Roger Scruton famously rejected photography as an art form on the grounds that, being causal, photographs cannot represent an artist’s intentions. For Scruton, paintings can enable us to see lines, shapes and colors ‘as’ something other than lines, shapes and colors per se. Photographs cannot do this as they are tied to the visual scene they depict. Wilfrid Sellars’s ideas on the role of phenomenal content in visual perception provide a fruitful approach to questioning Scruton’s thesis.
Episode 189: Authorial Intent (Barthes, Foucault, Beardsley, et al) (Citizen Edition)
On four essays about how to interpret artworks: “The Intentional Fallacy” by W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley (1946), “The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes (1967), “What Is an Author?” by Michel Foucault (1969), and “Against Theory” by Steven Knapp and Walter Benn Michaels (1982). When you’re trying to figure out what, say, a poem means, isn’t the best way to do that to just ask the author? Most of these guys say no, and that’s supposed to reveal something about the nature of meaning.
End song: “The Auteur” by David J (2018). Listen to Mark’s interview with him in Nakedly Examined Music #73.
Also check out the follow-up discussion.
Philosophy of Humor (Philosophical Issues Related to the #thatasshole Campaign, Part 1)
Mark muses on why cursing, or ideological humor, might be not funny for everyone, and why it’s partially THEIR GODDAMN FAULT due to their lack of aesthetic self-development. Motherfuckers. JK! 🙂
Art, Authenticity, and Film
The Romantic film-philosophy of Cavell, Mulhall, Sinnerbrink, and Smith completes the triangulation of values among the ethical, cognitive, and aesthetic: in the same way that film links Smith’s innovations in the disciplines of aesthetics, philosophy, and culture, authenticity links the ethical, cognitive, and aesthetic values of film.
The Walk to Kallipolis
A philosophical dialogue on the nature of art.
Episode 137: Bourdieu on the Tastes of Social Classes
On Pierre Bourdieu’s Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (1979), introduction, ch 1 through p. 63, conclusion, and postscript.
How do our tastes in music, art, and everything else reflect our social position? This philosophically trained sociologist administered a few detailed questionnaires in 1960s France and used the resulting differences in what people in different classes preferred and how they talked about these preferences to theorize about the role that taste plays in our social games.
Featuring guest Tim Quirk of Too Much Joy and recent guest on Mark’s Nakedly Examined Music podcast #8.
End song: “When She Took Off Her Shirt” from Tim’s band Wonderlick’s Topless At The Arco Arena (2005).
Episode 137: Bourdieu on the Tastes of Social Classes (Citizen Edition)
On Pierre Bourdieu’s Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (1979), introduction, ch 1 through p. 63, conclusion, and postscript.
How do our tastes in music, art, and everything else reflect our social position? This philosophically trained sociologist administered a few detailed questionnaires in 1960s France and used the resulting differences in what people in different classes preferred and how they talked about these preferences to theorize about the role that taste plays in our social games. With guest Tim Quirk, recently featured on Nakedly Examined Music.
End song: “When She Took Off Her Shirt” from Tim’s band Wonderlick’s Topless At The Arco Arena (2005).
Adorno and the Reproach That a View Is “Too Subjective”
Adorno thinks that we get the notions of subjective and objective the wrong way around. An inquiry that starts with the experience of discussing a film suggests that he may be right.
Musical Aesthetics vs. a Musical Ethic
Comments from Warren Fischer (Fischerspooner) re. the stylistic conservatism expressed on our songwriting episode and Mark’s response: Can we maintain the critical eye needed to create without being dismissive of other styles’ internal logic/aesthetic standards? This is harder than it sounds.
Episode 119: Nietzsche on Tragedy and the Psychology of Art
On Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy (1872). Nietzsche thought that you could tell how vital or decadent a civilization was by its art, and said that ancient Greek tragedy was so great because it was a perfect synthesis of something highly formal/orderly/beautiful with the intuitive/unconscious/chaotic. But then Socrates ruined everything! With guest John Castro.
Includes a preview of the Aftershow feat. Greg Sadler.
End song: “Some Act” by Mark Lint and the Fake from “So Whaddaya Think?” (2000).
Episode 119: Nietzsche on Tragedy and the Psychology of Art (Citizen Edition)
On Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy (1872), which was his first book. Nietzsche thought that you could tell how vital or decadent a civilization was by its art, and said that ancient Greek tragedy was so great because it was a perfect synthesis of something highly formal/orderly/beautiful with the intuitive/unconscious/chaotic. But then Socrates ruined everything, and it remains ruined! Can we recapture the magic? Probably not. With guest John Castro.
End song: “Some Act” by Mark Lint and the Fake from “So Whaddaya Think?” (2000)
Topic for #119: Nietzsche on the Birth of Tragedy (and the Function of Good Art)
We discussed Friedrich Nietzsche’s first book, “The Birth of Tragedy,” about how different psycho-social strategies for dealing with the harshness of existence feed into art. This will be released in three parts on Mondays starting on 7/6, with the Aftershow on 7/26.
‘Identification’ with/in Music
A thesis advanced in our songwriting episode was that we appreciate music by “identifying” with it. There are a few possible meanings of this that I wanted to explore, especially in light of the charge that the ethic outlined in our discussion was too specific to rock ‘n’ roll.
Topic for #118: The Examined Musical Life (with Half of Camper Van Beethoven)
Mark and Wes will discuss songwriting and the experience of music with Jonathan Segel and Victor Krummenacher. Why not check out some of the links in this post so that you’ll have a better idea of what we’re talking about?
Art and Beauty: A Marital History
Art and beauty have a peculiar kind of relationship and have been uneasily coupled since perhaps the beginning of human history. But the two have always been separable, as the 20th century demonstrated. Art always occupies a particular time and space, but beauty resides somewhere in the excitement of our brains, and we as a species still crave art that excites in this way.
Episode 115: Schopenhauer on Music with Guest Jonathan Segel (Citizen Edition)
The Camper Van Beethoven violinist/composer/multi-instrumentalist joins us to discuss The World as Will and Representation, book 3 selections.
End song: “(Ever and) Always” by Jonathan Segel from All Attractions (2012).
Episode 115: Schopenhauer on Music with Guest Jonathan Segel
The Camper Van Beethoven violinist/composer/multi-instrumentalist joins us to discuss The World as Will and Representation, book 3 selections.
End song: “(Ever and) Always” by Jonathan Segel from All Attractions (2012).
Topic for #115: Schopenhauer on Music & Art (w/ Jonathan Segel)
We discussed portions of The World as Will and Representation, Book 3, about how music differs from other arts with guest Jonathan Segel of Camper van Beethoven fame.
Close Reading (Preview) of Kant on the Sublime
Mark and Wes go line-by-line through a chunk of the Critique of Judgment to help you feel confident decoding Kant and other difficult texts. This is a 13-min preview of a 72-min bonus recording. Citizens, log in and listen now.
Close Reading: Kant’s “Critique of Judgment” on the Sublime
A sentence-by-sentence interpretation of Kant’s Critique of Judgment, Paul Guyer’s translation, sections 23-25 by Mark and Wes, recorded 1/8/15. We learn what Kant’s view on the sublime is and help you to understand Kant’s thicket of terminology.