At 11:33 AM 3/6/2009, you wrote:
> Book: The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution
>
> "A lot of what counts as philosophy," he said, "is explaining and
> justifying fundamental human intuitions," including "intuitions about
> the beautiful and the ugly." The problem has been that philosophy
> "doesn't ask where the intuitions come from. ... Human nature is a
> traditional philosophic topic, but let's face it, a lot of it is
> uninformed armchair speculation by people who just happen to be
> geniuses: Hobbes, Mill, Kant.:\"
>
>
> http://www.mercurynews.com/books/ci_11690473
Hey Marsha,
Got it, read it. Interesting if somewhat pedantic. To a Darwinian
everything is explained by evolution, just as to an MOQian everything is
explained by Quality. But, I think anyone interested in the arts will find
the book worthwhile. The following passage near the end especially appealed
to me:
"The oft-described spirituality of artistic masterpieces, their
otherworldly quality . . . involves a feeling -- experienced by atheist and
believer alike -- that standing before a masterpiece you are in the
presence of a power that exceeds anything you can imagine for yourself,
something greater than you ever can or will be. The rapture masterpieces
offer is literally ecstatic -- taking you out of yourself. Theists may wish
to attribute all this to the power of God, Darwinian humanists to the near
miraculous power of human genius. Both will approach such works as
suppliants: we yield to them, allowing them to take us where they will. "
This juxtaposition of the humanist with the theist reminded me of Pirsig's
conclusion in his SODV paper:
"As Bohr might have loved to observe, science and art are just two
different complementary ways of looking at the same thing. In the largest
sense it is really unnecessary to create a meeting of the arts and sciences
because in actual practice, at the most immediate level they have never
really been separated. They have always been different aspects of the same
human purpose."
The same applies to the artists, scientists, theists, humanists and
philosophers on this site.
Platt
Hi Platt,
Are all five "ists" mentioned in the last sentence of equal value to
you? What if I added communist?
Marsha
.
_____________
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.........
.
.
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