Continuing on Sontag's essays “On Style” (1965) and "The Death of Tragedy” (1963). We keep talking about the appropriate distance to retain (or not) to a work of art, which is supposed to be relevant to moral action in the world. Art give us models of consciousness, of ways of being, with which we can identify. So what does all this mean for the evaluation of tragedy that Continue Reading …
Ep. 246: Susan Sontag on Interpreting Art (Part One)
On Sontag's essays “Against Interpretation” (1964), “On Style” (1965), and "The Death of Tragedy” (1963). What is it to understand a work of art? Sontag objects to critics' need to decode or translate literature into it's "meaning" or "content," divorcing it in the process from how this content is embodied. She argues that this content vs. form distinction isn't tenable; Continue Reading …
Ep. 246: Susan Sontag on Interpreting Art (Citizen Edition)
On Sontag's essays “Against Interpretation” (1964), “On Style” (1965), and "The Death of Tragedy” (1963). What is it to understand a work of art? Sontag objects to critics' need to decode or translate literature into it's "meaning" or "content," divorcing it in the process from how this content is embodied. She argues that this content vs. form distinction isn't tenable; Continue Reading …
Ep. 245: Fashion (Derrida, Foucault, Sontag) w/ Shahidha Bari (Citizen Edition)
On Jacques Derrida's "The Animal That Therefore I Am" (1999) p. 1–16, Michel Foucault's "The Ethics of the Concern of the Self As A Practice of Freedom" (1984), Susan Sontag's "On Style" (1965), and our guest Shahidha's book Dressed: A Philosophy of Clothes (2020) p. 1–22, 205–217. Much historical philosophy takes appearance to be the mere covering to be ignored in favor of Continue Reading …