One book we’d mentioned on the episode as a counter to Goodman’s epistemology was Paul Boghossian’s Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism. Boghossian’s target is any theory of knowledge that says that facts are constructed, reflecting the contingent needs and interest of some society, and that consequently some different society with different needs could construct facts so as to Continue Reading …
Are You Experienced? Are You Ready to Rock?
My previous post about parody songs is of course a much too transparent and potentially exceptional case of the role of associations in music appreciation, since the joke in question is about style, meaning the art is “about” its style in an obvious way, whereas you might argue that art more typically works within a style but the style is Continue Reading …
Philosophy of Art and Stephen King’s “Duma Key”
Somewhere in between and overlapping with Nelson Goodman and Kierkegaard, I subjected myself to one of Stephen King’s recent books, Duma Key. Serendipitously, it’s about artistic creation, and while he of course throws in supernatural/horror elements, the way he does this actually plays off some of our preconceptions about art creation and viewing that I think are worth spelling out: Continue Reading …
Yukio Mishima and St. Sebastian
When I was in college, I came across the work of Japanese Author Yukio Mishima. He was a brilliant, if conflicted, soul who ultimately committed ritual suicide. There’s no point in me trying to encapsulate him in this post – check him out on the web. Certainly one of the more interesting characters you are likely to come across. For Continue Reading …
Nelson Goodman on Induction (Grue and Bleen!)
On our Goodman episode, I start out by trying to give a short explanation of Goodman’s “New Riddle of Induction.” When we’re presented with evidence for a general claim, how do we tell which general claim the evidence is in support of? Goodman contrasts the predicate “green,” which we might think we can project to future cases when we see Continue Reading …
Catherine Elgin on the Epistemic Efficacy of Stupidity
One of the chapters that I referred to from Nelson Goodman’s final book, Reconceptions in Philosophy and Other Arts and Sciences,was “The Epistemic Efficacy of Stupidity.” I’ve found that article online (I can’t swear it’s exactly the same as the version in Reconceptions, but it seems to have all the elements intact) here. It critiques both the correspondence and coherence Continue Reading …
Goodman and Quine’s Nominalism
I referred on the podcast to Goodman’s 1947 article “Steps Toward a Constructive Nominalism.” You can look at it here. The philosophical content is in the first couple of chapters; in fact, I’ll just give you the first half of the first chapter here: We do not believe in abstract entities. No one supposes that abstract entities — classes, relations, Continue Reading …
Episode 28: Nelson Goodman on Art as Epistemology (Citizens Only)
On Goodman’s Ways of Worldmaking (1978). With guest painter Jay Bailey. What’s the relationship between art and science? Does understanding works of art constitute “knowledge,” and if so, how does this relate to other kinds of knowledge?
End song: “Staple Gun” by Mark Lint and Stevie P (1999).
PREVIEW-Episode 28: Nelson Goodman on Art as Epistemology
On Goodman’s Ways of Worldmaking (1978). With guest painter Jay Bailey. What’s the relationship between art and science? Does understanding works of art constitute “knowledge,” and if so, how does this relate to other kinds of knowledge?
Topic for #28: Nelson Goodman’s on Art and “Worldmaking”
Nelson Goodman was a recent (died in 1998) American philosopher who was active in the art community (owned a gallery for a while, was a notable patron). Though he was initially known for his neo-pragmatist (he co-wrote a book with Quine) works in epistemology, later in life he turned towards the philosophy of art, which he saw as a branch Continue Reading …