Philosophy of Art and Culture 2024-2025: Week 1

On Art and the Good Life adn the Good Bad Movie

Aesthetic Culture

the aesthetic phenomena, objects, or practices we encounter in (everyday) life that seem meaningful or just pleasant due to their sensuous appearance and the way they shape the imaginative understanding of the world or touch on the cultural zeitgeist.

Where can you find Aesthetic Culture?

• In certain spaces, times, or localities

• To uphold hegemony or an ideology (ex. Marx’s superstructure)

• Object/praxis as connoting to an idea (ex. symbolic interactionism)

Art

• The kind of objects, performances or events that are made for - and are prompted by - aesthetic experiences

• Phenomena that stand out due to their aesthetic value

• Communication of complex ideas through form and content (AKA the senses)

• An experience in a medium

Philosophy

A perspective that (among other things) looks for conceptual distinctions and connections in art. What is art’s purpose within human culture?

Descriptive Theory

Denotation. Empirical/observational perspectives on art. Data-based.

Normative Theory

What are the ideal norms. What is art supposed to be? What is it supposed to mean?

Art’s Importance

• Important phenomenon of human life

• Expression of intensity; life in all its fullness

• Social practice across human culture

The Good Life

An Aristotlean concept; ethics-based. What is the good life and how to lead it?

• For Aristotle, the good life is one in which we develop and exercise the distinctive human ability to think and act rationally

Art and the Good Life

• Reflection of life

• Utopianism - a placeholder for the good life

• Comparison - against the existing bad life

Final Sense of Aesthetic Judgment

Artworks are good or bad according to whether or not they are worthwhile.

Conventional Sense of Aesthetic Judgment

Artworks are good or bad according to conventional standards and norms.

The Good-Bad

Violates convention but enables valuable activities of engagement.

Bad Movies and the Good LIfe

• Escapism

• Joy

• Confronting biases against non-conventional films

• Enable valuable activities of engagement

Avant-Garde

Unconventionally artistic movies that reject normative conventions. May require context to appreciate. Ironically, may have their own conventions.

Scaffolding in the Aesthetics

Dominic McIver Lopes: This network grounds the set of norms and standards for aesthetic value. Includes venues, traditions, forums, practices… the institutions that make aesthetics work.

Strohl says the value of art is determined by

• Appreciation through an activity of engagement (e.g. watching, discussing, curating)

• The piece on its own right can enable such activities

• The piece can inspire such activities in an individual

Valuing Art and the Good Life

Sometimes the art, its activities, or its communities can be morally questionable or downright immoral. Strohl argues value = betterment of one’s lfie. Bigotry is not a net positive for one’s life.

Optimization Arguments Against Good-Bad Art

1. Some films are considered by broad consensus to be eminently worthwhile. Call them “certified great movies.”

2. People are busy. Most people won’t have time to watch all of the certified great movies within their lifetime.

3. Bad movies are less worthwhile than certified great movies.

4. Time spent watching bad movies is time that could be spent watching certified great movies.

Conclusion: There’s no time for bad movies. Watch the certified greats instead.

Rebuttals Against Optimization

1. Different moods/circumstances call for different movies. Aesthetic Slots.

2. Comfort/escapist movies is a valuable form of art.

3. Bad movies can still create activities of engagement.

Conclusion: Go for omnivorism than optimization.

Aesthetic Slots

Spaces in one’s life in which something aesthetic fits. Different slots have different criteria; not every activity or object fits every slot.