (2009), ch. 1-4, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Scruton just died in Dec. 2020; he had taught aesthetics for more than 30 years, and this book provides an overview of issues in the philosophy of art. The chapters we read this time include an overview chapter, then Continue Reading …
Pretty Much Pop #61: Philosophy of Photography w/ Amir Zaki
Amir the photographic artist and UC-Riverside prof joins Mark, Erica, and Brian to consider this common act that can stretch from the mundane to the sublime. How have our various purposes for photography changed with the advent of digital technology, the introduction of social media, and the ready access to video? What determines what we choose to take pictures of, and how does Continue Reading …
Ep. 243: Aristotle’s “Poetics” on Art and Tragedy (Part Two)
Continuing on the Poetics from around 335 BCE, on the structure of plot (every element must be essential!), the moral status of the heroes, Homeric poetry, the difference between tragedy and history, and how Aristotle's formula may or may not apply to modern media. Wes maintains that tragedy does offer a unique, psychologically central benefit to us: Hanna Segal's "A Continue Reading …
Ep. 243: Aristotle’s “Poetics” on Art and Tragedy (Part One)
These probably-lecture-notes from around 335 BCE are still used in screenwriting classes today: Aristotle serves up a formula for what will most move us, derived from Sophocles's tragedies like Oedipus Rex. What is art? Aristotle says it's mimesis (imitation), and fiction (poetry) is imitation of human action in particular, in a manner that shows us what human nature is all Continue Reading …
Ep. 243: Aristotle’s “Poetics” on Art and Tragedy (Citizen Edition)
These probably-lecture-notes from around 335 BCE are still used in screenwriting classes today: Aristotle serves up a formula for what will most move us, derived from Sophocles's tragedies like Oedipus Rex. What is art? Aristotle says it's mimesis (imitation), and fiction (poetry) is imitation of human action in particular, in a manner that shows us what human nature is all Continue Reading …
Ep. 212: Sartre on Literature (Part One)
On Jean-Paul Sartre's What is Literature? (1948), ch. 1 and 2. What's the purpose of literature? Why write prose as opposed to poetry? Sartre was fending off criticism that his prose was too overtly political. Kant's view of art was still dominant, according to which good art is "disinterested," i.e., the spectator is supposed to appreciate the pure play of form. So if an Continue Reading …
Episode 212: Sartre on Literature (Citizen Edition)
On Jean-Paul Sartre's What is Literature? (1948), chs. 1 and 2. What's the purpose of literature? Why write prose as opposed to poetry? Sartre was fending off criticism that his prose was too overtly political. Kant's view of art was still dominant, according to which good art is "disinterested," i.e., the spectator is supposed to appreciate the pure play of form. So if an Continue Reading …
Ep. 207: Herder on Art Appreciation (Part Two)
Continuing on Johann Gottfried von Herder's “The Causes of Sunken Taste among the Different Peoples in Whom It Once Blossomed” (1775), then moving to “On the Influence of the Belles Lettres on the Higher Sciences” (1781), “Does Painting or Music Have a Greater Effect? A Divine Colloquy” (1785), and the sections about music and dance from the Critical Forests: Fourth Grove Continue Reading …
Ep. 207: Herder on Art Appreciation (Part One)
On essays in aesthetics by Johann Gottfried von Herder: “The Causes of Sunken Taste among the Different Peoples in Whom It Once Blossomed” (1775), “On the Influence of the Belles Lettres on the Higher Sciences” (1781), “Does Painting or Music Have a Greater Effect? A Divine Colloquy” (1785), and the sections about music and dance from the Critical Forests: Fourth Grove (written Continue Reading …
Ep. 207: Herder on Art Appreciation (Citizen Edition)
On essays in aesthetics by Johann Gottfried von Herder: “The Causes of Sunken Taste among the Different Peoples in Whom It Once Blossomed” (1775), “On the Influence of the Belles Lettres on the Higher Sciences” (1781), “Does Painting or Music Have a Greater Effect? A Divine Colloquy” (1785), and the sections about music and dance from the Critical Forests: Fourth Grove (written Continue Reading …
There Is More to Seeing Than Meets the Eye: Rejecting Scruton’s Conception of Photography
Photographers of a thoughtful demeanor should take a keen interest in what we mean by “seeing.” Are there different types of seeing? Does each visual art have a particular mode of seeing? Is there a difference between “looking” and “seeing”? To what extent is seeing different than thinking? The English philosopher Roger Scruton attempted to answer these questions in one of the Continue Reading …