Nationalism and its Negative Effects in the Modern World

Introduction In the study entailing nationalism, one stumbles upon four major debates that scholars tend to engage in. The first one centers on how â€Å"nation† and â€Å"nationalism† should be defined. Secondly, there is a question of the time during which nations are thought to have first occurred.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Nationalism and its Negative Effects in the Modern World specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The third debate tends to explore how nations and nationalism actualized. Finally, most classic works emphasize on European nationalism raising a debate as to whether nationalism began in Europe and spread to other non-western parts of the world or whether it developed on its own in non-western countries (Eschenhagen 2 ). This work will not attempt to exhaust all these debates but will rather concentrate on the various definitions of nationalism and its negative effects in the moder n world. Definition of Nationalism Nationalism can be understood in diverse perspectives depending on the context. Sociologically, nationalism can first be understood from the word nation, from which it is derived. The nation is Latin in origin – nation whose meaning during the medieval era was devoid of any political connotation. It has a similar meaning with Greek word ethnos that stands for â€Å"people, nation, and country† (Norbu 25). It was until the Middle Ages that the nation began attaining a political interpretation, which was vividly outspoken especially in France and Germany. In these two places, the term nation was used to refer to the ruling cadre in contrast with the word volk, which is synonymous to the common people or populace (Norbu 25). In view of this meaning, the word nation and the nationality concept were closely attributed to both sovereignty and power to imply that this concept was only common among those who were in rulership. Rather than bel ong to the people who embody it, the word nation rather referred to those in political power that had more say over state related concerns and held the key to the means of production. During the absolute monarchy, the nation was closely associated with the monarch’s state. If for that matter political power’s place of residence is the epitome the nation, then the French revolution was a major protest against the aristocratic class. With the increase in social communication and mass awareness, the idea of nationalism ceased from being cocooned within the aristocrats. It spilled down to the common people as well.Advertising Looking for essay on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Rousseau (1770 -1850) who refused equating nation to the higher political class and instead equating it with the populace (Norbu 25) agitated for the new concept of the nation. The meaning of nationality and that of national ism are closely related in that they designate a people rather than a nation per se. Nationalism is therefore a unique type of politically motivated social awareness that is people-derived and people oriented (Norbu 25). Another perspective of understanding nationalism is to look at it from the different kinds of nationalism and then elucidating that one of them can be defended and the other kinds cannot. In this light, the western form of nationality can be contrasted against the eastern form (Miller, 1995). For instance, western nationalization has been perceived as perspicacious and favorable to progress or reform. On the other hand, eastern nationalization has been perceived as unprogressive and cryptic, based on a seeming tribal perspective of nationality (Kohn, 1944, cited in Miller 8). The second contrast suggests that western nationalism was for people with outstanding cultural marks, able to measure up with those of known nation states such as Germany and Italy during the n ineteenth century. On the other hand, Eastern nationalism was for people whose ancient culture was primitive and hence they had to curve an identity for themselves to able to fit competently in the modern world (Arnold 1976, cited in Miller 8). Another difference suggests that in Eastern nationalism, people who within the same territory are governed by common laws and take part in similar civic culture while Eastern nationalism is genealogically- based suggesting the notion of individuals bound together by shared ancestry. In each case, the contrast is used to draw the fact that Western nationalism is friendly to a liberal state whereas eastern nationalism tends towards dictatorship and cultural constraint (Miller 9). Another way of understanding nationality is looking at it from the standpoint of political philosophy. This is the difference between a nationalism of a nation that interferes with the rights of other nations as it strives to uphold its own objectives and a nationalism that is sensitive to the rights of other nations and aims at enhancing equality among all nations. For example, MacCormick differentiates between acknowledging moral tussles while striving for national concerns from an egocentric drive of desiring that one’s nation should outdo others (Nathanson, 1993, cited in Miller 9).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Nationalism and its Negative Effects in the Modern World specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Therefore, succinctly put, nationalism can be termed as opposition to foreign control, consciousness of being part of a certain nation and pride in the nation’s culture, norms, infrastructure, and achievements, awareness of shared political roles and a demand for self –motivated national governance (Okoth 1). How nationalism has been a negative force in our modern world The 1962 Indian border war Although the Indian border war in 1962 was not directly i nfluenced by a western power, it elicited a rise in Chinese various nationalistic elements such as the sovereignty and legitimacy of China. When the raw over the border emerged within the mid nineteenth century, Apart from fear of losing its territorial loss, China hardened its position due to two other reasons. This was both the Tibet question and India’s non-negotiable attitude towards the borderline. Despite the known fact that Tibet has been within the Chinese territory since 1950, the Indian prime minister negated the fact that China had sovereignty over the territory. This really soured the relationship between India and China. China interpreted the Indian prime minister’s challenge of their own sovereignty over Tibet as purely imperialistic. China then resolved to respond to this through a strike of equal magnitude. The borderline war between India and China was not only fueled by India’s imperialistic approach, but also by India’s hard-line attitu de regarding the McMahon line. Due to collective opinion from the Chinese republic and Taiwanian support, China finally got victory. Although the Chinese government had achieved its objectives, the war tainted China’s international position and was a major cause of a deadlock in bilateral associations for many years thereafter (Eschenhagen 6). The eight islands dispute Besides the past borderline dispute between India and China, there is also a recent nationalistic dispute between Japan, China, and Taiwan regarding the ownership of eight islands found in the East Asia Sea. Although none of the three parties would like the issue to cripple their bilateral agreements, the conflict is motivated by both domestic and international politics. Although ownership of resources found in the islands is the major cause of dispute, nationalistic claims have blown out of proportion. Although conflict among the three parties was improbable, resolution and shared exploitation of the resources was also elusive (Huang, 1997, cited in Eschenhagen 6). A series of international conflicts then arose leading to protests from Chinese students. This was after a bomb attack in China that was thought to have been of western origin. The students’ protests led not only to the bombing of an American officer’s residents but also to the vandalism of other U.S related premises within the Chinese streets.Advertising Looking for essay on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The protests moved from street-based to online-based and with this, the Chinese national leadership had to intervene since the move would have jeopardized the relations between China and the U.S. The western world was greatly baffled by the protests and the U.S media apportioned blame to the Chinese government for fueling the mayhem by misleading the masses with incorrect nationalistic information (Eschenhagen 8). The U.S surveillance plane incident In a separate incidence, an American spy plane collided with a Chinese jet over the sea located in the southern part of China. This was after the American plane penetrating into the Chinese airspace without verbal clearance. This came at a time when other issues like human rights and support of Taiwan by the U.S had strained the relationship between Beijing and Washington. Although the U.S ambassador to China brought a message of apology to the Chinese people after a long impasse, the Chinese jet had been destroyed and its pilot killed i n the collision. Extreme Right wing voting The reasons behind the popularity of extreme right wing in some countries of the European Union and their absence and low influence in other parts have been of much debate (Gijsberts 157). However, they have been attributed to a diversity of country-specific features. Factors leading to these variances in the extreme rightwing voting are three-fold: sociological, economic, and political (Gijsberts 157). Sociologically, variances in the population of different countries affect the voter turnout in the extreme right wing voting. This is determined by both the public opinion and social structure of country. Economically, the economic doldrums and rivalry between the country’s main group and the immigrants could also explain the differences in extreme right wing voting. Politically, specific factors that characterize a party and the system of its operation influences voter turnout (Gijsberts 157). Nationalism as a cause of major world co nflicts and genocide Xenophobia and chauvinism are both regarded as products of extreme nationalism (Auer 19). This is perceived in the sense that xenophobic nationalism being the fear and rejection of a stranger is an extension of any aspect of national identity. Additionally, even though patriotism is closely related to nationalism, critics of nationalism find it quite detrimental in its extreme manifestation (Kegley 408). Extreme patriots tend to gauge their patriotism via the level of hatred and protest extended towards alien nations. Patriotism also makes them to blindly endorse all policies and practices of their own nation. In this vein, nationalism negates the aspect of universal values that elevates the values of all above those of individual nations. This is seen as an impediment to human rights and the harmony that exists among all nations in a world without borders. Nationalism further contradicts Christian, Islamic, and Judaistic teachings that love should be manifested even towards one’s enemies. Looked at from this perspective, nationalism is therefore perceived as a cause for armed world conflicts. Nationalism’s double-faced character is believed to be the main cause armed conflict. First, it is a common force that bonds nations with similar nationalities together and secondly, it does not only bring divisions among but it also divides nationalities and this is what justifies armed conflicts with other nations (Kegley 408). Genocide is normally explained as state organized killings that targets a given political, religious, national, or ethical group (Scherrer 69). The Bosnia genocide is believed to have its causes embedded in nationalism. Although the concentration camps were used to carry out genocidal activities, other acts entailed not just mass rape but also destruction of both Islamic and Croatian symbols (Delanty and Kumar 327). Such acts partly involve death but also involve annihilation either fully or partly, of a given national group. For instance, the mass rape psychologically torments and destroys the reproductive potential of all the groups (Delanty and Kumar 327). Apart from the Bosnia genocide, both world wars were direct full-scale genocides. For example during the Second World War, Hitler ordered mass murder against many ethnic groups such as the European Jews and Russians among others (Scherrer, p. 76). There were also organized killings against millions of prisoners and slave workers. The Nazi terror took away of 50 million the lives and Fascist Germany war eliminated the lives of millions of the Roma and Sinti, Russian civilians, Serbs among others (Scherrer 76). Conclusion Nationalism is the social consciousness of the people in a particular nation that causes them to protest alien control as they pride in their own national traditions, achievements and political rights. The extreme manifestations of nationalism have had negative impacts in the world especially manifested through armed conflicts and genocides. Works Cited Auer, Stefan. Liberalism in Central Europe. London, Routledge. 2004. 21 October 2010. https://books.google.com/books?id=b2IRot3UaQ0Cpg=PA19dq=negative+effects+of+extreme+nationalismhl=enei=Fm3ATP_UGZ-V4gawiqTnCwsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=3ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepageqf=false. Delanty, Gerard and Kumar, Krishan. The SAGE handbook of nations and nationalism. London, Routledge. 2006. 21 October 2010. https://books.google.com/books?id=3Y3zK_jyagQCpg=PA327dq=nationalism+as+the+cause+of+genocide+in+bosniahl=enei=ozXBTN2dGYaVswa74P2WCAsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=1ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepageqf=false. Eschenhagen, Paul. Nationalism in China: Implications for Chinese International Relations. Norderstedt, GRIN Verlag. 2006. October 21, 2010. 21 October 2010. https://books.google.com/books?id=XxW92MeKABECpg=PA2dq=Definition+of+nationalismhl=enei=fALATOsSh_ngBrjCyLYMsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=4ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepageq=Definition%20of%20nation alismf=true. Gijsberts, Merove I. Nationalism and exclusion of migrants: cross national comparisons. VT, Ashgate Publishing. 2004. 21 October 2010. https://books.google.com/books?id=6iW3lXAj5BQCpg=PA160dq=negative+effects+of+extreme+nationalismhl=enei=Fm3ATP_UGZ-V4gawiqTnCwsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=1ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepageqf=false. Kegley, Charles. World Politics: Trend and Transformation. CA, Cengage Learning. 2009. 21 October 2010. https://books.google.com/books?id=JFVlaSN6CwsCpg=PA408dq=conflicts+resulting+from+extreme+nationalismhl=enei=GybBTNeNOYfEswab2pDSCAsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=10ved=0CFMQ6AEwCQ#v=onepageqf=true. Norbu, Dawa. Culture, and the Politics of Third World Nationalism. London, SAGE Publications Ltd. 1992. 21 October 2010. https://books.google.com/books?id=DhZk6aOAWbsCpg=PA25dq=Definition+of+nationalismhl=enei=fALATOsSh_ngBrjCyLYMsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=1ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepageq=Definition%20of%20nationalismf=true. Okoth. Assa. A Hist ory of Africa. Kampala, East African Publishers Ltd. 2006. 21 October 2010. https://books.google.com/books?id=suMvEWjK-OcCpg=PA1dq=Definition+of+nationalismhl=enei=fALATOsSh_ngBrjCyLYMsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=2ved=0CCwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepageq=Definition%20of%20nationalismf=true. Scherrer, Christian. Ethnicity, nationalism, and violence. London, Ashgate Publishing Limited. 2003. 22 October 2010. https://books.google.com/books?id=6NnchlGT3nECpg=PA69dq=nationalism+as+a+cause+for+genocidehl=enei=GTzBTP7WM8_tsga__pXHCQsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=1ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepageq=nationalism%20as%20a%20cause%20for%20genocidef=false. This essay on Nationalism and its Negative Effects in the Modern World was written and submitted by user Deon Perez to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Vladimir and Estragon live Essay Example

Vladimir and Estragon live Essay Example Vladimir and Estragon live Paper Vladimir and Estragon live Paper Essay Topic: Waiting for Godot Furthermore, the search for confirmation of existence is apparent in the characters Vladimir and Estragon. The fact that they are living in a bare setting already gives them a lack of identity. Yet, they have an identity and know who they are by their names; they just crave confirmation from each other. The two characters are extremely sensitive and vulnerable which is why they can never leave each others sides; they feel weak alone. This neediness shows a sufficient lack of individuality. For example, at the beginning of the play Estragon questions his presence; VLADIMIR: So there you are again  ESTRAGON: Am I?They then state how happy they are to be together again at last!7 after Estragon has been away one night. This proves that they seek companionship from one another. Vladimir is caring and protective of Estragon, whereas Estragon is needier and often experiences memory loss. Memory loss, in this case, symbolizes a loss of a certain part of identity, because remembering the past is a key to knowing who you are and if you exist. They often forget what they have done, shown in their repetition of the same scenario daily and in the fact that they cannot remember their age when Pozzo asks: POZZO: What age would you say he was?  ESTRAGON: Eleven8  Clearly he is not eleven because they are fully grown men. When Vladimir asks the boy, Ive seen you before, havent I You dont know me? he replies No, sir9; we further see that although they know that they are Vladimir and Estragon, they need other people to acknowledge them as individuals. This is so that they can gain their sense of self and therefore feel that they exist as members of society. Godot is the title character of the play even though he is never seen or heard. He is waited for by Vladimir and Estragon for the duration of the play. Godot seems to be an indefinite figure. At the end of each day, the boy arrives on behalf of Godot with a promise that he will come tomorrow. However, Godot will never come and Vladimir and Estragon will never be sure of this because there always seems to be some reason or hope to wait for him. The fact that they ask; His name is Godot?10and state that Personally I wouldnt even know him if I saw him11 could argue the point that Godot may have come today but they did not realize, and give them more reason to wait. They wait in hope because they believe that Godot can ultimately confirm their existence by coming to rescue them from the daily problems they face. Unlike the other explorations of identity, Godots identity is questioned from an external point of view. His identity only exists through the words of his followers: Vladimir and Estragon and the boy. I believe that Godot is not supposed to come at all and that he/she/it can not be made to represent any one idea, ideal or person, precisely because he represents an absence and does not have a confirmed identity. Godot is an indefinite figure, (unlike Vladimir and Estragon), whose non-presence is the plays centre. I believe that both plays address the human condition. Waiting for Godot and King Oedipus prove that we appear to be born without complete awareness of our selves and the environment we live in. In growing as humans, we gain a sense of identity; however, this sense may be full of illusions. Vladimir and Estragon live in an empty world that does not have many characteristics from which they can draw a sense of identity; in a world where there is no importance of work and achievement, and where nothing is certain. They accept violence, live without amenities, fill their time with irrelevant and repetitive business, and are living in hope of an indefinite figure that will never come and save them. In contrast, Oedipus, as a king, lives in a world where he has everything that Vladimir and Estragon do not. However, he too has an illusory identity and the same need for a sense of self. Ironically, his outcome is more tragic, as he loses everything because he finds his true identity, where as Vladimir and Estragon lose nothing. They continue their lives in exactly the same way as when they started.

Performing Shakespeare - Interview With Ben Crystal

Performing Shakespeare - Interview With Ben Crystal Ben Crystal is the author of Shakespeare on Toast (published by Icon Books), a new book that dispels the myth that Shakespeare is difficult. Here, he shares his thoughts about performing Shakespeare and reveals his top tips for first-time actors. About.com: Is performing Shakespeare difficult? Ben Crystal: Well, yes ... and so it should be! These plays are over 400 years old. They contain cultural gags and references that are completely obscure to us. But they’re also hard to perform because Shakespeare was so darned good at tapping into the human heart – so, as an actor you can’t allow yourself to hold back. If you can’t go to the depths of your soul, explore the extremes of yourself, go to the bad place as Othello or Macbeth, then you shouldn’t be on the stage. You have to think about the big speeches in Shakespeare as the most important things the character has ever said; they need to be spoken with your chest cut open, your heart bare, and with tremendous passion. You need to tear the words from the sky. If you don’t feel like you’ve run a marathon when you’re done, you’re not doing it right. It takes courage to open yourself up to an audience like that, letting them see your insides without desperately trying to show them – it takes practice. About.com: What’s your advice to someone performing Shakespeare for the first time? Ben Crystal: Don’t treat it lightly, but don’t treat it too seriously either. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but it’s similar to the notion of having to act truthfully in a big space, which many actors struggle with. It’s a tricky balance, and Shakespeare asks you to deal with these huge ideas and emotions which all too often lead you into â€Å"over-acting† – stay away from big gestures and over-the-top characterizations. A lot of what you need to know is on the page already. So it is tricky, and you have to work at it, but it’s also the best fun in the world. Enjoy it. Learn your lines so well you can go running or do the washing up while saying them. Only once they’re a deep part of you, can you start playing. A lot of people take Shakespeare’s plays far too seriously, and forget that important word: â€Å"play†. It’s a game, so enjoy it! You can’t â€Å"play† with your fellow actors if you’re trying to remember your lines. About.com: Has Shakespeare left clues to actors in the text? Ben Crystal: Yes, I think so. So does Peter Hall, Patrick Tucker, and a fair few others. Whether or not he actually did is always going to be up for debate. Going back to an original text like the First Folio will help. It’s the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, edited by two of his leading actors. They would have wanted to create a book on how to perform their colleague’s plays, not how to read them - 80% of Elizabethans couldn’t read! So the First Folio is as close to Shakespeare’s intended scripts as we can possibly get. When modern editors of the plays are making a new edition, they go back to the First Folio and remove capitalized letters, change spellings and switch speeches between characters because they’re looking at the plays from a literary point of view, not a dramatic one. Bearing in mind that Shakespeare’s company would perform a new play every day, they simply wouldn’t have had much time to rehearse. Therefore, the theory goes that much of the stage direction is written into the text. Indeed, it is possible to work out where to stand, how fast to speak, and what your character’s state of mind is, all from the text. About.com: How important is it to understand iambic pentameter before performing? Ben Crystal: That depends on how much you respect the writer you’re working with. Most of Shakespeare’s plays are written in that particular rhythmical style, so to ignore it would be foolish. Iambic pentameter is the rhythm of our English language and of our bodies – a line of that poetry has the same rhythm as our heartbeat. A line of iambic pentameter fills the human lung perfectly, so it’s the rhythm of speech. One could say that it’s a very human sounding rhythm and Shakespeare used it to explore what it is to be human. On a slightly less abstract note, iambic pentameter is a line of poetry with ten syllables, and all the even-numbered syllables have a slightly stronger stress. That’s a direction by itself – the stronger stresses usually fall on the important words. About.com: So what about lines with less than ten syllables? Ben Crystal: Well, either Shakespeare couldn’t count and was an idiot - or he was a genius and knew what he was doing. When there are less than ten syllables in a line, he’s giving the actor room to think. If the meter changes at any point, it’s a direction from Shakespeare to his actors about the character they’re playing. It sounds quite complicated, but actually, once you know what you’re looking for, it’s incredibly straightforward. Shakespeare knew that his actors would have had this rhythm flowing through their veins, and so would his audience. If he broke the rhythm, they’d feel it. To not understand iambic pentameter as an actor is to not understand 80% of the style Shakespeare wrote in, and the same amount again of what makes his writing so terrific. Shakespeare on Toast by Ben Crystal is published by Icon Books.

Strategic Audit of Wal-Mart and Kmart Case Study

Strategic Audit of Wal-Mart and Kmart - Case Study Example It was started in the year 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas, by Sam Walton. It took a long way to reach an annual sales turnover of $1 billion. By the year 2002, Wal-Mart became the world's largest retail giant with sales of $218 billions. In the initial days of starting the business, Wal-Mart designed a strategy to build large discount stores in rural areas. Wal-Mart employed the strategy of selling branded products at a very low price. Initially, the management of the firm decided to develop the firm as a one-stop discounted departmental chain store with a vast variety of general merchandise goods to be offered to the customers that too at a low price. The management's initial focus was on its purchase decisions. The firm focused on exploring each and every opportunity that helped in general merchandise goods. The two important products of the entire Wal-Mart product line on which the firm laid a strong emphasis were health products and beauty products. The stores used to maintain a high stock of these products. When the firma became successful in opening more than 279 stores by the end of the year 1979, the next focus was on designing strategies for expanding the firm aggressively. In contrast, to the other retail stores who built ware houses in order to serve the already existing outlets, Wal-Mart used to first build distribution centers and later started stores around the distribution centers. This strategy of Wal-Mart helped the firm in pooling the advertising and distribution overheads. The firm also focused on the transportation time needed for a customer to reach the outlet. The strategy of aggressive expansion turned out to be a big success because Wal-Mart became the largest retailer and discount stores in United States by the end of the year 1991 which had almost 1,573 Wal-Mart outlets in 35 states. Once the firm attained the position of national discount department store chain, it designed its outlets in such a way that they provided a one-stop-shopping to its customers. The outlets were designed to have 40 different departments like apparel, health products, beauty products, toys etc. Wal-Mart was strict on not spending huge amount on special promotions and advertising strategies etc. It rather operated its outlets on a concept of "everyday low prices." It was a belief in every customer that the Wal-Mart stores would provide them with a friendly, clean and a very pleasant experience every time they shop.The year 2001 was a real challenging era not only to the retail industry but also for many other industries. The reason for this being like a year that ended with a worst holiday season i.e end of 2000, energy crisis, the rise in the unemployment factor, the spending of the consumers became sluggish and last but not least - terrorist blasts of the WTO on September11, 2001. Tho ugh the firm became successful in almost every strategy designed, it did not neglect to focus on the external market environment at the same time. The firm strongly believed that their business in the forthcoming year would definitely be affected by the external market environment. The external factors would also influence the financial figures in the firms' balance

What Impact did Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case have on Coursework

What Impact did Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case have on the reduction of racial discrimination in America - Coursework Example ideration of the rights of every American citizen thereby overturning the discriminative legislations that existed in the country’s education system before as the discussion below portrays. The Supreme Court ruling declared that other previous laws that informed the institution of separate schools for both black and white communities null and void. Apparently, American laws sustained discrimination in every sector of the economy with the country’s education system having systematic laws banning the integration of the two communities. An 1879 Kansas law permitted the creation and operation of separate elementary schools among other educational facilities for both the whites and the blacks1. The law however did not restrict the formation and composition of the schools. This portrayed the state’s recognition of the discriminative social structure thus the creation of equally discriminative social structures. In the ruling, the Warren court made a unanimous ruling overturning such laws by stating "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal†. The ruling was fundamental since it determined that the de jure  racial segregation  was a violat ion of the Equal Protection Clause  in the country’s Fourteenth constitutional amendment. The ruling was a major success to most of the civil rights activists and the abolitionist campaigners thereby setting stage for integration of communities in the country. The plaintiffs in the case were a group of thirteen parents who instituted the case against the Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas. The parents represented twenty children who experienced various instances of racial discrimination in the city. Oliver Brown joined the case thereby becoming the main plaintiff in the case after deliberation with the other thirteen parents. Apparently, Brown’s daughter Linda studied at Monroe Elementary school situated about two kilometer away2. The young girl would walk for more than six blocks before boarding a bus to

Art After Philosophy (1969) Joseph Kosuth Essay Example for Free

Art After Philosophy (1969) Joseph Kosuth Essay The fact that it has recently become fashionable for physicists themselves to be sympathetic toward religion . . . marks the physicists’ own lack of confidence in the validity of their hypotheses, which is a reaction on their part from the antireligious dogmatism of nineteenth-century scientists, and a natural outcome of the crisis through which physics has just passed. –A. J. Ayer. . . . once one has understood the Tractatus there will be no temptation to concern oneself anymore with philosophy, which is neither empirical like science nor tautological like mathematics; one will, like Wittgenstein in 1918, abandon philosophy, which, as traditionally understood, is rooted in confusion. –J. O. Urmson. Traditional philosophy, almost by definition, has concerned itself with the unsaid. The nearly exclusive focus on the said by twentieth-century analytical linguistic philosophers is the shared contention that the unsaid is unsaid because it is unsayable. Hegelian philosophy made sense in the nineteenth century and must have been soothing to a century that was barely getting over Hume, the Enlightenment, and Kant.1 Hegel’s philosophy was also capable of giving cover for a defense of religious beliefs, supplying an alternative to Newtonian mechanics, and fitting in with the growth of history as a discipline, as well as accepting Darwinian biology.2 He appeared to give an acceptable resolution to the conflict between theology and science, as well. The result of Hegel’s influence has been that a great majority of contemporary philosophers are really little more than historians of philosophy, Librarians of the Truth, so to speak. One begins to get the impression that there â€Å"is nothing more to be said.† And certainly if one realizes the implications of Wittgenstein’s thinking, and the thinking influenced by him and after him, â€Å"Continental† philosophy need not seriously be considered here.3 Is there a reason for the â€Å"unreality† of philosophy in our time? Perhaps this can be answered by looking into the difference between our time and the centuries preceding us. In the past man’s conclusions about the world were based on the information he had about it – if not specifically like the empiricists, then generally like the rationalists. Often in fact, the closeness between science and philosophy was so great that scientists and philosophers were one and the same person. In fact, from the times of Thales, Epicurus, Heraclitus, and Aristotle to Descartes and Leibnitz, â€Å"the great names in philosophy were often great names in science as well.†4 That the world as perceived by twentieth-century science is a vastly different one than the one of its preceding century, need not be proved here. Is it possible, then, that in effect man has learned so much, and his â€Å"intelligence† is such, that he cannot believe the reasoning of traditional philosophy? That perhaps he knows too much about the world to make those kinds of conclusions? As Sir James Jeans has stated: . . . When philosophy has availed itself of the results of science, it has not been by borrowing the abstract mathematical description of the pattern of events, but by borrowing the then current pictorial description of this pattern; thus it has not appropriated certain knowledge but conjectures. These conjectures were often good enough for the man-sized world, but not, as we now know, for those ultimate processes of nature which control the happenings of the man-sized world, and bring us nearest to the true nature of reality.5 He continues: One consequence of this is that the standard philosophical discussions of many problems, such as those of causality and free will orof materialism or mentalism, are based on an interpretation of the pattern of events which is no longer tenable. The scientific basis of these older discussions has been washed away, and with their disappearance have gone all the arguments . . .6 The twentieth century brought in a time that could be called â€Å"the end of philosophy and the beginning of art.† I do not mean that, of course, strictly speaking, but rather as the â€Å"tendency† of the situation. Certainly linguistic philosophy can be considered the heir to empiricism, but it’s a philosophy in one gear.7 And there is certainly an â€Å"art condition† to art preceding Duchamp, but its other functions or reasons-to-be are so pronounced that its ability to function clearly as art limits its art condition so drastically that it’s only minimally art.8 In no mechanistic sense is there a connection between philosophy’s â€Å"ending† and art’s â€Å"beginning,† but I don’t find this occurrence entirely coincidental. Though the same reasons may be responsible for both occurrences, the connection is made by me. I bring this all up to analyze art’s function and subsequently its viability. And I do so to enable others to understand the reasoning of my – and, by extension, other artists’ – art, as well to provide a clearer understanding of the term â€Å"Conceptual art.†9 THE FUNCTION OF ART The main qualifications to the lesser position of painting is that advances in art are certainly not always formal ones. –Donald Judd (1963). Half or more of the best new work in the last few years has been neither painting nor sculpture. – Donald Judd (1965). Everything sculpture has, my work doesn’t. –Donald Judd (1967). The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. –Sol LeWitt (1965) The one thing to say about art is that it is one thing. Art is art-as-art and everything else is everything else. Art as art is nothing but art. Art is not what is not art. –Ad Reinhardt (1963). The meaning is the use. –Wittgenstein. A more functional approach to the study of concepts has tended to replace the method of introspection. Instead of attempting to grasp or describe concepts bare, so to speak, the psychologist investigates the way in which they function as ingredients in beliefs and in judgments. –Irving M. Copi. Meaning is always a presupposition of function. –T. Segerstedt. . . . the subject matter of conceptual investigations is the meaning of certain words and expressions – and not the things and states of affairs themselves about which we talk, when using those words and expressions. –G. H. Von Wright. Thinking is radically metaphoric. Linkage by analogy is its constituent law or principle, its causal nexus, since meaning only arises through the causal contexts by which a sign stands for (takes the place of) an instance of a sort. To think of anything is to take it as of a sort (as a such and such) and that â€Å"as† brings in (openly or in disguise) the analogy, the parallel, the metaphoric grapple or ground or grasp or draw by which alone the mind takes hold. It takes no hold if there is nothing for it to haul from, for its thinking is the haul, the attraction of likes –I. A. Richards. In this section I will discuss the separation between aesthetics and art; consider briefly formalist art (because it is a leading proponent of the idea of aesthetics as art), and assert that art is analogous to an analytic proposition, and that it is art’s existence as a tautology that enables art to remain â€Å"aloof† from philosophical presumptions. It is necessary to separate aesthetics from art because aesthetics deals with opinions on perception of the world in general. In the past one of the two prongs of art’s function was its value as decoration. So any branch of philosophy that dealt with â€Å"beauty† and thus, taste, was inevitably duty bound to discuss art as well. Out of this â€Å"habit† grew the notion that there was a conceptual connection between art and aesthetics, which is not true. This idea never drastically conflicted with artistic considerations before recent times, not only because the morphological characteristics of art perpetuated the continuity of this error, but as well, because the apparent other â€Å"functions† of art (depiction of religious themes, portraiture of aristocrats, detailing of architecture, etc.) used art to cover up art. When objects are presented within the context of art (and until recently objects always have been used) they are as eligible for aesthetic consideration as are any objects in the world, and an aesthetic consideration of an object existing in the realm of art means that the object’s existence or functioning in an art context is irrelevant to the aesthetic judgment. The relation of aesthetics to art is not unlike that of aesthetics to architecture, in that architecture has a very specific function and how â€Å"good† its design is is primarily related to how well it performs its function. Thus, judgments on what it looks like correspond to taste, and we can see that throughout history different examples of architecture are praised at different times depending on the aesthetics of particular epochs. Aesthetic thinking has even gone so far as to make examples of architecture not related to â€Å"art† at all, works of art in themselves (e.g., the pyramids of Egypt). Aesthetic considerations are indeed always extraneous to an object’s function or â€Å"reason-tobe.† Unless of course, that object’s reason-to-be is strictly aesthetic. An example of a purely aesthetic object is a decorative object, for decoration’s primary function is â€Å"to add something to, so as to make more attractive; adorn; ornament,†10 and this relates directly to taste. And this leads us directly to â€Å"formalist† art and criticism.11 Formalist art (painting and sculpture) is the vanguard of decoration, and, strictly speaking, one could reasonably assert that its art condition is so minimal that for all functional purposes it is not art at all, but pure exercises in aesthetics. Above all things Clement Greenberg is the critic of taste. Behind every one of his decisions is an aesthetic judgment, with those judgments reflecting his taste. And what does his taste reflect? The period he grew up in as a critic, the period â€Å"real† for him: the fifties.12 How else can one account for, given his theories – if they have any logic to them at all – his disinterest in Frank Stella, Ad Reinhardt, and others applicable to his historical scheme? Is it because he is â€Å". . . basically unsympathetic on personally experiential grounds†?13 Or, in other words, â€Å"their work doesn’t suit his taste?† But in the philosophic tabula rasa of art, â€Å"if someone calls it art,† as Don Judd has said, â€Å"it’s art.† Given this, formalist painting and sculpture can be granted an â€Å"art condition,† but only by virtue of their presentation in terms of their art idea (e.g., a rectangular-shaped canvas stretched over wooden supports and stained with such and such colors, using such and such forms, giving such and such a visual experience, etc.). If one looks at contemporary art in this light one realizes the minimal creative effort taken on the part of formalist artists specifically, an d all painters and sculptors (working as such today) generally. This brings us to the realization that formalist art and criticism accepts as a definition of art one that exists solely on morphological grounds. While a vast quantity of similar looking objects or images (or visually related objects or images) may seem to be related (or connected) because of a similarity of visual/experiential â€Å"readings,† one cannot claim from this an artistic or conceptual relationship. It is obvious then that formalist criticism’s reliance on morphology leads necessarily with a bias toward the morphology of traditional art. And in this sense their criticism is not related to a â€Å"scientific method† or any sort of empiricism (as Michael Fried, with his detailed descriptions of paintings and other â€Å"scholarly† paraphernalia would want us to believe). Formalist criticism is no more than an analysis of the physical attributes of particular objects that happen to exist in a morphological context. But this doesn’t add any knowledge (or facts) to our understanding of the nature or function of art. And neither does it comment on whether or not the objects analyzed are even works of art, in that formalist critics always bypass the conceptual element in works of art. Exactly why they don’t comment on the conceptual element in works of art is precisely because formalist art is only art by virtue of its resemblance to earlier works of art. It’s a mindless art. Or, as Lucy Lippard so succinctly described Jules Olitski’s paintings: â€Å"they’re visual Muzak.† 14 Formalist critics and artists alike do not question the nature of art, but as I have said elsewhere: Being an artist now means to question the nature of art. If one is questioning the nature of painting, one cannot be questioning the nature of art. If an artist accepts painting (or sculpture) he is accepting the tradition that goes with it. That’s because the word art is general and the word painting is specific. Painting is a kind of art. If you make paintings you are already accepting (not questioning) the nature of art. One is then accepting the nature of art to be the European tradition of a painting-sculpture dichotomy.15 The strongest objection one can raise against a morphological justification for traditional art is that morphological notions of art embody an implied a priori concept of art’s possibilities. And such an a priori concept of the nature of art (as separate from analytically framed art propositions or â€Å"work,† which I will discuss later) makes it, indeed, a priori: impossible to question the nature of art. And this questioning of the nature of art is a very important concept in understanding the function of art. The function of art, as a question, was first raised by Marcel Duchamp. In fact it is Marcel Duchamp whom we can credit with giving art its own identity. (One can certainly see a tendency toward this self-identification of art beginning with Manet and Cà ©zanne through to Cubism,16 but their works are timid and ambiguous by comparison with Duchamp’s.) â€Å"Modern† art and the work before seemed connected by virtue of their morphology. Another way of putting it would be that art’s â€Å"language† remained the same, but it was saying new things. The event that made conceivable the realization that it was possible to â€Å"speak another language† and still make sense in art was Marcel Duchamp’s first unassisted Ready-made. With the unassisted Ready-made, art changed its focus from the form of the language to what was being said. Which means that it changed the nature of art from a question of morphology to a question of function. This change – one from â€Å"appearance† to â€Å"conception† – was the beginning of â€Å"modern† art and the beginning of conceptual art. All art (after Duchamp) is conceptual (in nature) because art only exists conceptually. The â€Å"value† of particular artists after Duchamp can be weighed according to how much they questioned the nature of art; which is another way of saying â€Å"what they added to the conception of art† or what wasn’t there before they started. Artists question the nature of art by presenting new propositions as to art’s nature. And to do this one cannot concern oneself with the handed-down â€Å"language† of traditional art, as this activity is based on the assumption that there is only one way of framing art propositions. But the very stuff of art is indeed greatly related to â€Å"creating† new propositions. The case is often made – particularly in reference to Duchamp – that objects of art (such as the Ready-mades, of course, but all art is implied in this) are judged as objets d’art in later years and the artists’ intentions become irrelevant. Such an argument is the case of a preconceived notion ordering together not necessarily related facts. The point is this: aesthetics, as we have pointed out, are conceptually irrelevant to art. Thus, any physical thing can become objet d’art, that is to say, can be considered tasteful, aesthetically pleasing, etc. But this has no bearing on the object’s application to an art context; that is, its functioning in an art context. (E.g., if a collector takes a painting, attaches legs, and uses it as a dining table it’s an act unrelated to art or the artist because, as art, that wasn’t the artist’s intention.) And what holds true for Duchamp’s work applies as well to most of the art after him. In other words, the value of Cubism – for instance – is its idea in the realm of art, not the physical or visual qualities seen in a specific painting, or the particularization of certain colors or shapes. For these colors and shapes are the art’s â€Å"language,† not its meaning conceptually as art. To look upon a Cubist â€Å"masterwork† now as art is nonsensical, conceptually speaking, as far as art is concerned. (That visual information that was unique in Cubism’s language has now been generally absorbed and has a lot to do with the way in which one deals with painting â€Å"linguistically.† [E.g., what a Cubist painting meant experimentally and conceptually to, say, Gertrude Stein, is beyond our speculation because the same painting then â€Å"meant† something different than it does now.]) The â€Å"value† now of an original Cubist painting is not unlike, in most respects, an original manuscript by Lord Byron, or The Spirit of St. Louis as it is seen in the Smithsonian Institution. (Indeed, museums fill the very same function as the Smithsonian Institution – why else would the Jeu de Paume wing of the Louvre exhibit Cà ©zanne’s and Van Gogh’s palettes as proudly as they do their paintings?) Actual works of art are little more than historical curiosities. As far as art is concerned Van Gogh’s paintings aren’t worth any more than his palette is. They are both â€Å"collectors items.†17 Art â€Å"lives† through influencing other art, not by existing as the physical residue of an artist’s ideas. The reason that different artists from the past are â€Å"brought alive† again is because some aspect of their work becomes â€Å"usable† by living artists. That there is no â€Å"truth† as to what art is seems quite unrealized. What is the function of art, or the nature of art? If we continue our analogy of the forms art takes as being art’s language one can realize then that a work of art is a kind of proposition presented within the context of art as a comment on art. We can then go further and analyze the types of â€Å"propo sitions.† A. J. Ayer’s evaluation of Kant’s distinction between analytic and synthetic is useful to us here: â€Å"A proposition is analytic when its validity depends solely on the definitions of the symbols it contains, and synthetic when its validity is determined by the facts of experience.†18 The analogy I will attempt to make is one between the art condition and the condition of the analytic proposition. In that they don’t appear to be believable as anything else, or be about anything (other than art) the forms of art most clearly finally referable only to art have been forms closest to analytical propositions. Works of art are analytic propositions. That is, if viewed within their context – as art – they provide no information whatsoever about any matter of fact. A work of art is a tautology in that it is a presentation of the artist’s intention, that is, he is saying that that particular work of art is art, which means, is a definition of art. Thus, that it is art is true a priori (which is what Judd means when he states that â€Å"if someone calls it art, it’s art†). Indeed, it is nearly impossible to discuss art in general terms without talking in tautologies – for to attempt to â€Å"grasp† art by any other â€Å"handle† is merely to focus on another aspect or quality of the proposition, which is usually irrelevant to the artwork’s â€Å"art condition.† One begins to realize that art’s â€Å"art condition† is a conceptual state. That the language forms that the artist frames his propositions in are often â€Å"private† codes or languages is an inevitable outcome of art’s freedom from morphological constrictions; and it follows from this that one has to be familiar with contemporary art to appreciate it and understand it. Likewise one understands why the â€Å"man in the street† is intolerant to artistic art and always demands art in a tr aditional â€Å"language.† (And one understands why formalist art sells â€Å"like hot cakes.†) Only in painting and sculpture did the artists all speak the same language. What is called â€Å"Novelty Art† by the formalists is often the attempt to find new languages, although a new language doesn’t necessarily mean the framing of new propositions: e.g., most kinetic and electronic art. Another way of stating, in relation to art, what Ayer asserted about the analytic method in the context of language would be the following: The validity of artistic propositions is not dependent on any empirical, much less any aesthetic, presupposition about the nature of things. For the artist, as an analyst, is not directly concerned with the physical properties of things. He is concerned only with the way (1) in which art is capable of conceptual growth and (2) how his propositions are capable of logically following that growth.19 In other words, the propositions of art are not factual, but linguistic in character – that is, they do not describe the behavior of physical, o r even mental objects; they express definitions of art, or the formal consequences of definitions of art. Accordingly, we can say that art operates on a logic. For we shall see that the characteristic mark of a purely logical inquiry is that it is concerned with the formal consequences of our definitions (of art) and not with questions of empirical fact.20 To repeat, what art has in common with logic and mathematics is that it is a tautology; i.e., the â€Å"art idea† (or â€Å"work†) and art are the same and can be appreciated as art without going outside the context of art for verification. On the other hand, let us consider why art cannot be (or has difficulty when it attempts to be) a synthetic proposition. Or, that is to say, when the truth or falsity of its assertion is verifiable on empirical grounds. Ayer states: . . . The criterion by which we determine the validity of an a priori or analytical proposition is not sufficient to determine the validity of an empirical or synthetic proposition. For it is characteristic of empirical propositions that their validity is not purely formal. To say that a geometrical proposition, or a system of geometrical propositions, is false, is to say that it is self-contradictory. But an empirical proposition, or a system of empirical propositions, may be free from contradiction and still be false. It is said to be false, not because it is formally defective, but because it fails to satisfy some material criterion.21 The unreality of â€Å"realistic† art is due to its framing as an art proposition in synthetic terms: one is always tempted to â€Å"verify† the proposition empirically. Realism’s synthetic state does not bring one to a circular swing back into a dialogue with the larger framework of questions about the nature of art (as does the work of Malevich, Mondrian, Pollock, Reinhardt, early Rauschenberg, Johns, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Andre, Judd, Flavin, LeWitt, Morris, and others), but rather, one is flung out of art’s â€Å"orbit† into the â€Å"infinite space† of the human condition. Pure Expressionism, continuing with Ayer’s terms, could be considered as such: â€Å"A sentence which consisted of demonstrative symbols would not express a genuine proposition. It would be a mere ejaculation, in no way characterizing that to which it was supposed to refer.† Expressionist works are usually such â€Å"ejaculations† presented in the morphological language of traditional art. If Pollock is important it is because he painted on loose canvas horizontally to the floor. What isn’t important is that he later put those drippings over stretchers and hung them parallel to the wall. (In other words what is important in art is what one brings to it, not one’s adoption of what was previously existing.) What is even less important to art is Pollock’s notions of â€Å"self-expression† because those kinds of subjective meanings are useless to anyone other than those involved with him personally. And their â€Å"specific† quality puts them outside of art’s context. â€Å"I do not make art,† Richard Serra says, â€Å"I am engaged in an activity; if someone wants to call it art, that’s his business, but it’s not up to me to decide that. That’s all figured out later.† Serra, then, is very much aware of the implications of his work. If Serra is indeed just â€Å"figuring out what lead does† (gravitationally, molecularly, etc.), why should anyone think of it as art? If he doesn’t take the responsibility of it being art, who can, or should? His work certainly appears to be empirically verifiable: lead can do, and be used for, many physical activities. In itself this does anything but lead us into a dialogue about the nature of art. In a sense then he is a primitive. He has no idea about art. How is it then that we know about â€Å"his activity†? Because he has told us it is art by his actions after â€Å"his activity† has taken place. That is, by the fact that he is with several galleries, puts the physical residue of his activity in museums (and sells them to art collectors – but as we have pointed out, collectors are irrelevant to the â€Å"condition of art† of a work). That he denies his work is art but plays the artist is more than just a paradox. Serra secretly feels that â€Å"arthood† is arrived at empirically. Thus, as Ayer has stated: There are no absolutely certain empirical propositions. It is only tautologies that are certain. Empirical questions are one and all hypotheses, which may be confirmed or discredited in actual sense experience. And the propositions in which we record the observations that verify these hypotheses are themselves hypotheses which are subject to the test of further sense experience. Thus there is no final proposition.22 What one finds all throughout the writings of Ad Reinhardt is this very similar thesis of â€Å"artas-art,† and that â€Å"art is always dead, and a ‘living’ art is a deception.†23 Reinhardt had a very clear idea about the nature of art, and his importance is far from recognized. Because forms of art that can be considered synthetic propositions are verifiable by the world, that is to say, to understand these propositions one must leave the tautological-like framework of art and consider â€Å"outside† information. But to consider it as art it is necessary to ignore this same outside information, because outside information (experiential qualities, to note) has its own intrinsic worth. And to comprehend this worth one does not need a state of â€Å"art condition.† From this it is easy to realize that art’s viability is not connected to the presentation of visual (or other) kinds of experience. That that may have been one of art’s extraneous functions in the preceding centuries is not unlikely. After all, man in even the nineteenth century lived in a fairly standardized visual environment. That is, it was ordinarily predictable as to what he would be coming into contact with day after day. His visual environment in the part of the world in which he lived was fairly consistent. In our time we have an experientially drastically richer environment. One can fly all over the earth in a matter of hours and days, not months. We have the cinema, and color television, as well as the man-made spectacle of the lights of Las Vegas or the skyscrapers of New York City. The whole world is there to be seen, and the whole world can watch man walk on the moon from their living rooms. Certainly art or objects of painting and sculpture cannot be expected to compete experientially with this? The notion of â€Å"use† is relevant to art and its â€Å"language.† Recently the box or cube form has been used a great deal within the context of art. (Take for instance its use by Judd, Morris, LeWitt, Bladen, Smith, Bell, and McCracken – not even mentioning the quantity of boxes and cubes that came after.) The difference between all the various uses of the box or cube form is directly related to the differences in the intentions of the artists. Further, as is particularly seen in Judd’s work, the use of the box or cube form illustrates very well our earlier claim that an object is only art when placed in the context of art. A few examples will point this out. One could say that if one of Judd’s box forms was seen filled with debris, seen placed in an industrial setting, or even merely seen sitting on a street corner, it would not be identified with art. It follows then that understanding and consideration of it as an artwork is necessary a priori to viewing it in order to â€Å"see† it as a work of art. Advance information about the concept of art and about an artist’s concepts is necessary to the appreciation and understanding of contemporary art. Any and all of the physical attributes (qualities) of contemporary works, if considered separately and/or specifically, are irrelevant to the art concept. The art concept (as Judd said, though he didn’t mean it this way) must be considered in its whole. To consider a concept’s parts is invariably to consider aspects that are irrelevant to its art condition – or like reading parts of a definition. It comes as no surprise that the art with the least fixed morphology is the example from which we decipher the nature of the general term â€Å"art.† For where there is a context existing separately of its morphology and consisting of its function one is more likely to find results less conforming and predictable. It is in modern art’s possession of a â€Å"language† with the shortest history that the plausibility of the abandonment of that â€Å"language† becomes most possible. It is understandable then that the art that came out of Western painting and sculpture is the most energetic, questioning (of its nature), and the least assuming of all the general â€Å"art† concerns. In the final analysis, however, all of the arts have but (in Wittgenstein’s terms) a â€Å"family† resemblance. Yet the various qualities relatable to an â€Å"art condition† possessed by poetry, the novel, the cinema, the theatre, and various forms of mus ic, etc., is that aspect of them most reliable to the function of art as asserted here. Is not the decline of poetry relatable to the implied metaphysics from poetry’s use of â€Å"common† language as an art language?24 In New York the last decadent stages of poetry can be seen in the move by â€Å"Concrete† poets recently toward the use of actual objects and theatre.25 Can it be that they feel the unreality of their art form? We see now that the axioms of a geometry are simply definitions, and that the theorems of a geometry are simply the logical consequences of these definitions. A geometry is not in itself about physical space; in itself it cannot be said to be â€Å"about† anything. But we can use a geometry to reason about physical space. That is to say, once we have given the axioms a physical interpretation, we can proceed to apply the theorems to the objects which satisfy the axioms. Whether a geometry can be applied to the actual physical world or not, is an empirical question which falls outside the scope of geometry itself. There is no sense, therefore, in asking which of the various geometries known to us are false and which are true. Insofar as they are all free from contradiction, they are all true. The proposition which states that a certain application of a geometry is possible is not itself a proposition of that geometry. All that the geometry itself tells us is that if anything can be brought under the definitions, it will also satisfy the theorems. It is therefore a purely logical system, and its propositions are purely analytic propositions. –A. J. Ayer26 Here then I propose rests the viability of art. In an age when traditional philosophy is unreal because of its assumptions, art’s ability to exist will depend not only on its not performing a service – as entertainment, visual (or other) experience, or decoration – which is something easily replaced by kitsch culture, and technology, but, rather, it will remain viable by not assuming a philosophical stance; for in art’s unique character is the capacity to remain aloof from philosophical judgments. It is in this context that art shares similarities with logic, mathematics, and, as well, science. But whereas the other endeavors are useful, art is not. Art indeed exists for its own sake. In this period of man, after philosophy and religion, art may possibly be one endeavor that fulfills what another age might have called â€Å"man’s spiritual needs.† Or, another way of putting it might be that art deals analogously with the state of things â€Å"beyond physics† where philosophy had to make assertions. And art’s strength is that even the preceding sentence is an assertion, and cannot be verified by art. Art’s only claim is for art. Art is the definition of art. NOTES * Reprinted from Studio International (October, 1969). 1 Morton White, The Age of Analysis (New York: Mentor Books), p. 14. 2 Ibid., p. 15. 3 I mean by this Existentialism and Phenomenology. Even Merleau-Ponty, with his middle-of-the-road position between empiricism and rationalism, cannot express his philosophy without the use of words (thus using concepts); and following this, how can one discuss experience without sharp distinctions between ourselves and the world? 4 Sir James Jeans, Physics and Philosophy (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press), p. 17. 5 Ibid., p. 190. 6 Ibid., p. 190. 7 The task such philosophy has taken upon itself is the only â€Å"function† it could perform without making philosophic assertions. 8 This is dealt with in the following section. 9 I would like to make it clear, however, that I intend to speak for no one else. I arrived at these conclusions alone, and indeed, it is from this thinking that my art since 1966 (if not before) evo lved. Only recently did I realize after meeting Terry Atkinson that he and Michael Baldwin share similar, though certainly not identical, opinions to mine. 10 Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language. 11 The conceptual level of the work of Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Morris Louis, Ron Davis, Anthony Caro, John Hoyland, Dan Christensen, et al., is so dismally low, that any that is there is supplied by the critics promoting it. This is seen later. 12 Michael Fried’s reasons for using Greenberg’s rationale reflect his background (and most of the other formalist critics) as a â€Å"scholar,† but more of it is due to his desire, I suspect, to bring his scholarly studies into the modern world. One can easily sympathize with his desire to connect, say, Tiepolo with Jules Olitski. One should never forget, however, that a historian loves history more than anything, even art. 13 Lucy Lippard uses this quotation in a footnote to Ad Reinhardt’s retrospective catalogue, January, 1967, p. 28. 14 Lucy Lippard, â€Å"Constellation by Harsh Daylight: The Whitney Annual,† Hudson Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring, 1968). 15 Arthur R. Rose, â€Å"Four Interviews,† Arts Magazine (February, 1969). 16 As Terry Atkinson pointed out in his introduction to Art-Language (Vol. 1, No. 1), the Cubists never questioned if art had morphological characteristics, but which ones in painting were acceptable. 17 When someone â€Å"buys† a Flavin he isn’t buying a light show, for if he was he could just go to a hardware store and get the goods for considerably less. He isn’t â€Å"buying† anything. He is subsidizing Flavin’s activity as an artist. 18 A. J. Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic (New York: Dover Publications), p. 78. 19 Ibid., p. 57. 20 Ibid., p. 57. 21 Ibid., p.90. 22 Ibid., p. 94. 23 Ad Reinhardt’s retrospective catalogue (Jewish Museum, January, 1967) written by Lucy Lippard, p. 12. 24 It is poetry’s use of common language to attempt to say the unsayable that is problematic, not any inherent problem in the use of language within the context of art. 25 Ironically, many of them call themselves â€Å"Conceptual Poets.† Much of this work is very similar to Walter de Maria’s work and this is not coincidental; de Maria’s work functions as a kind of â€Å"object† poetry, and his intentions are very poetic: he really wants his work to change men’s lives. 26 Op. cit., p. 82.

The Creation Of The Compact Disc Essay -- Technology Descriptive Essay

The Creation Of The Compact Disc The creation of the compact disc, better known as the CD, can be traced back to the late 1960s. A Dutch scientist named Klass Compaan of Philips Research conceived the idea for the CD. He teamed with another scientist, Piet Kramer, who together introduced the first color videodisc prototype in 1972. Sony teamed up with Philips on the creation of the compact disc, and together they were able to develop a standard, universal compact disc to hold audio information. The two companies officially announced the Digital-Audio disc in 1980. In 1982, the compact disc was introduced to the public in Europe and Japan. Later, in 1983, it was introduced in the United States (Future). Compact Discs are flat and circular, with a diameter of 120 millimeters. The actual disc itself is made of hard plastic covered with aluminum or some other reflective metal. Information is stored on the compact disc in numeric form, also called digital form. The primary use for the compact disc is to store and play back music. However, they can also be used to store pictures, files of text, sounds, programs, video games, high quality images, or motion pictures. Many features of the compact disc are standardized, such as its size, minutes of sound, and data format. This allows a compact disc to be played on any compact disc player (Pohlmann, 901). The audio compact disc replaced earlier sound recording technology, such as the phonograph record and cassette tape, for a variety of reasons. First of all, they are longer lasting. Compact discs are read by a laser, or in other words, they are optically read (Feldman, 160). Therefore, there is no friction needed to play back the information on a CD, as opposed to th... ... . Chris’ Audio Debate Page. 27 March 2002 . Feldman, Leonard. â€Å"Compact Disc.† American Academic Encyclopedia. Danbury, CT: Grolier Incorporated, 1998. Fink, John. â€Å"Recording Sound and Sight.† New Book of Popular Science. Danbury, CT: Grolier Incorporated, 2002. â€Å"Future of Compact Discs Safe.† BBC News 31 January 2002. 27 March 2002 . Harris, Tom. â€Å"How CD Burners Work.† Howstuffworks. 1 April 2002 . Pohlmann, Ken C. â€Å"Compact Disc.† World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago, Illinois: Scott Fetzer Company, 2001. â€Å"Sound Recording.† Illustrated Science Encyclopedia. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, 1997.

How Does Iago Inspire Fear and a Looming Sense of Tragedy?

Iago, in his soliloquies, informs the audience of his plans to deceive Othello and bring about his fall from grace. It is his use of language, rhythm, length and delivery that cause the greatest impact, instilling fear into the audience and creating a sense of tragic inevitability as Iago’s plans will come to fruition, with no one to stop them. The dangerous thing about Iago is that he not only brings down Othello, but he also wrecks anyone else that he can along the way.A soliloquy is when a character is alone on stage and projects their true inner thoughts or feelings to the audience. This is the case for Iago, as he shows his true state of mind in his soliloquies. It is what he says in them, which create such an overwhelming amount of fear for the reader, with his plans to corrupt and deceive various characters along the way in order to abolish Othello. Many critics also agree that Iago is a character full of pure evil. Shakespearean critic A. C.Bradley said that â€Å"evi l has nowhere else been portrayed with such mastery as in the evil character of Iago. † in â€Å"Shakespearean Tragedy† (p. 169). Iago’s soliloquies are where he reveals how dishonest he is, creating anxiety in the audience, as we are unable to interrupt what Iago plans to do. Moreover, Iago tells the audience of his scheme which involves arranging for Cassio to lose his position as lieutenant, and gradually insinuate to Othello that Desdemona is unfaithful with Cassio.The horrifying thing about Iago is that he is able to talk of carrying out such horrifying events such as sabotaging Othello and Desdemona’s marriage, and the fact that he relishes the moment when he formulates his plan, truly shows his malicious nature, making the audience fear him. We see the lengths Iago will go to destroy Othello. He knows that Othello is a man â€Å"That thinks men honest that but seem to be so†, so he is willing to abuse Othello’s trust and poison him unt il he loses his mind. There are many references in the play to sacred teachings; mainly on heaven and hell. In Act III, Iago is scheming about Othello’s downfall.When he says â€Å"How? How? let’s see:†, the atmosphere is extremely tense as the caesural pause shows that he is planning, and the audience is terrified as Iago is so into his plan that we know he will come up with something immensely evil. His capacity for cruelty seems limitless, and that is what makes him so frightening. Rebecca Warren has said from the York Advanced Notes of Othello that â€Å"his pride is laced with sly vindictiveness† (p. 60). His qualities seem to be like that of the devil. Very suddenly, he says â€Å"I have’t, it is engendered! Hell and night/Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light. The juxtaposition between â€Å"Hell and night† and world’s light† shows Iago as being linked with hell and Othello as being linked with heav en, whilst the rhyming couplet and the reference to the â€Å"monstrous birth† draws attention to the unnaturalness and evilness of his plans, which instils fear in the audience and a looming sense of tragedy, as now Iago will bring his plan into action. The broken up iambic pentameter shows how much he relishes his moment. In Act V, Iago tries to show the justification of his actions. He believes that because Othello slept with his wife, he is acceptable in cuckolding Othello.This is shown when he says â€Å"Till I am evened with him, wife for wife†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Here, he is showing the audience that he is so immoral, that he is willing to go as far as corrupting biblical terms, with his play on the teaching â€Å"an eye for an eye†, which he exchanges with â€Å"wife for a wife†¦ †, the ellipsis showing the pace of his speech as he gets worked up into a frenzy. The ellipsis also shows that he is in the thinking process, which also inspires a sense of trag edy as he will come up with more evil plans. In Act VI, Iago has been given the handkerchief and talks of the â€Å"holy writ† and of wanting Othello to â€Å"Burn like the mines of sulphur†.This line is emphatically stressed to show how badly he wants to punish Othello and this will inevitably end in tragedy, and so makes the audience nervous. Another way that he creates fear in the audience is by mocking the audience. In Act V, Iago says of Cassio: â€Å"And what’s he then that says I play the villain? /When this advice is free I give and honest†. Iago enjoys ruining people's lives. He does it with a sense of craftsmanship, as he appreciates the cleverness of a particular step in his scheme as much as its final result: incredible suffering for the people he has chosen.Here he is mocking the audience, by saying that he told Cassio the truth. He is reveling in his Machiavellian role. In Act III, just after he persuades Roderigo to sleep with Desdemona in order to do himself â€Å"a pleasure, (Iago) a sport†, Iago immediately reveals that he is only hanging around â€Å"with such a snipe/But for (his) own sport and profit†, the sibilance here drawing attention to the evil, mocking tone that Iago uses. The prominent Shakespeare scholar Harold Goddard called Iago a man always at war, â€Å"a moral pyromaniac,† in his book ‘The Meaning of Shakespeare’, which shows that Iago almost has a disorder.Using the length of his soliloquies, Iago manages to keep the audience captivated as to his next vindictive plan. The length of his soliloquies could perhaps shows his growing sense of influence and authority within the play, which creates a sense of looming tragedy for the audience as only they know of Iago’s cruel plans. Language can change the mood instantly, and Iago has a very violent tone. This is shown in Act V1 when he uses ‘s’ sibilance throughout the soliloquy, and the repetition of â€Å"poison† shows that he enjoys corrupting Othello, which scares the audience as this is very immoral.In Act V, when he says â€Å"Divinity of hell†, the audience is terrified, as it is unclear whether he is calling the devil or possible saying that he is the devil, as he says that when devils are plotting, they cover up their evil side â€Å"with heavenly shows/As (he) do(es) now. † What is dangerous about Iago is that he doesn’t have a real motive. His motivations are never very clearly expressed and seem to be just an obsessive delight in manipulation and destruction. This view is shared by the critic E. H. Seymour in his remarks†¦ upon the Plays of Shakespeare, where he says â€Å"there are no sufficient motives apparent for this excess of malignity†.However, in Act II, Iago claims that his reason for this cruelness towards Othello is because Othello â€Å"Hath leapt into (Iago’s) seat. † and this very thought â€Å"Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw (his) inwards† This is only a rumour, but Iago treats it as if it is completely true. His lack of motivation, or his inability or unwillingness to express his true motivation, makes his actions all the more terrifying. He is willing to take revenge on anyone—Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, Roderigo, even Emilia and what alarms the audience more is that he enjoys the pain and damage he causes. He also seems to have a very misogynistic view on women.Rebecca Warren says from the York Advanced Notes on Othello (p. 60) that â€Å"he never says explicitly that he hates women or foreigners,† but seems to have an â€Å"exceedingly low opinion of them, which comes across in many of his speeches†, showing that he is racist and also quite sexist. This is shown in Act III, when he says to Roderigo that Othello is an â€Å"erring Barbarian† and Desdemona, â€Å"a super-subtle Venetian. He is very stereotypical and believes Othello to be a savage because he is black and Desdemona promiscuous because Venice had a â€Å"reputation for sexual licentiousness†, in the Arden Shakespeare version of Othello (p. 1). This makes the audience fear Iago as he is willing to base his plans on these stereotypical views. To conclude, I believe that, in his soliloquies, Iago inspires fear in the audience by the use of violent, negative language such as â€Å"poison†, â€Å"blood†, and â€Å"jealousy†. As well as this, it is the fact that he seems to have no real motive for his actions that truly scares the audience, as he goes to such extreme lengths to ruin Othello, just because of a rumour that the audience has only heard of from Iago himself, or just because Othello appointed Cassio as his lieutenant, instead of him.What additionally adds fear in the audience is his use of vivid imagery of hell and the devil, and also evidence for him actually calling himself the devil. The content of Iago’s s oliloquies is what inspires a looming sense of tragedy as only the audience knows what he is plotting and so nothing can be done to stop Iago from implementing his cruel plan.

Importance for Wildlife Conservation Essay

* Maintains ecological balance & the organisms have their unique positions in food chains, food webs which keep ecological balance. * Wild life contributes to the maintenance of material cycles such as carbon and nitrogen cycles. * For improvement and progress in agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries the genes from wild life preserved as gene bank are utilised in breeding programmes. * Wild life provides a number of useful products like food, medicine, honey, lac, wax, resin, etc. * Colourful birds, insects, beautiful flowers, trees make environment beautiful. Nature†¦ (Indescribable) Food, pets, traditional medicines Anthropologists believe that the Stone Age peoples and hunter-gatherers relied on wildlife, both plant and animal, for their food. In fact, some species may have been hunted to extinction by early human hunters. Today, hunting, fishing, or gathering wildlife is still a significant food source in some parts of the world. In other areas, hunting and non-commercial fishing are mainly seen as a sport or recreation, Many Amazon species, including peccaries, agoutis, turtles, turtle eggs, anacondas, armadillos, etc. are sold primarily as food. Others in these informal markets, such as monkeys and parrots, are destined for the pet trade, often smuggled into the United States. Still†¦ [continues] So why is wildlife conservation so important? Why should we care? Aside from the emotional reasons and the fact that we are losing the beauty of our planet and destroying our fellow creatures, it is important in order to preserve biodiversity, the diversity of biological life upon our planet. The earth is a living ecosystem, a fragile system of interdependence and balance. Our own survival as a species is dependent upon the preservation of biodiversity and is tied to the survival and vitality of every living thing on this planet. For instance, honeybees and other insects are vital in the pollination of fruit and vegetable crops which humans use for food. Over one billion people globally depend on fish and seafood for their primary source of protein. Meat consumption from a number of wild species is critical in many impoverished countries that depend upon these animals for their food nd livelihoods. In addition, microscopic organisms are also tied to the process of crop growing, as well as photosynthesis and oxygen production. Wildlife conservation is also important because humans have a vested socioeconomic interest in the continued sustainability and biodiversity of the earth’s ecosystems. The economic impact alone in the form of goods and services that are dependent upon healthy ecosystems is staggering – $33 trillion dollars per year. The biggest threat to the earth’s flora and fauna is habitat destruction and degradation, followed by overexploitation of species through hunting, fishing, harvesting, and economic trade. These are areas that can be controlled and managed with better practices. Other reasons for the endangerment of wildlife include pollution, disease, and alien species invasions. Global warming and climate change are also contributing factors. As ecosystems change due to increases in planetary temperatures, this results in the disappearance of the natural habitats where animals, birds, and other wild creatures live and threatens their survival. Wildlife conservation efforts are aimed in several main areas. These include the creation of nature sanctuaries where wildlife can live protected and free from harm, and where scientific studies can be conducted to better understand the threats to various species and what solutions are needed to ensure their survival. Captive breeding and subsequent reintroduction into the wild is often necessary for species that are severely threatened. In addition, restrictions on the use of pesticides, herbicides, and other toxic chemicals, as well as governmental policies and legislation supportive of conservation efforts are also extremely important. For example, theEndangered Species Act of 1973 is a law which places endangered species under federal protection, and has helped to save the most threatened animals, birds, and other wild creatures from the brink of extinction. Governmental policies and legislation such as this are crucial for the long term preservation and protection of wildlife.

Louis XVI essays

Louis XVI essays I have chosen Louis XIV a.k.a. the *Sun King* as a good leader then opposed to the other leaders like Louis XVI or Marie Antoinette. His qualities are that he has some experience in military Might, he has great national pride, he has respect for the people of France, he has some control over France and he has the force of character. Although he has some bad qualities like that he has poor experience in economic strategy and knowledge of the country*s problems. He also has some experience in wars and learns from mistakes. His military might experience was better that the other rulers because he had some military experience and he lead his country with pride. He controlled nobles by building a palace and sending the nobles to live with him so they*re all in one place which makes keeping an eye on them a lot easier that sending spies (very wise and cunning). He saw himself as the centre of the French life/culture which also leads to him thinking that he was the nation which gave him high self esteem. The high self esteem made him no push over so he didn*t let everybody/anybody step all over him. He ruled in a serious and no-nonsense way which made him very powerful but eventually it lead to fights. He had no economic strategy but he was better than Marie Antoinette who had spent the country*s annual income for a diamond necklace which made the rest of the country suffer in poverty. She had no money left over from the scandal and could not feed a poor starving child. She also made high taxes to keep the country alive. He did not have any economic strategy but he did not make the mistake of putting himself before his people. The king tried to keep in touch with the nobles which gave him respect. He simultaneously kept in touch with the nobles and watched the nobles by building a palace and inviting nobles to live with him (more like an order). ...

Geode of Blue Copper Sulfate Crystals Tutorial

Geode of Blue Copper Sulfate Crystals Tutorial Geodes are a type of rock containing crystals. Normally, millions of years are required for flowing water and minerals to deposit crystals. You can make your own geode in only a few days. Grow beautiful translucent blue crystals of copper sulfate pentahydrate inside an egg shell to make your own geode. This project is of average difficulty and will take 2 to 3 days to finish. What You Need An eggHot waterCopper sulfate Here's How to Do It First, you need to prepare the eggshell. A natural geode forms inside a mineral. For this project, the mineral is the calcium carbonate of an eggshell. Carefully crack open an egg, discard the egg, and keep the shell. Clean the egg from the shell. Try for a clean break, to create two halves of the shell, or you may wish to just remove the top of the shell, for a more ball-shaped geode.In a separate container, add copper sulfate to 1/4 cup of hot water. The amount of copper sulfate isnt exact. You want to stir copper sulfate into the water until no more will dissolve. More is not better! It should take a few pinches of solid material to make a saturated solution.Pour the copper sulfate solution into the eggshell.Place the eggshell in a location where it can remain undisturbed for 2 to 3 days. You may want to place the eggshell in another container to keep it from falling over.Observe your geode each day. Crystals should appear by the end of the first day and will be at their best afte r the second or third day. You can pour out the solution and allow your geode to dry after a couple of days or you can let the solution fully evaporate (a  week or two). Tips for Making a Geode of Copper Sulfate Crystals Even a small increase in the temperature of the water will greatly affect the amount of copper sulfate (CuS04 . 5H20) that will dissolve.Copper sulfate is harmful if swallowed and can irritate skin and mucous membranes. In case of contact, rinse skin with water. If swallowed, give water and call a physician.Copper sulfate pentahydrate crystals contain water, so if you want to store your finished geode, keep it in a sealed container. Otherwise, water will evaporate from the crystals, leaving them dull and powdery. The gray or greenish powder is the anhydrous form of copper sulfate.The archaic name for copper (II) sulfate is blue vitriol.Copper sulfate is used in copper plating, blood tests for anemia, in algicides and fungicides, in textile manufacturing, and as a desiccant.

Genre Theory Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Genre Theory - Assignment Example Numerous film genres tend to have numerous subgenres. This is also evident among the horror films. Some of these subgenres include the vampire film, a psychological horror film, monster movie, the mad doctor movie, and the zombie film. The objective of the horror films is to generate fear and anxiety among the viewers. One of the examples of the horror films is the Evil Dead II. This is a freewheeling horror film under the direction of Sam Raimi Ash. The protagonist in the film encounters diverse genuine terror inclusive of cutting off his own possessed hand with a chainsaw. Critics and audiences of the film note the intensity and scary effects of the film. On the other hand, they also acknowledge the comic essence of the horror film (Egan, 2011). Evil Dead II (1987) is the second film in relation to the Evil Dead franchise. The film comes out as sequel, as well as the remake of the initial or original The Evil Dead (1981). In the film, Ashley J. Williams, the protagonist, encounters and survives the possession of a girlfriend, and some new emergences. The protagonist manages to fight back the numerous evil demons possessing his house. The film provides the perfect platform for the Army of Darkness, thus the Evil Dead trilogy. The film is vital in ratcheting up both the gore, as well as the theatrics, which was evident in Evil Dead I. Moreover, the director uses the film to implant Raimi’s brand or aspect of the vaudeville terror, thus setting the essential tone for the sequel. The film begins in a thick fog, which becomes the backdrop for the movie’s preamble. It is essential to note that the fog returns at the end to illustrate the influence of the main title card, which tends to zoom towards and past the viewer, as an extension of the tunnel within the opening shot of the film. The Evil Dead II does not take any longer in relation to getting the horrific set pieces in comparison to other movies in the horror