The way each piece of art is valued depends on each person’s perspective, for some people an art piece is something beautiful with a meaning behind it, but for others, it is the opposite. Artists normally use emotion to create a significant message and meaning to their artwork, and this message is received in different ways by each person. Then, how exactly can we know the value of a piece of art, what gives worth to a critique of a piece of art?
“For a long time in Western culture, everyone seemed to believe that the purpose of art was to create beauty”.
Which characteristic from a piece of art would make it “beautiful”? Some people study art that takes into consideration different characteristics such as originality, size, materials, among others, to make an art piece valuable. But the reason why the message and the feelings transmitted by the artwork depends on each person’s experience by looking at it. I also feel like the value of art has to do a lot with taste, the more someone knows about the history of art, and observes the artwork, the better their taste will be, like in fashion, each person has different taste, that also makes a difference when evaluating a piece of art. “If taste is just personal preference, then everyone’s is already perfect: you like whatever you like and that’s it.” If you feel like a sculpture is beautiful then that is it, it is your pint of view that creates a critique.
“Mathematicians call good work beautiful. Is it just a coincidence that they used the same word, or is there some overlap in what they meant? If there is an overlap, can we use one field’s discoveries about beauty to help us in another?”
I think that the answer to this question could be yes, all subjects studied relate to each other, it is a coincidence that mathematicians think their work is seen as art, art uses mathematics to make pieces symmetrical, and in many other ways too. In “Taste for Makers” by Paul Graham also talks about how the best designs use symmetry because it is a good way to achieve simplicity, he says that in pieces of art when you change the angle of your design, people notice it more.
All posts by Andy
History- Andrea
History is one of the most important disciplines that is considered as a science. This itself, studies events that happen in the past. Every historical event has to do with important things that human beings do. Therefore, it studies the actions and behaviour of past cultures and societies, as well as people who have created a change or have left some knowledge in the development of human beings and then considered as important characters in history. So if history is based on human beings, then it might raise the following questions: Does studying histrory impact our perspective and knowledge on human nature? And to what extent do historians’ way of thinking influence on what they know and teach?
I think that history is important as an AOK because to study history we need to be able to analyze the past in order to understand the present. The study of history makes us wonder about our past and how a single change in these events could have affected our present. Of course historians can influence in the way history is told or written, because what we know about the important events in the past is because someone at that time wrote something about it, but we will never know if the history that we are tought is a 100% true or if it might have been distorted through time.
Historical sense and poetic sense should not, in the end, be contradictory, for if poetry is the little myth we make, history is the big myth we live, and in our living, constantly remake. —Robert Penn Warren
This quote gives us a different perspective on how we see history. Robert Penn Warren compares history to poetry and tells us how history can be seen as the big myth we all live in. He tell us that like myths are made up by someone and come from their imagination mixed with something that is true, that can be the way history is. And I think that he is right, we do not know for sure if everything in history happened the way people tell us it did, because we do not have prove of it, and therefore we do not believe in everything.
Storytelling- Andrea
I believe that story telling should be regarded as a way of knowing, because when we share stories with people through storytelling, we are exchanging knowledge. Storytelling has always been a part of our culture as human beings and in the past, it has been seen as a way of passing wisdom to others, not only do we share knowledge, but we also share values, traditions, experiences, etc. The reason storytelling plays a really important role on our way of knowing things, is that we share our stories through narration. Narrativity has always been an easy way for human beings to understand and make sense of events that occur. Therefore, I think that story telling might be one of the most important ways of knowing.
Everything we think, everything we believe, everything we know takes the form of a story. If we hope to understand ourselves and others, we must understand stories. (Eric T. McKnight April 2012)
Its importance is that it is a simple way or resource, that can help anyone to express something through storytelling. Since stories are a universal part of human experiences, they help us save our culture and pass knowledge from one generation to another. Everyone has stories to tell, so we can also say that storytelling is a form of power because it is a skill that when people manage to develop, it can have powerful effects such as communication, knowledge, building confidence, among others. It also makes us think of the person that is telling the story as a leader that inspires us and teaches us. Storytelling can also influence our brains when we are listening to the person telling it. Think of how music affects our mood and emotions, when we listen to music on our daily lives, we are listening to people telling us stories, all the lyrics in songs are also singers telling and sharing their stories with us. Like songs, storytelling changes and boosts our emotions, there is always a message left to the listener from the person that is telling the story. Stories are not only something that someone makes up to entertain people, but they can impact our brains, and can even alter the way we think and act. On our daily lives we are always listening to people telling us anecdotes, experiences, every time we talk to someone, we are sharing things that happen to us, we are always sharing stories. I think that storytelling also allows us to improve listening skills that we need for learning and having knowledge.
Human sciences- Andrea
Economics is the science that studies resources, wealth creation, and the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, in order to meet human needs. It is a human science because their laws are empirical, this means that in order to proove each graph or data given in economic articles, it requires to have someone analyze it and also the fact that economic laws are empirical menas that they are based on experience and observarion just as any other science. Furthermore, it oversees analyzing, describing and interpreting the behavior of human beings in the economic environment.
Economics as a social and human science, is based on the study of human behavior before the relationship that exists between ends and scarce means. The main goal of studying economics is to study the correct distribution of scarce resources to satisfy the needs of the human being. In other words, it analyzes the relationship between the available resources, which are limited in nature, and the needs, which are unlimited, although hierarchical.
Some of the problems that studying economics can face are that the crises that suffer the strongest complications in the world affect all others, and all others are affected by society in all its forms: taxes, interest rates, salary developments, credits, etc. The less fiscal crisis in the stronger strategies, the more stability not only economic, but also social. So if there is a mistake in economic data or graphs it doesn’t only affect the economy of one country, but it can affect the economy of other countries that have borders or economic trades with the country that is giving wrong data or information. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, people need to be truthful and check for mistakes in the data and information that they are putting in articles.In my opinion economics is indeed a human science and it is scientific because all sciences are based on prove and theory and economics is also based on graphs and given data.
emotions- Andrea Ita
Emotions sometimes refer to different processes like humor, emotions, feelings and emotional states, that allow us to value, give our own meaning and drive us to respond to certain realities. All the time people are in an emotional state, either: happy, sad, angry, etc., this influences the way we see the world and understanding it, since all new information that comes to us , most of the time, it is interpreted according to our disposition at the moment we approach them. Something i found very interesting about the text was “The James-Lange theory” because it explains that our expressions are related to our emotions, they can be expressed through body language and facial expressions, for example, if you are nervous you might start shaking your leg because it is the way your body reacts to this feeling and releases the stress. Emotions are also related with our personality and way of being, attitude, reasoning, etc., they also bring to our knowledge new ways of seeing things since for each emotion we have a new point of view on everything that surround us.
Moral Values- Andrea Ita
I do think there are universal values because moral values respond to impulses, tendencies and aspirations of the human being, so they are very necessary for the formation of the human being as a person. They are all those questions that lead man to defend and grow in his dignity as a person, because unfailingly, moral value will lead man to moral good, which, as we know, is what perfects, completes and improves it.
These will always perfect man as a man, good deeds, such as being living honestly, telling the truth and acting always thinking about others, can never contradict the path to perfection.
Meanwhile, the choice for moral values is an absolutely free and not imposed decision that each person has, that is, he will decide whether to opt for them or not, but without a doubt, the fact of choosing them will have the direct effect of doing so more humane and give you extra quality as a person.
Moral values like respect, tolerance, honesty, work, loyalty and responsibility, among others, will arise and will be instilled in each person, primarily, within the family, for which relations with the father, mother, brothers, grandparents, uncles and all those others involved in the family, must have the right quality, to be these correct transmitters of all those values that we mentioned above. On the other hand and in addition to the quality of the relationships, turns out to be indispensable to achieve an ideal transmission of certain values, the model and the example that these relatives teach and show the child, because this will absorb everything that they instill in him and also what he observes of these, his attitudes, modes, among others.
But if there are universal moral values, then why do people argue and disagree so much about what is good and what is bad? Well these depends on the people who teaches us these moral values, as I mentioned before, if your parents let you steal something from a store then you will grow up thinking it is normal to steal, but if your parents punish you when you take something from a store and teach you why it is wrong then you will learn your moral values.
key terms in ethics- Andrea Ita
The key term in ethics that i found the most accurate and that i decided to write about is morality, because, i personally think that ethics is related to the study of the moral values that guide human behavior in society, while morality is more based in the customs, norms and thouchts stablished by each society or each indicidual.
Ethics is about reason and depends on philosofy and morality instead focuses more on the behavior in which our life consists of.
How do you know that something is good or bad, right or wrong? -Andrea Ita
There are many ways to know if something is good or bad, right or wrong, these ways are based on each individual. However, i think that it depends on the concept and the exact definition of what is “good” and what is “bad”, these definitions may also change depending on each person, for example there are many topics that people either agree or disagree on, one example of this is abortion, i might think that abortion is Good, but there are people who think that abortion is bad and is wrong, and the answer to wheather this is righ or wrong depends on each person’s perspective. But who really defines what is Good or what is bad? where do we learn that we are supposed to do something or that if we do something we might have consecuences? i personally think that the concept of what is wrong or right is based on what society makes us believe and what the media tells us.
Difference between inductive and deductive- Andrea Ita
The process of thinking about something, in a rational manner, so as to draw valid conclusions, is known as Reasoning. There are 2 types of reasoning, inductive and deductive reasoning.
Inductive reasoning consists of inferring from the properties of a sample to the properties of a population as a whole. The inductive reasoning is most likely based on fallacies, there are different types of fallacies and each fallacies depends on certain things, such as, the similarity of the sample and the population.
Plato’s Meno part 5 – Andrea Ita
In part 5 of Plato’s Meno the main argument in here is knowledge against belief.
In this section is the final discussion between Socrates and Meno, they still talk about the topics mentioned in parts 1 to 4, they still talk about Anytus being angry, and still discussing whether there are teachers of virtue or not. Sócrates starts asking Meno about who he thinks are teachers of virtue, an example of this is when Socrates says “Then you do not think the sophists are teachers of virtue?” and Meno answers I cannot say, Socrates. I am in the same plight as the rest of the world: sometimes I think that they are, sometimes that they are not”.
Plato’s meno part 3 and 4 -Andrea Ita
In part 3 of Plato’s meno the main question that is asked is if Virtue can be taught?
Now the argument between Socrates and Meno is weather virtue can be taught or not, they return to this original question, and this time the argument is not as strong as in part one or two. The fact that all good things, in order to be beneficial, must be accompanied by wisdom doesn’t really show that this wisdom is the same thing as virtue. The idea that virtue is a kind of knowledge, however, does seem to have been a central tenet of Plato’s moral philosophy.
In part 4 of Plato’s meno, the main argument is why they afre no teachers of virtue. In this part, Sócrates uses a boy as an example, and explains how the kid understands better by being asked questions, instead of just writing down the information or someone teaching them. His objection is simple. If virtue could be taught there would be teachers of virtue. But there aren’t any. Therefore it can’t be teachable after all.
Plato´s Meno part 2- Andrea Ita
In part 2 of Plato’s Meno the main question that the author makes you think about is whether some of our knowledge is innate or not.
We can also understand better how Meno feels when he says “O Socrates, I used to be told, before I knew you, that you were always doubting yourself and making others doubt; and now you are casting your spells over me, and I am simply getting bewitched and enchanted, and am at my wits’ end. And if I may venture to make a jest upon you, you seem to me both in your appearance and in your power over others to be very like the flat torpedo fish, who torpifies those who come near him and touch him, as you have now torpified me, I think. For my soul and my tongue are torpid, and I do not know how to answer you.” Meno gives us some perspective on how what Socrates says influences people.
In part one the main topic they talk about is virtue, however in part two they discuss about things such as reincarnation, and Socrates also gives his argument and point of view regarding this.
Plato´s Meno Part 1- Andrea Ita
In part one of Plato´s Meno I could see that it makes you think of several phylosofical questions such as “what is virtue?”, i also thought that it was a dramatic dialogue between two people.
The text begins with Meno saying that he knew what virtue was, so we could say that the whole part one was a debate between Meno and Socrates.
This Dialogue begins abruptly with a question of Meno, who asks, “whether virtue can be taught.” Socrates replies that he does not know what virtue is, and has never known anyone who did.
So as I previously mentioned this dialogue arises different questions relating to what Meno says of what virtue is, so in my personal opinión, the part one of the mono can be divided into different parts according to what happens, first they are searching for an accurate meaning of the Word virtue, then Sócrates tries to proove that some of our knowledge is innate, then they had a discussion on whether virtue could be tought or not, and finally they had a disccution on why there weren´t any theachers of virtue.