Expression Theory. More After-Effects of Kant

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Expression Theory. More After-Effects of Kant"

Logan Kennedy
6 years ago
Views:

1 Expression Theory More After-Effects of Kant On the post-kantian Romantic view, aesthetic experience is often said to involve a special attitude or form of contemplation (cf. Shelley s poets), characterized by its own special form of pleasure. (cf. Bell) In achieving this special form of pleasure, mimesis is less important than expressive form; craft knowledge and technical skill less important than artistic genius. Inter alia, these sorts of things are also thought to distinguish high art (fine art) from other, less valuable, activities. (Dayton, 126-7) 1

R.G. Collingwood (1889-1943) Oxford idealist philosopher, though of a peculiar, quasi-kantian sort; amateur archeologist.

2 R.G. Collingwood ( ) Oxford idealist philosopher, though of a peculiar, quasi-kantian sort; amateur archeologist. Perhaps best known for his work in meta-philosophy -- An Essay on Philosophic Method (1933) -- and in the philosophy of history -- The Idea of History (1946) His aesthetic philosophy influenced by the idealist theorist Benedetto Croce. Collingwood: What is Art? Art (properly understood) is distinct from craft Craft: 1. Means / ends distinction 2. Planning / execution distinction 3. Ends thought out first, then means selected 4. Raw material / finished product distinction 5. Form / matter distinction 6. Hierarchy of crafts re: inputs and outputs 2

3 The Technical Theory of Art As we ve seen, Plato and Aristotle (and many people to this day) simply assume that art is fundamentally a kind of craft (technē): e.g., poet-craft. The poet aims to produce certain effects in her audience; she is a good poet insofar as she realizes her aim. E.g., Aristotle: A well-crafted tragedy produces catharsis in its audience. (Recall: the tragedy pill ) Collingwood: In the present, people mistakenly try to explain art in terms of economics and psychology, claiming that the artist is specialized in the satisfaction of certain desires (133). Amusement and Magic Art Collingwood does not insist that art and craft are mutually exclusive: Art often requires craftsmanship (see, e.g., filmmaking, architecture, etc.) and this does not automatically disqualify it from being art proper. But some things that we call art are in fact merely craft, according to Collingwood. Amusement Art: End = production and discharge of pleasurable emotion in the audience/viewer Magic Art: End = arousal of emotions (without discharge) so as to become effective agents in practical life 3

4 Art (In Contrast to Craft) I An artist may aim at an end (a certain state of mind in an audience), but if she fails to attain that end, has she necessarily produced bad art? (134) The audience may simply not get it. Artists do not necessarily have a definite plan in mind. Unplanned works of art are possible (especially in nonartifactual art forms like poetry, where art and craft need not extensively overlap). Similarly, artists do not necessarily use raw material in the same sense as craftspersons What is the raw material of a poem? Words? Yes, but not in the same sense that iron is the raw material from which a horseshoe is made. Unlike the blacksmith, the poet does not first have particular words and then form them into a poem. (Not ever?) 4

5 Raw Material A poet may have certain emotions that get converted into a poem (Heine: Aus meinem grossen Schmerzen mach ich die kleinen Lieder ) But, says Collingwood, this conversion is a very different kind of thing from the conversion of iron into horseshoes the emotion is all that artist really needs. Which is to say, when it comes to art proper, emotion isn t really the raw material of the art work for Collingwood emotion is the art work. Art (In Contrast to Craft) II All works of art (indeed, all material things) have form, but there is no necessary distinction in works of art between form and matter. when a poem is written, there is nothing in it of which we can say, this is a matter which might have taken on a different form (136) No hierarchy of inputs: When a poet writes verses for a musician to set; these verses are not means to the musician s end the verses become part of the finished art work, they are not left behind or used up. 5

6 Expression: Collingwood Art expresses emotions (as opposed to describing or betraying them). But not just any generic emotion; clarified, individuated emotions. The true artist creates (imagines) this expression as opposed to planning or producing it. (Question: Intentionally?) So the work of art proper is not the tangible object that the artist makes, but an imaginary object a work of imagination, but it is none the less real for that. The work of art is an imagined experience of total activity (155) The audience, in turn, re-imagines this expression: the hearer who understands [the artist] has the same thing in his mind (146) the actor [uses] a system of expressions, or language, composed partly of speech and partly of gesture, to explore his own emotions: to discover emotions in himself of which he was unaware, and, by permitting the audience to witness the discovery, enable them to make a similar discovery about themselves (147, emphasis added) 6

7 Collingwood in a Nutshell By creating for ourselves an imaginary experience or activity, we express our emotions; and this is what we call art. (155) Note an implication: We can t necessarily answer the question of whether something is a work of art simply by looking at it (listening to it, reading it ) In fact, on Collingwood s view, we know that something is a work of art primarily on the basis of how it came to be and what we, in turn, come to make of it. Some Worries About Expression Theory Collingwood s expression theory holds that the true work of art is the imaginary object by which a clarified and individuated emotion is given expression. And, for some works of art (a simple love song, Rembrandt s paintings), this may seem quite compelling. Yet there seem to be many apparent counter-examples. What individuated emotion is expressed in a Bach fugue? In Duchamp s Fountain? And must that emotion have preceded and caused the work? These assumptions seem arbitrary 7

8 Relatedly, some complex art works (e.g., Shakespeare s plays, novels like War and Peace) may include a wide array of emotions. Emotion may be an important part of such works, but it seems arbitrary to insist that one individuated emotion is expressed by them. So, insofar as Collingwood s expression theory is intended as a definition, it seems, in these respects, too narrow: It excludes works that many people would insist on calling art. And Some More Why should I care about the artist s emotional expression? Why is art valuable? (Leaving aside economic or psychological considerations.) At some points Collingwood suggests that the emotions evoked by art are expressed for the sake of an enjoyable experience. Fair enough. But isn t that true of craft as well? (E.g., sob-stuff, comics). Collingwood s claim that the emotions expressed in art proper are clarified, precise, individuated, (as opposed to generic), suggests a response 8

9 Self-Discovery namely, that by re-imaging the imaginary object, the precise expression of an individuated emotion, we are making a discovery about ourselves. Probably this is true of some experiences of art. (Indeed it s sometimes offered as a justification for including art in school curricula.) But, if this is supposed to be a definition of art proper, doesn t it set the net far too wide? Consider: Psychotherapy Dewey: Art as Experience 9

John Dewey (1859-1952) American philosopher, co-founder (with C.S. Peirce and William James) of the pragmatist tradition in philosophy.

10 John Dewey ( ) American philosopher, co-founder (with C.S. Peirce and William James) of the pragmatist tradition in philosophy. Educational reformer: The Laboratory School at the University of Chicago; Teachers College at Columbia U. Social reformer: Women's suffrage; unionization of teachers; Commission of Inquiry into the charges against Leon Trotsky, etc., etc Pragmatism As its name suggests, concerned with the practical. Specifically, an account of truth, meaning, and value in terms of the practical consequences of human actions. C.S. Peirce: "Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have. Then our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object." (PSM, 1878) To say that a diamond is hard is to say that it would scratch a pane of glass, were I to rub the diamond against it. To say that such and such is true is to say that it is useful to believe (James) 10

11 The Work of Art as Live Creature In order to theorize about art, Dewey says, we must understand a work of art, not as it is in itself or as it is treated in art historical tradition, but in its context: the human conditions under which it was brought into being and the human consequences it engenders in actual life experience (156) Continuity of Art and Life Seeing art works as live creatures involves, in part, seeing the continuity between the intensified and refined experiences brought about both by art works and by everyday experience. For example, Dewey says, consider the Parthenon 11

12 The Parthenon For the ancient Athenians, built not (just) as a work of art, but as a civic commemoration, a central expression of their civic religion. A place for sociality. The Athenians appreciation of the Parthenon was not compartmentalized it is not an expression of art for art s sake an idea that, according to Dewey, the ancient Greeks would not even understand. Instead, it was part of the whole context of Athenian life: instructing the people, commemorating glories strengthening civic pride etc. The Museum Conception of Art Failure to see art in connection with everyday experience leads to an off-putting view of art as remote, separate. The arts which today have the most vitality for the average person are things he does not take to be arts: for instance, the movie, jazzed music, the comic strip, and, too frequently, newspaper accounts of love-nests, murders, and exploits of bandits. (157, emphasis added) Partly because of the museum conception people find high art anemic art seems unconnected with their day to day experience 12

13 but the museum conception also shares in a tendency to valorize the spiritual and ideal over mere matter a tendency that goes back at least to Plato. (Recall Ihde s point about the Platonic insensitivity to materiality ) Also, the modern museum and other art institutions are memorials of the rise of nationalism and imperialism (158). (E.g., Napoleon s plunder that formed the core collection of the Louvre). In short, Dewey urges us to take art off of its pedestal in order to better understand it Having an Experience We have experiences all the time, but we can be distracted from them, e.g., through interruptions or lethargy or lack of interest. Having an experience, by contrast, is consummatory ; the experience has unity and it runs its course to fulfillment. That is, an experience goes somewhere. Rather than simply dissipating or coming to an end, it reaches (it is) the unified, individual outcome of a process. 13

14 This happens all the time (and sometimes we even take note of it): Man, that meal was an experience Solving that intellectual problem was an experience That practical, skillful task was an experience Which is to say that, for Dewey, at least in this respect, the experience of the artist is not unique. (Compare: Collingwood, Shelley) Esthetic and Anesthetic Experience Dewey: Whenever things coalesce into an immediately enjoyed qualitative unity of meanings and values, drawn from previous experience and present circumstances, life takes on an esthetic quality 14

15 The Act of Expression Begins with an impulsion, with needs of the biological organism. Impulsion meets with resistance in the world. Expression: Happens when we become aware of these resistances and, acting to overcome them or deal with them, we incorporate past experience. But expression also requires a medium If the resistance met with in the world is too easily overcome on a way smoothed and oiled in advance the medium, the means, cannot be distinguished and there is no expression. (e.g., shoveling cereal into your mouth; giving way to a fit of passion; freaking out) If the resistance is too hard to overcome a blind obstruction is encountered irritation and/or rage may result and, again, there is no expression. 15

16 Expression Expression (< ex presso, squeezing out ) occurs when external and internal forces are joined, unified, in thoughtful action. A Smile: An organic means of communicating delight, when used as a means (medium), rather than a simple instinctive reaction. Dance and Sport: Acts once performed spontaneously are assembled and converted into works of expressive art. They become about something The Expressive Object An expressive object says something to us (164) Some theories, says Dewey, seize upon expression as if it denoted simply the object. These theories then assume that the object must resemble or be representative of other objects already in existence and thereby miss out on the individual contributions that makes the object something new. E.g., mimetic/technical theories, Kant, Bell 16

17 The Expressive Act Still other theories focus on the act of expressing and thereby assume that the real object of expression is simply the personal emotion(s) involved. e.g., Shelley, Collingwood, Croce Both sorts of theory, says Dewey, are, in effect, half right Dewey: A poem and picture present material passed through the alembic of personal experience. They have no precedents in existence or in eternal being. But, nonetheless, their material came from the public world and so has qualities in common with the material of other experiences. (164, emphasis added) 17

18 Experience and the Work of Art So, for Dewey, the work of art is an experience (as the title of his book suggests). But it is not an essentially passive sensory experience not simply the arrangement or presentation of pleasing colours, lines, textures, etc. (as Hume or Bell, e.g., might have said). Instead, aesthetic experience always draws on a fund of past experience (of both artist and audience), experience that is concentrated, enlarged, and transformed in the work of art. Dewey: Some Further Consequences So Dewey rejects the distinction between the artist as the active creator and the audience as passive recipient. The artist uses skill and perception in the creation of the art product, but the the actual work of art is what the product does with and in experience (i.e., the experiences of the artist and the audience) Implication: You could be plenty skilled good at making art product but still fail to be a good artist. E.g., your art product is pretty, well-made, etc., but it doesn t do anything, doesn t create an experience, for your audience. 18

19 Community & the Language of Art Lastly, art, according to Dewey, is the expression of the life of a community, a product of culture. (Cf. Freeland) The esthetic quality is the same for Greeks, Chinese and Americans (Freeland, 64). But that does not mean that Greeks, Chinese and Americans are all simply responding to the same supposedly universal properties in artworks (as Hume or Bell might say). Instead, the language of art has to be acquired A Universal Language? Freeland suggests (88) that, for Dewey, the language of art is a universal language. But this is potentially misleading. Dewey says that we can learn the language of art by entering into the spirit of a community. (Indeed he encourages us to do this for communities other than our own.) But this is possible not so much because every community shares a single, universal language of art, but because, at least according to Dewey, the basic forms of experience are the same for all human organisms. 19

20 Expression vs. Cognition So, while we have been treating Dewey as an expression theorist (art involves the expression of personal and common experience; the expression of the spirit of a community), Freeland suggests (166), that we could just as well think of Dewey as a cognitive theorist. Viewed that way: Art is expression alright, but it is valuable because it reveals (and creates) our world, providing us with knowledge and insight about our experience and the experience of others. But Languages Can Also Be Lost So, expression is intrinsically valuable as way of figuring out our world; art is instrumentally valuable as means of expression (and, not insignificantly, cross-cultural understanding) But recall Dewey s earlier point: In our culture (i.e., the world of the museum conception ), fine art has become the beauty parlor of civilization, disconnected from the lives of most ordinary people. Our challenge, says Dewey, is to condemn and to transform those social relations that stand in the way of genuine aesthetic experience for everyone. 20

AESTHETICS. Key Terms

AESTHETICS. Key Terms AESTHETICS Key Terms aesthetics The area of philosophy that studies how people perceive and assess the meaning, importance, and purpose of art. Aesthetics is significant because it helps people become