I have just stated that human cognition begins with the ability to perceive entities directly through our senses, mostly by touch and sight.
^^^^^ CB: This is wrong. _Human_ cognitiion begins with language and communication with other humans, not with perceiving through the senses, except perceiving the language and activities of other humans through the senses. ^^^^^^^ However, to quote Rand “All the arts are conceptual in essence, all are products of, and addressed to, the conceptual level of man’s consciousness.” This is a fundamental point because we have here Rand’s repudiation of all forms of abstract paintings. Abstract painting and sculpture do not attempt to deal with the viewer above the level of the senses, i.e., the animal level. ^^^^^ CB: This is an interesting point. I hadn't thought of this in this way before, being a "doodle" artist myself, drawing lots of abstract pictures for 35 years. Interestingly, though, what happens is that, people "see" "concrete" "things" in the abstract drawings, so humans automatically give meaning to the abstract drawings, as with a sort of Rohrschach test. And ironically, given this is a libertarian-individualist critique, this creates something of an individual and unique meaning for each observer. Also, it senuous, naturally, to appeal to the animal level of humans' senses. So, people derive natural pleasure from abstract art, as well as imputing their own meaning. ^^^^^ In her essay Art & Cognition, Rand states: Whereas the essence of art is integration, “the keynote and goal of modern art is nothing less than the disintegration of man’s conceptual faculty”. She goes on to say “To reduce man’s consciousness to the level of senses, with no capacity to integrate them is the intention behind the reducing of painting to smears and of sculpture to slabs.” Abstract art, therefore, is a war against reason. ^^^^^ CB: No, it tends to draw out each individual's own reason, which is originally derived _socially_, but takes its own, unique "fingerprints" of reason for each individual. Ironically, the libertarians, reputed champions of individualism, miss this highly individualistic dimension of abstract art. Abstract art can "draw out" (pun intended) what is on each indivdual's mind. The observer makes her own percepts out of the drawing, based on her unique conceptual field. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
