Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts

Questions and Topics for Your Blog Posting:

1. For each video and article list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

http://digital.films.com/play/M27YLB
-Art used to be viewed for beauty and not for aesthetics.
-Order, symmetry, and definiteness became popular.
-More people tried to determine was beauty was
      -This changed a lot over the years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0TKYxAYGGA

-People started to miss the point of art
     -doesn't need to be realistic
-laws of art

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/15/health/art-brain-mind/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

-We see the elements of artwork, and our brains communicate them to be actual objects/works of art
-Art is appealing and draws our attention to it.
-Art is telling us there is something there even though it's really not

2. Which philosopher's theroy on aesthetics do you feel is most important? Be sure to mention the philosphers name, era (time in history), and contribution to the aesthetic theory in your response.

Aristotle (4th Century B.C.) came up with the concept of paying attention to composition. He figured there were certain rules to follow in order to create the beauty that we saw. He saw that defining technique was important. I think this was the start of us beginning to care more about what artwork looks like and not just creating because we can. 

3. What do you think about Changeux and Ramachandran scientific view of aesthetics and art? What was the most interesting fact you discovered from each speakers lecture? 

Both of these speakers have talked about the way art and science somewhat go hand in hand. The brain has a way of interpreting artwork and over the years it has changed immensely. We have changed our laws of thinking and started to apply those rules every time we look at art now. 

4. What is your opinion of the films and article? 

I found the videos to be rather dry. There was a lot of good information in it, but it was really hard to spend so much time watching. They clearly had a lot of insight and knowledge on artwork though, which I appreciate, it just wasn't something that was very good at keeping my attention.

The article wasn't bad to read though and it gave a lot of information. It started out talking about what we know about art and what we see when we look at things. It discussed the way that even though it's just lines and shapes, our brains communicate it to be something real and engaging. 

5. How do the theories discussed here relate to "Visual Culture"?

The theories discussed have summed up the way we got to this point in our visual culture. Everything started out so basic and on a different level than what we are at right now. It has shaped us to appreciate and understand what we think is important today. All the theories have really had an effect on the way we view and interpret visual culture, whether we realize it or not.