I'm up against an immoveable deadline to complete yet another bit of of my exegesis (writing so aint my thang!)... so I take any opportunity I can to run away from the task!
Look what I found in the garden this morning....
Amaryllis belladonna and 'friend'
I'm not too good on my bug identification
- so I'm unsure if this beauty is a mantis or a phasmid (or other! please chime in insect people!)
what a lovely diversion....
I'm trying to write a chapter about how Pragmatic philosophy comes into play in my HDR project..... Most philosophy does my head in - (mind you I do enjoy the Philosophy Bites podcast...)
Pragmatism (Dewey style) is the only thing that resonates with me (those French guys - Derrida, Lacan, Lyotard and Foucault - do nothing for me - I'm so NOT a post-modern gal)
Here are a couple of Dewey excerpts from 'Art as Experience' and 'Experience and Nature' that I've been given a lot of thought to lately (especially in relation to my 'art gesture' things....)
“Art is a quality of doing and of what is done”
“… there is a difference between the art product (statue, painting or whatever), and the work of art. The first is physical and potential; the latter is active and experienced. It is what the product does, its working."
“Empirical study/research proves that observation e.g. experience is the primary method for understanding/ knowledge – thus experience is the scientific standard for understanding nature: experience and nature are not opposing ideas. If we don’t use experience as the method to understand then we must do away with empirical research all together."
(ok time to get my nose back to the grindstone...)
.....
I hated all that post-modern stuff when I was doing art history - Derrida, Lacan, Foucault et al. I'd have hoped it might be out of fashion by now! Thanks for pointing me to Philosophy Bites - I like reading Luke Slattery's articles and he's mentioned it but I've never followed it up - perhaps I'll do it this time!
ReplyDeleteLovely thoughts to challenge and ponder Ronnie. That first one is exquisite and captures a real truth I think. It reminds us of the art of doing and the quality of our doing. The second one I think suggests the product is, but it also does something...to us, through us...Too many words in the the third one for me; but I agree that experience matters for us all, and our experiences change how we perceive things (e.g. animal cruelty, poverty, education). Experience adds something that nothing else can. But it is also subjective, so I don't mind a few facts and empirical research added in!
ReplyDeleteOnwards with your writing! Thanks for sharing.