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 …
Episode 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: “Twilight of the Idols” (Part Two)
Continuing on Nietzsche's 1888 book. (For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go here). Is there any ground from which we could judge life as a whole to be good or bad? Is N. more about saying "yes" to life or saying "no" to all the numerous things that piss him off? We also talk Becoming, whether producing great art is more important than being nice to everyone, and whether Continue Reading …
Ep. 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: “Twilight of the Idols” (Citizen Edition)
On Friedrich Nietzsche's 1888 book summarizing his thought and critiquing the founding myths of his society: traditional morality, free will, Socratic reason, and the idiocy of "Deutschland Uber Alles!" (For Wes Alwan's summary of this book, go here). Nietzsche defends instinct as the source of values, but these instincts must be "spiritualized" into frenzied creativity. Continue Reading …
Episode 136: Adorno on the Culture Industry
On Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer's "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" from Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), plus Adorno's essay "Culture Industry Reconsidered" (1963). How does the entertainment industry affect us? Adorno and Horkheimer (who co-authored the book, but it looks like Adorno mainly wrote the essay we read) are founding figures of the Continue Reading …
Ep. 136: Adorno on the Culture Industry (Citizen Edition)
On Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer's "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception" from Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), plus Adorno's essay "Culture Industry Reconsidered" (1963). How does the entertainment industry affect us? Adorno and Horkheimer (who co-authored the book, but it looks like Adorno mainly wrote the essay we read) are founding figures of the Continue Reading …
Musical Aesthetics vs. a Musical Ethic
I received a great response to our recent episode on songwriting and my post elaborating on one of its aspects from Warren Fischer of the great sort of alternative-techno-show-band-art-collective Fischerspooner (he's the guy who makes the soundscapes, not the guy who dances in the front). Incidentally, this was in the course of my reaching out to a bunch of musicians I know Continue Reading …
Episode 119: Nietzsche on Tragedy and the Psychology of Art
On Friedrich Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy (1872), which was his first book. What's the connection between art and society? Nietzsche thought that you could tell how vital or decadent a civilization was by its art, and said that ancient Greek tragedy (like Antigone) was so great because it was a perfect synthesis of something highly formal/orderly/beautiful with the Continue Reading …
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. What's the connection between art and society? Nietzsche thought that you could tell how vital or decadent a civilization was by its art, and said that ancient Greek tragedy (like Antigone) was so great because it was a perfect synthesis of something highly formal/orderly/beautiful with the Continue Reading …
Topic for #119: Nietzsche on the Birth of Tragedy (and the Function of Good Art)
On 6/10/15, the full four were re-joined by drama guy John Castro to discuss Friedrich Nietzsche's first book, The Birth of Tragedy, originally published in 1872, though the 1886 version that we read (that's right in the thick of his later, more fun books) features an amusing, very self-critical introductory essay, "An Attempt at Self-Criticism," in which he dismisses the work Continue Reading …
Ep 115 Aftershow: Schopenhauer and Music
Featuring Danny Lobell, Mark Linsenmayer, Jonathan Segel, Dave Buchanan, David Prentiss, Kevin Peffley, Kevin Middleton, Anthony Durity, Todd Costa, and Sebastian Roll. Recorded May 18, 2015. Watch on YouTube. Read more about it. Listen to Episode 115 before listening to this. Continue Reading …
Episode 115: Schopenhauer on Music with Guest Jonathan Segel
On Arthur Schopenhauer's The World As Will and Representation (1818), vol. 1, book 3, sections 34, 38-39, 40, 45, and focusing on 51 and 52, plus chapters 34 and 39 from vol. 3 (1844). This continues our previous discussion of book 2 and the beginning of book 3. Is music just pleasing, structured sound? Schopenhauer thinks it's much more than that: it's our way of Continue Reading …
Topic for #115: Schopenhauer on Music & Art (w/ Jonathan Segel)
On 4/19/15, we recorded the second part of our current treatment of Arthur Schopenhauer, this time covering chiefly music, but also aesthetics more generally, situating appreciation of the different types of art within Schopenhauer's weird metaphysics of the Will as described in episode #114. Our guest Jonathan Segel has been the long-time violinist/etc. for one of my Continue Reading …
Topic for #111: Gadamer’s Hermeneutics: How to Interpret
On Feb. 8, the regular four discussed a spate of works by Hans-Georg Gadamer about hermenutics. Listen to the episode now. Hermeneutics is all about how to properly interpret a text, and was initiated mainly to deal with the Bible, e.g. Augustine wanted to know how to reconcile the Old and New Testaments, and many more recent folks wanted to know how to interpret the Bible Continue Reading …
Episode 107: Edmund Burke on the Sublime
On A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1756), parts I, II, and his later intro essay, "On Taste." Are people's tastes basically the same? Burke says yes: they're rooted in our common reactions to pain and pleasure, those two are not opposites, but simply quite different properties, each associated with a different set of Continue Reading …
Episode 107: Edmund Burke on the Sublime (Citizen Edition)
On A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1756), parts I, II, and his later intro essay, "On Taste." Are people's tastes basically the same? Burke says yes: they're rooted in our common reactions to pain and pleasure, those two are not opposites, but simply quite different properties, each associated with a different set of Continue Reading …
Topic for #107: Edmund Burke on the Sublime
December craziness is making it hard for me to get around to writing decent summaries, so this will be a very immanent announcement; the ep should be soon: On Dec. 2, Seth, Dylan, and I were joined by photographer Amir Zaki to discuss Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, parts I, II, and the 2nd-edition Continue Reading …
Episode 105: Kant: What Is Beauty? (Citizen Edition)
On Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment (1790), Pt. 1, Book 1. Kant thinks that finding something beautiful is different than merely liking it. It's a certain kind of liking, not dependent on your idiosyncratic tastes (like your preference for one color or flavor or tone over another) or on your moral opinions. He wants these judgments to be subjective in the sense that Continue Reading …
Episode 105: Kant: What Is Beauty?
On Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment (1790), Pt. 1, Book 1. Kant thinks that finding something beautiful is different than merely liking it. It's a certain kind of liking, not dependent on your idiosyncratic tastes (like your preference for one color or flavor or tone over another) or on your moral opinions. He wants these judgments to be subjective in the sense that Continue Reading …
Topic for #105: Kant on the Beautiful
It's been a long time since we read Kant (see here and here), and folks always like our aesthetics episodes (see here, here, and here), so now you get the best of both worlds: Kant's Critique of Judgment, aka the third critique, which aims to somehow bridge the gap between his epistemology (first critique) and ethics (second critique). If it seems funny to try to do this by Continue Reading …