A Philosophical Discussion of Representation
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A Prologue to Charles Sanders Peirce's Theory of Signs
In Lieu of Saussure: A Prologue to Charles Sanders Peirce’s Theory of Signs E. San Juan, Jr. Language is as old as consciousness, language is practical consciousness that exists also for other men, and for that reason alone it really exists for me personally as well; language, like consciousness, only arises from the need, the necessity, of intercourse with other men. – Karl Marx, The German Ideology (1845-46) General principles are really operative in nature. Words [such as Patrick Henry’s on liberty] then do produce physical effects. It is madness to deny it. The very denial of it involves a belief in it. – C.S. Peirce, Harvard Lectures on Pragmatism (1903) The era of Saussure is dying, the epoch of Peirce is just struggling to be born. Although pragmatism has been experiencing a renaissance in philosophy in general in the last few decades, Charles Sanders Peirce, the “inventor” of this anti-Cartesian, scientific- realist method of clarifying meaning, still remains unacknowledged as a seminal genius, a polymath master-thinker. William James’s vulgarized version has overshadowed Peirce’s highly original theory of “pragmaticism” grounded on a singular conception of semiotics. Now recognized as more comprehensive and heuristically fertile than Saussure’s binary semiology (the foundation of post-structuralist textualisms) which Cold War politics endorsed and popularized, Peirce’s “semeiotics” (his preferred rubric) is bound to exert a profound revolutionary influence. Peirce’s triadic sign-theory operates within a critical- realist framework opposed to nominalism and relativist nihilism (Liszka 1996). I endeavor to outline here a general schema of Peirce’s semeiotics and initiate a hypothetical frame for interpreting Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s’ Ghost, an exploratory or Copyright © 2012 by E. -
Paintings and Photographs, Introduction to "William Wegman" Curtis Carter Marquette University, [email protected]
Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications Philosophy, Department of 1-1-2002 Paintings and Photographs, Introduction to "William Wegman" Curtis Carter Marquette University, [email protected] Published version. "Introduction," in William Wegman. Roman Zenner, 2002: 1-5. Permalink. © 2002 Roman Zenner. Used with permission. WILLIAM WEG MAN Roman Zenner 2002 PAINTINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS When William Wegman began his career in the late 1960s, he like many young artists of his generation decided to abandon painting preferring instead to use pho tography and video to explore contemporary issues in art. Why abandon painting at this point? Painting, after all, had been under attack since the invention of photogra phy in the mid-nineteenth century. Still its output has continued for centuries virtu ally without interruption. Perhaps it was because painting in the 60s seemed less exciting or less flexible than the new media and unable to satisfy the needs of artists and the public in a technological post-modem society. Against the aesthetics of post modernism, painting as a medium affirms the values of originality and uniqueness. But these values had already been called into question decades earlier by Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, and others. The decision to abandon painting overlooks certain facts about its resiliency. Painting has had a long history of success as an art form within a broad range of diverse cultures. As Richard Wollheim has argued," If artists over the centuries had not succeeded in putting across what they wished to convey, they would have turned to some other activity .... Or their public would have asked them to do SO."1 At the conclusion of a lengthy book on pain~ing, Wollheim's strongest argument for the continuation of painting is its survival as an art form. -
RICHARD WOLLHEIM Copyright © British Academy 2001
RICHARD WOLLHEIM Copyright © British Academy 2001 – all rights reserved Richard Arthur Wollheim 1923–2003 RICHARD ARTHUR WOLLHEIM was born on 5 May 1923 in London, the younger son of Eric Wollheim, of a German Jewish family, and Constance Baker, whose family came from the West Country and for centuries were peasants. His father was a theatrical impresario, who from 1918 acted as the Diaghilev ballet’s London manager. His mother was a Gaiety show- girl, who performed as an actress playing to the troops during the First World War, but at her husband’s insistence left the stage when she married. In his posthumously published memoir of his childhood, Germs (2004), which begins with his tottering out through the front door into the light at the age of two, Richard traces the roots in childhood of a variety of emotions he experienced in later life—resentment against calm, quiet places, the lure of danger, shame at the unreliability of his body, certain fears of inundation—and paints vivid pictures of his parents’ opinions, routines, behaviour and character. His father was emancipated and although he embraced no religious faith—indeed, considered all religion to be folly, he insisted that Richard was brought up as a Christian, an encumbrance Richard freed himself from when he grew up, from then on regarding all religions as harmful illusions, and, like Hume and Nietzsche, believing that religions tend to be worse the further they stray from polytheism. At the age of 13 he went to Westminster School as a King’s Scholar. It was the first time that he had been away to boarding-school, something he had been looking forward to but which turned out to be very different from what he had expected. -
Visual Semiotics: a Study of Images in Japanese Advertisements
VISUAL SEMIOTICS: A STUDY OF IMAGES IN JAPANESE ADVERTISEMENTS RUMIKO OYAMA THESIS SUBMIITED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON iN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF LONDON NOVEMBER 1998 BIL LONDON U ABSTRACT 14 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 15 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 16 1.1 THE PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH 16 1.2 DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH INTERESTS 16 1.3 LANGUAGE VERSUS VISUALS AS A SEMIOTIC MODE 20 1.4 THE ASPECT OF VISUAL SEMIOTICS TO BE FOCUSED ON: Lexis versus Syntax 23 1.5 CULTURAL VALUE SYSTEMS IN VISUAL SYNTAX: A challenge to the notion of universality 24 Chapter Ii THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 26 2.1 INTRODUCTION 26 2.2 LITERATURE SURVEY ON STUDIES OF IMAGES 27 2.2.1 What is an image? 27 2.2.2 Art history/Art theories 29 2.2.3 Sociological approaches to visual images 36 2.2.4 Cultural approaches to visual images 44 2.2.4.1 Visual images as cultural products 45 2.2.4.2 Visual images from linguistic perspectives 50 2.2.5 Semiotic approaches to visual images 54 2.2.5.1 Saussure, Barthes (traditional semiology I semiotics) 54 2.2.5.2 Film semiotics 59 2 2.2.5.3 Social Semiotics 61 2.2.6 Reflection on the literature survey 66 2.3 A THEORY FOR A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF THE VISUAL 71 2.3.1 Visual semiotics and the three metafunctions 72 2.3.1.1 The Ideational melafunction 73 2.3.1.2 The Textual metafunction 75 2.3.1.3 The Interpersonal metafunction 78 2.4 VERBAL TEXT IN VISUAL COMPOSITION: Critical Discourse Analysis 80 23 INTEGRATED APPROACH FOR A MULTI-MODAL ANALYSIS OF VISUAL AND VERBAL TEXTUAL OBJECTS -
Philosophy of Perception As a Guide to Aesthetics
OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRSTPROOFS, Fri Jan 31 2014, NEWGEN 5 Philosophy of Perception as a Guide to Aesthetics Bence Nanay 5.1 The Provocative Claim The aim of this paper is to argue for a provocative claim: that many, maybe even most traditional problems in aesthetics are in fact about philosophy of perception and can, as a result, be fruitfully addressed with the help of the conceptual apparatus of the philosophy of perception. I will spend much of the paper clarifying and qualifying this claim, which after all the qualifications may not sound so provocative after all. I need to clarify the following aspects of this claim: (a) What is meant by aesthetics. (b) What is meant by philosophy of perception. (c) Why should we accept that it is a promising avenue of research to consider prob- lems in aesthetics to be really about the philosophy of perception. I will take these in turn. But before we begin, it needs to be emphasized that on the face of it, the claim I make does not sound crazy, at least if we consider the etymology of the term ‘aesthetics’. The Greek word ‘aesthemi’ means perception and when Alexander Baumgarten introduced the concept of ‘aesthetics’ in 1750, what he meant by it was precisely the philosophy of perception: the study of sense perception (scientia cogni- tionis sensitivae). My claim is that, regardless of etymology, this connection can also be made today. It is important that my aim is not to argue that aesthetics should be a subdiscipline of philosophy of perception or that any approach that does not consider aesthetics to be philosophy of perception is doomed or should be considered inferior. -
Monism and Pluralism: the History of Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Architecture - Part I Paul Guyer
Monism and Pluralism: The History of Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Architecture - Part I Paul Guyer I. Monism and Pluralism in the Early History of Aesthetics One way to think about the history of aesthetics since its inception as a properly named subdiscipline of philosophy in the early eighteenth century is to think of it as a debate about the right way to understand the relations among the terms of the Neo-Platonist triad comprised by the true, the good, and the beautiful: do these terms designate three separate domains of human interest, the theoretical, the practical and moral, and the aesthetic, the boundaries between which must be sharply defined and maintained, or do they designate three aspects of human experience that can and should be fused in practice, indeed do they suggest that the distinctive function of art among human activities is precisely to fuse our natural love of beauty with our theoretical and moral concerns, to provide a kind of unity in human experience that we otherwise do not find?1 Immanuel Kant might be thought to be the foremost of separatists rather than synthesizers in the modern history of aesthetics: his definition in the “Analytic of the Beautiful” in the Critique of the Power of Judgment of the “judgment of taste” as “aesthetic,” where that means that it is neither cognitive nor practical, that on the one hand “In order to decide whether or not something is beautiful, we do not relate the representation by means of understanding to the object for cognition”2 and that on the other hand “The agreeable, -
19Chronology of Works in Aesthetics and Philosophy Of
Chronology of 19 Works in Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art Darren Hudson Hick Notes on Selection This chronology, as with this Companion as a whole, focuses on those works that contribute to the Western tradition of aesthetics, and, beginning in the twentieth century, in the analytic current of thought within that tradition (as opposed to the Continental one). As with the history of Western philosophy in general, the study of philosophical problems in art and beauty dates back to the ancient period, and is infl uenced by the major philosophical and cultural move- ments through the centuries. Much of what survives from the ancient to the post-Hellenistic period does so in fragments or references. In cases where only fragments or references exist, and where dating these is especially problematic, the author or attributed author and (where available) his dates of birth and death are listed. Where works have not survived even as fragments, these are not listed. As well, much of what sur- vives up to the medieval period is diffi cult to date, and is at times of disputable attribution. In these cases, whatever information is available is listed. Aesthetics in the period between the ancients and the medievals tends to be dominated by adherence to Platonic, Aristotelian, and other theories rooted in the ancient period, and as such tends to be generally lacking in substantive the- oretical advancements. And while still heavily infl uenced by ancient thinking, works from the medieval period tend also to be heavily infl uenced by religious thinking, and so many issues pertaining to art and aesthetics are intertwined with issues of religion as “theological aesthetics.” Movements in art theory and aes- thetics in the Renaissance, meanwhile, were largely advanced by working artists, and so tend to be couched in observational or pedagogical approaches, rather than strictly theoretical ones. -
Enactive Aesthetics and Neuroaesthetics*
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Firenze University Press: E-Journals JOERG FINGERHUT Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin [email protected] ENACTIVE AESTHETICS AND NEUROAESTHETICS* abstract In this paper, I review recent enactive approaches to art and aesthetic experience. Radical enactivists (Hutto, 2015) claim that our engagement with art is extensive, in the sense that it is non-contentful and artifact-including. Gallagher (2011) defends an embodied-enactive account of the specific kind of affordances artworks provide. For Noë (2015) art is a reorganizational practice. Each of these accounts claims that empirical (neuro)aesthetics is incapable of capturing the art-related engagement they want to highlight. While I agree on the relational and enactive nature of the mind and see the presented theories as important contributions to our understanding of art and aesthetics, I will argue that their dismissal of empirical aesthetics is misguided on several counts. A more qualified look can reveal relevant empirical research for claims enactive theorists should be interested in. Their criticism is either too general regarding the empirical methods employed or based on philosophical claims that themselves should be subjected to empirical scrutiny. keywords art, embodied cognition, enactivism, externalism, neuroaesthetics * I am thankful for helpful feedback on parts of this paper that I received at the San Raffaele Spring School 2017 in Milan and the “Aesthetics and the 4E Mind” BSA Conference 2016 in Exeter (thanks to G. Colombetti, V. Gallese, J. Krueger, B. Montero, B. Nanay, A. -
Arthur Danto (1924-2013) Criticism and Theory of the Arts
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR AESTHETICS An Association for Aesthetics, Arthur Danto (1924-2013) Criticism and Theory of the Arts VOLUME 33 NUMBER 3 WINTER 2013 Saddened by his passing, the editors are devoting this issue of the Society’s Newsletter is to Arthur Danto. Henry Pratt and I were so pleased that Arthur wrote such a personal essay for the Summer 2010 Newsletter (available at < http://www.aesthetics-online. 2 The Age of Danto, by Noël Carroll org/articles/index.php?articles_id=47>) on the occasion of his exhibition of his prints at 2 Life With Art, by Lydia Goehr the University of Illinois. His illustrated essay, “Stopping Making Art” was a wonderful account of his work with woodcuts and of how his interests shifted from making art to 4 In Memoriam, Arthur Danto, by Daniel writing about it philosophically. We are all better off for that. Herwitz 5 Remembering Arthur Danto, by Fred Rush I’d like to add a few brief personal remarks of my own. I heard Arthur present his artworld paper at the University of Pennsylvania when I was graduate student there in the 1960’s 6 Working with Arthur C. Danto, by Mi- and, thus inspired, became part of his NEH seminar at Columbia while he was drafting chael Kelly The Transfiguration of the Commonplace. Simply put, those weeks were a remarkable turn- 7 Arthur Danto, In Memoriam, by Jonathan ing point for me and I knew I was absorbing a different way of thinking, not only about art, but of philosophy in general. So, in touch in many contexts over the years, who else Gilmore would write to say he was “thrilled” that I signed on as an editor of this newsletter? 10 News from the National Office Of all the things that could be said about Arthur’s contribution to aesthetics, to art criti- cism and to the wider world of philosophy, as others in this issue will say so very well, 10 Aesthetics News I’ll say only this: that he was a joy to listen to and a pleasure to read—no small virtues in philosophy. -
Benjamin and Barthes on Photography and History
Pictures of the Past: Benjamin and Barthes on photography and history The final version of this paper was published in the European Journal of Cultural Studies, (2002) Vol. 5 (1): 5-25 – ISSN 1367-5494 Please quote and cite the published version. Tim Dant & Graeme Gilloch Department of Sociology Bowland North Lancaster University Lancaster, LA1 4YT [email protected] 01524 593184 Pictures of the Past: Benjamin and Barthes on photography and history 1 Abstract This paper explores the key moments in Benjamin’s and Barthes’s analyses of the cultural significance of the photograph. For Benjamin these are; the optical unconscious, the transmission of aura, the representation of cultural and political decay and proto-surrealist political commentary. For Barthes they are; the techniques of the photographer, the studium, the punctum and the ecstasy of the image. These rather different approaches to photography reveal a common concern with history. Both authors have written about the nature of historical understanding and photography has provided both with a powerful metaphor. What emerges from their analyses of photographs is that each evokes a double moment of historical awareness; of being both in the present and in the past. For Benjamin this is the ‘spark of contingency’ with which the aura of past existence shines in the present. For Barthes it is the ‘ça-a-été’, the emotional stab of awareness that what is present and visible in the photograph is irretrievably lost in the past. Keywords - Walter Benjamin; Roland Barthes; Photography; History 2 Introduction The content of every photograph is history. It shows the moment of the image's origin that is always in the past to the moment in which it is viewed. -
British Idealist Aesthetics, Collingwood, Wollheim, and the Origins of Analytic Aesthetics
Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication Volume 4 200 YEARS OF ANALYTICAL PHILOSOPHY Article 12 2008 British Idealist Aesthetics, Collingwood, Wollheim, And The Origins Of Analytic Aesthetics Chinatsu Kobayashi Université du Québec à Montréal Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/biyclc This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Kobayashi, Chinatsu (2008) "British Idealist Aesthetics, Collingwood, Wollheim, And The Origins Of Analytic Aesthetics," Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication: Vol. 4. https://doi.org/10.4148/biyclc.v4i0.136 This Proceeding of the Symposium for Cognition, Logic and Communication is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences at New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact [email protected]. British Idealist Aesthetics 2 The Baltic International Yearbook of two, Bernard Bosanquet and Robin Collingwood appear, therefore, to Cognition, Logic and Communication be the only idealist aestheticians of significance in the first half of the twentieth century.4 Of the two, Collingwood knew more about art5 and August 2009 Volume 4: 200 Years of Analytical Philosophy was by far more original, as he produced a philosophy of art that truly pages 1-40 DOI: 10.4148/biyclc.v4i0.136 engaged with the artistic preoccupations of his days in The Principles of Art (Collingwood 1938). Among the ‘realists’, the topic was hardly more popular: only Samuel Alexander and E. -
Image Music Text\
IMAGE MUSIC TEXT ROLAND BARTHES was bom in 1915 and died in 1980. At the time of his death he was Professor at the College de France. Among his books are Le Degre zero de I'ecriture (1953), Mythologies (1957), Elements de semiologie (1964), S/Z (1970), L'Empire des signes (1970), Sade, Fourier, Loyola (1971), Roland Barthes par Roland Barthes (1975), Fragments d'un discours amoureux (1977), and La Chambre claire (1980). STEPHEN HEATH is a Fellow ofJesus College and Reader in Cultural Studies in the University of Cambridge. His books include a study of Barthes, Vertige du deplacement (1974), and, most recently, Gustave Flaubert: 'Madame Bovary'(\992). ROLAND BARTHES Image Music Text Essays selected and translated by Stephen Heath FontanaPress An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Fontana Press An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 77-85 Fulham Palace Road Hammersmith, London, w6 8JB www.fireandwater.com Published by Fontana Press 1977 14 Copyright © Roland Barthes 1977 English translation copyright © Stephen Heath 1977 Illustrations I, XI, XII, XIII, XIV and XV are from the collection of Vincent Pinel ISBN 0 00 686135 0 Set in Times Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.