Notes on Truth, Beauty, and Goodness -- Phil A231

William Jamison - Instructor

Imitation

The Hay Wain

Languages of Art by Nelson Goodman (Paperback - June 1976)

An example of stream of consciousness writing: The Sound and the Fury.

Chapter 2 is an evaluation of the thesis that the main thing all works of art have in common is imitation. Anne Sheppard examines many different ways of speaking about imitation or representation but is she searching for the right answer -- the way all art really has something in common? Perhaps she is just enumerating the different ways we have of speaking about art as imitation in different language contexts -- or games. If we view this issue from Wittgenstein's mature perspective, the philosophical problem arises because we are misusing our language here in thinking there is something all art has in common.

Sheppard concludes that "Representation does play a part in our valuing of representational art but since not all art is representational it cannot be representation which explains the value of all art." (p. 17) Would not Wittgenstein say it is a grammatical mistake to seek something that explains the value of all art?

Casuistry: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575744/Casuistry.html

"a method of resolving questions of conscience by applying moral principles or laws to concrete cases."

I suppose that what bothers me is that I have invested so much effort in wanting to know as much as I can about what I have identified as important and that today the trend seems to be going in the direction that such effort is a waste of time. How could it be a waste of time? Don't I count my life as successful? Isn't my success a result of my efforts? Shouldn't I want to pass on the same loves and goals to others in the hope that what made my life successful and joyous will do the same for theirs? I have seen others who do not value their lives or feel they have been successful. I have seen others that have felt as successful or more successful than I have and for the most part these are individuals that value approximately the same sorts of things I do. So success equates in some sense to intelligence and intelligence in some sense equates to an effort to know and understand the materials of the tradition and the science associated with expanding that tradition. What ought a person know to be successful?

Bibliography

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