I do agree with Clifford’s argument that we as people feel more sound and secure when we believe we are in control and hold the knowledge of what we are doing ourselves. In a sense it is easy to see why Clifford thinks happiness comes from knowledge of ones self. The more I think of this Passage the more it resonates with me.
jakobsmith7says:
If we consider true free will as an individual in full control and awareness of their own volition’s then who amongst the common population can be considered free in will. This also implies that to be free and have ones own person hood the individual must be sound in mind and body
jakobsmith7 says:
I think nowadays especially art and media often paint an illusion and mimic us into forgetting what the real world is like. I also think you could argue that good art is intended to transport the viewer away from the real world or escape reality if you will. However this is a double edged sword. With all forms of media becoming so readily available with the rapid evolution of technology I think people are becoming less and less detached from reality as the new norm
I think I agree Sartre on his thoughts on free will. I personally believe man has his own agency and that while I also believe nothing precedes existence I think free will is a choice of the individual and and that their thoughts and actions are solely theirs. While many will believe that they have a set will, and that free will is an illusion and others practice the belief that they are endowed with a will to follow a divine practice I think all hold some control over the actions of the agency
When reading Tolstoy its hard not to think about the saying there is no good art without suffering. I believe Tolstoy’s standards for creating art can put an interesting take on this. I think what an artist successful is their own uniqueness of creativeness. While imitation is the most sincere form of flattery an individuals reflection of self on the art form whether it be music, or abstract, or impressionistic art, I believe what Tolstoy is trying to say is that, in order to make true art one must project oneself into their work.
We can never really ‘see’ who we really are unless we are physically able to look through someone else’s eyes. We can only have our own perceptions based on pictures, videos, or even stories told about us, but we will never be able to meet ourselves from a different perspective. When you try to think about yourself, you do only see an almost theatre-like play of things you ‘think’ represent you. We will never actually know who we are because we are biased toward what we want to believe about ourselves. What makes us who we are, or what we hope to be like, is sometimes due to how we represent ourselves to others. We definitely do hold the power to change, but the change may only move us further away from our ‘true’ self.
jakobsmith7says:
I think determining “what is art” has always been a controversial topic. Art can speak to some people while it can also just look like globs of paint to others. This thinking makes a lot of sense when it comes to what art pieces have become so well known today. When art is ‘infectious’, it gets us thinking and wanting to know more about the story behind creating that specific piece– which is what Tolstoy seems to imply. It is very interesting to see which art pieces ‘infect’ each person, and how the language behind the art piece can speak to more people than others. I also agree that using Tolstoy’s method in evaluating art would be very useful if one were to be interested in wanting to learn more about the ‘infectiousness’ of art.
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I really liked how you connected Aristotle’s views on art to movies. The work that is put into visual art in order to draw in the audience and help them form a personal connection to the characters or storyline is a perfect example of what Aristotle is trying to convey in his idea. We constantly imagine being the characters in a movie or storybook, which is exactly why we enjoy visual art as much as we do. I never really thought about how I had been interpreting art in a way that would suit my own personal understanding of it until now. The last sentence of this post was very powerful and I really liked how it put in perspective the way our thoughts process art every day.
Do turtles and giraffes think about philosophy? 