Module 2 - Aesthetics

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

Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts:

According to Friedrich Von Schiller, Aesthetics was designed to, "Imbue students' appreciation for and understanding for the arts." Aesthetics is always linked to society as a whole and the foundation for aesthetics was not set until the 18th century in England, with the absence of aesthetics prior to this time. Before aesthetics in art, especially before the 15th century, art and beauty was consumed by love and loyalty to God and religion.  The Neoclassical aesthetics is that of proportion, symmetry, harmony, and order. The 20th century aesthetics focused on innovation and the challenge to distort art in a creative way and today art can be repeated anywhere as a result in advancement in technology and aesthetics will likely take a turn because of it.

Not all philosophers confine to these theories of aesthetics though, some even take a position such as George Dickie's which states art could be anything that the institution of the art world designated as such. Art can take many forms such as music, which Schopenhauer argues is the finest of arts which appeals to figurative and imaginary in meaning.

CARTA: Evolutionary Origins of Art and Aesthetics: Neurobiology, Neurology and Art and Aesthetics

The speakers in this video discuss the brain and science in relation to art. They point out how different cultures have different forms of art because the brain develops differently in different locations. The brain itself has at least thirty areas which are involved with visual processing and certain areas of the brain become excited when interactive with certain qualities in art.  Changeux points out that brain development is the key to art; people’s individual emotions, experiences, and what they have seen changes their perception of art. Changeux listed four definitions to art: distance, language, efficacy, and art history. Ramachandran discusses that each individual is different through scientific findings; art and science meet in the brain. Through this, distortment is seen as beautiful in its own way instead of hideous.

CNN - What the brain draws from: Art and neuroscience

This article goes into detail more on the brain and its perception of art, and neuroesthetics as a field. The article discusses many features of art which art not present in nature, such as lines, or the depth of a shadow, or even the location of a reflection. In nature there are no black lines outlining objects, yet our brains readily recognize shapes or even faces in art made by lines. Two dimensional works of art appear three dimensional by using shadows and contrasts in light that are entirely unnatural yet appeal to certain areas of the brain that allow us to perceive it in three dimensions. Colors that aren’t present can even be shown in works of art as Zeki proved using shadows of red light to make a complementary cyan color appear. The brain is extremely complex and studying works of art allow us to understand the brain better as well, not just the art.

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

I appreciate Friedrich Von Schiller’s theory on aesthetics that the role of aesthetics is to imbue students appreciation for and understanding of art. Without the appreciation and understanding that aesthetics brings to art, and the qualities that it gives, we remove the meaning and significance of many iconic works. In the 18^th century, Schiller helped understand art and aesthetics and made great contributions to art in education, teaching that understanding aesthetics makes us more human.

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? 

I appreciate Changeux and Ramachandran’s scientific view and approach to art. This view is crucial to understanding art and the human brain and they were able to look in depth into why we are drawn to specific works of art and what qualities draw us to them. I like Ramachandran’s example using an autistic child, a healthy child, and Vincent Van Gogh and their drawing of horses in comparison to eachother to explain how the brain works when creating art, that each artist’s brain chose to see the horse in a different way and focus on different visual cues. I enjoyed Changeux’s relationship of the brain and art. Changeux focused on brain development and that different environments and developments cause the brain to interpret works of art differently and create different types of art.

4. How do the videos and article relate to the readings in the text?

The videos and article seemed to follow along with the book well. The book went in depth about art and aesthetics and what causes us as humans to appreciate art and the different themes. The videos then described aesthetics as well and went into detail about the human brain and brain development and used a scientific approach to analyze art and the brain and their relationship to one another.

5. What is your opinion of the films and article? How do they add depth to understanding of the topics in your reading in the text?

Personally, I enjoy reading and gain a greater understanding of topics by being able to visually study them and re-read important segments. The videos we watched were often so boring I’d have to re-watch the same parts of a video numerous times because I could not get myself to pay attention to it; I spent more energy trying to get myself just to pay attention than I did actually gaining anything from the videos. This aside, though, the information in the videos was interesting and a great compliment to the readings to give more examples and different explanations of these topics. The article, I thought, was extremely interesting and I enjoyed reading the article and comparing the descriptions of lines and faces to compare art to the natural world.