76. End and Goal
In his book The Wanderer and His Shadow (aphorism #204), Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: “End and Goal: Not every end is a goal. The end of a melody is not its goal; but nonetheless, if the melody had not reached its… Read more ›
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66. Dracula, Part 3
‘Existentialism’ is a term that usually refers to philosophies that revolve around general and fundamental notions like authentic selfhood (or lack thereof), responsibility, choice, anxiety, death, commitment, and passion. Existential philosophers usually avoid discussing impersonal issues and issues in an… Read more ›
65. Dracula, Part 2
In the previous post we saw how aspects of Stoker’s Dracula can be interpreted through the psychoanalytic lens. This led us to consider symbols of unconscious drives, fears, wishes, and defense mechanisms. We also saw how sadism, masochism, and repression… Read more ›
64. Dracula, Part 1
In 1897 Bram Stoker wrote his novel Dracula and, in doing so, set the archetype for the modern vampire. Vampire legends had been around since at least the ancient world[1] and the term ‘vampire’ was in circulation since at least… Read more ›
62. Kierkegaard’s Problem and Solution, Part 2
In the first part of my overview of Soren Kierkegaard’s philosophy, I argued that his fundamental problem is the wide-spread distintegration of the self or inauthenticity. Kierkegaard’s answer to the problem of inauthenticity can be simply stated: we must develop… Read more ›
53. Can Art Be Truly Oringinal?
J.R. Pierce gives an argument against originality in music, an argument that can be generalized to the other arts. He writes: “If a human being finds monotonous that which is mathematically most various and unpredictable, what does he find fresh… Read more ›
52. Art and the Decline of Civilization
There is certainly something wonderful about people expressing themselves without any formal training. For example, the punk movement included many young people who just decided to form a band and THEN learned a little bit in order to be heard.… Read more ›
50. Why Do People Want to Assassinate Beauty?, Part 2
Tristan Tzara, in his Dadaist Manifesto of 1918, argued that Dadaists were out to “assassinate beauty”. But why would anyone want to assassinate beauty? In the previous post in this series (go here) I discussed, with reference to Plato’s Symposium,… Read more ›
49. Why Do People Want To Assassinate Beauty?, Part 1
For centuries it was understood that if something was art then it was beautiful. However, in the 19th and 20th centuries many artists turned their backs on beauty. Here we could think of various works created within the romantic movement… Read more ›
37. Aesthetics and Education, Part 2
In part one of this series we saw how aesthetics can play a role in global education (see here). Let’s continue by looking at some other ways aesthetics can help us learn. In his book The Aesthetic Understanding, Roger Scruton points… Read more ›
25. Memes
What is an idea? According to Peter A. Angeles’ Dictionary of Philosophy we have the following candidates: Idea: (Gk., idea, “concept,” “class,” “kind,” “idea,” “mode,” “sort,” “species,” “form,” “nature,” “from eidos, “visual appearance,” “form,” and idein, “to see,” “to grasp conceptually”). 1. Anything that is… Read more ›
23. Aesthetics and Education, Part 1
Many Enlightenment philosophers, such as G.W. Leibniz (1646-1716) and Christian Wolff (1679-1754), had argued aesthetic experience was potentially intellectual. They argued that the sole difference between sensation and thought is that thought is distinct and sensation is confused. In order… Read more ›
22. Demonic Music
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Introduction In this essay I want to explore one way of understanding demonic music with the help of Soren Kierkegaard, Roger Scruton, and Franz Liszt. I will proceed as follows. First, I will give an overview of… Read more ›
21. The Uncanny, Part 3
The surrealists (go here for a helpful overview) were very influenced by Freud’s naturalistic approach to the mind as well as occult phenomenon. But they tried to distance themselves from both influences by, on the one hand, trying to probe the… Read more ›
20. The Uncanny, Part 2
In the last post I defined the uncanny as follows: The uncanny is an unsettling, even terrifying, experience of the familiar suddenly becoming unfamiliar at the same time (or the unfamiliar suddenly becoming familiar at the same time). The experience… Read more ›