Emily Brady & The Integrated Aesthetic II: - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Emily Brady & The Integrated Aesthetic II:Imagination, Emotion and knowledge

“Essentially, imagination facilitates free play, a creative approach to appreciation that leads to the discovery of aesthetic qualities”

Emily Jenkins PHIL 450

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Albert Einstein was once quoted as saying “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand”.Slide2

The Basics“imagination” construed broadlyimagining not just as making believe, but as visualizing or otherwise coming up with ranges of

possibilities.agrees with Kant’s position that central to human aes. pleasure is what he called a “free play of imagination”aes. experiences are marked by disinterestednessimmersion

stimulates imagination, for imagination ‘intensifies’ experienceplays exploratory, projective, ampliative, and revelatory

rolesImagination is not equal to imaginary Slide3

WHY & WHAT IS IMAGINATIONWhen the imagination is active, it opens up the aesthetic horizon and deepens the aes. Response

potential to encourage a more intimate engagement with our natural surroundingsImagination facilitates free play a creative approach that leads to

ase. discovery*

AIM: To show that imagination is in fact a very broad concept, fantasy being only one of its many modes of activity. Imagination is not opposed to truth; a proper understanding of its relationship to truth will enable a better grasp of the real value of this mental

power*Two Theories of Imagination: (1). Sensory Imagination

(2). Creative Imagination

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VALUE & GUIDELINES *value of creative imagination in aes. experience requires that we distinguish between

the imaginative and the imaginary, relevant and irrelevant imaginings, and find the right balance between the serious and the trivial.

*THREE WAYS IMAGININGS ARE GUIDED

:(1). the way the objects qualities evoke and direct our imaginings

(2). Disinterestedness(3). Imagining well

*KANTS

VIEW OF IMAGINATION

-

provides

a starting point for understanding how

imagination

is active

-‘productive imagination’ is exercised to its fullest in the judgments of taste that characterize the aes. response.

-judgments of taste



imagination is engaged in a free, harmonious play with the understanding.

-

no cognitive aim

-

in its free play, imagination makes connections and

associations

in relation to

the

object’s qualities

for their own sakeSlide5

“IMAGINING WELL”

*THREE WAYS IMAGININGS ARE GUIDED:

(1). the way the objects qualities evoke and direct our imaginings (2). Disinterestedness

-characterizes aes. appreciation as non-practical and

non- instrumental -active detachmentk

eeps

the free activity of imagination in

check



prevents self-indulgence

ex). Taking a star to be a good luck charm

(

3). Imagining well

-characterized

by comparing imagination to virtue

-not a natural capacitylearned, acquired through

IMAGINING WELL involves “spotting aes. potential, having a sense of what to look for, and knowing when to clip the wings of imagination”-prevents the irrelevance of shallow, naïve, and sentimental imaginative responses that impoverish appreciation

EX). Imagining a lamb dressed up in baby clothes. -Yes, might underline a truth about innocencebut it is sentimental and shallow.*Thus, it fails to direct an appreciation appropriately

Critics of imagination misconceive the concept by assuming that a free imagination is one without limits

perceptual qualities of

aes

. object guide imagination by giving it direction, and through suggestion by sensory cues

-in order to avoid irrelevant images, inappropriate

responses



those

that are

trivial

, sentimental,

self-indulgent Slide6

Metaphoric ImaginationInvolves bringing together two different things in novel waysfusing an aes. object or aspect of it with some image that is

not an image of that objectin using imagination to make a novel connection, we work from our experience of the qualities of one thing and work towards a creative comparison to another thing

EX).

ShipRock

is a free form gothic cathedral

-metaphorical

expression used to capture the character of a massive protuberance of complex forms which rises towards the sky out of the flat desert.

-jagged forms are reminiscent of the pointy parts of Gothic cathedral

towers

-the connection is not arbitrary

-METAPHORICAL DESCRIPTIONS:

help

us make sense of what

we

see

direct

appreciation

succeed

in offering images of other things for comparisonwork

both to refine and enrich our apprehension of aes. qualities. Slide7

EXPLORATORY IMAGINATION

imagination follows the lead of perception and explores various perceptual qualities and relationships between qualities as we attend to the aes

. objectReaches beyond

the perceptual field and engages in a free contemplation of the object

brings meaning to bear on perceptual qualitiesidentify aes. qualities and broaden our grasp of the objectSlide8

PROJECTIVE IMAGINATION:projective powers of the imaginationinvolves

imagining ‘on to’ what is perceivedwhat is actual is replaced with an overlaid projected imageprojective imagination is associated with deliberate ‘seeing

as’intentionally seeing something as something else

.*We put ‘seeing as’ to work in order to try out new perspectives on objects by projecting images on them

EX) The stars at night WE PROJECT GEOMETRICAL SHAPES ON THEM

*imagination provides a more intimate

aes

. experiences, allowing the exploration of

aes

qualities more deeply than through perception alone

*

PROJECTING OURSELVES INTO AN ENVIR

.--GARDENS:

-

gardens invite us to explore them

Ex). The romantic fake ruins built into gardenencourage

us to “imaginatively live for a moment in the irretrievable past while simultaneously aware of the power of time to negate the present EX

#2). Natural invitation of openings in forests encourage exploration *PARTICIPATORY CHARACTER OF PROJECTIVE IMAGINATION:-through imagination, we attempt to gain access to natures ways, to explore its otherness-also facilitates a sympathetic or empathetic identification with nature *empathy is attributed to the imagination—capacity for entering imaginally into the situation of another person or animalSlide9

AMPLIATIVE IMAGINATION:involves the inventive powers

need not make use of imagesmarked by heightened creative powers and a special curiosity in its response to natural objectsamplifies what is given in

perceptionreaching beyond mere projection of images there upon

PENETRATIVEdeeper imaginative treatment of object

imagination in its most active mode in aes. experienceinvolves visualizing and leaps of imagination

to

approach natural objects from new standpoints

*

Amplative

imagination enables us to expand beyond what we perceive by placing or contextualizing the

aes

. object with

narrative images

:

EX

) Andrew Wyeth illustrates this with an example

from

the sea

: ‘A white mussel shell on a gravel bank in Maine is trilling to me because it’s all the sea—the gull that

brought it there, the rain, the sun that bleached it…’Slide10

REVELATORY IMAGINATION:

where ampliative imagination leads to disclosure

revelatory imaginative activity

invention stretches powers to its limits

gives way to new ideas and meanings (non-religious )new understanding not gained through intellectual endeavor

revelatory

imagination is part of an

aes

. experience

:

*

An idea, belief, or value is crystallized through heightened

aes

. experience, where perceptual land imaginative engagement with nature facilitates the kind of close attention that leads to revelation.

EX). BABY

LAMB

-

at first glance we acknowledge its sweetnessfuller

participation of magination and perceptionbrings a stronger grasp of the nature

of innocence. -gain new insights *it is through dwelling aesthetically and imaginatively on natural phenomena that we may achieve new ways of seeingSlide11

THE CRITICSimaginations relationship to truthargue imagination is not concerned with truth but rather with entertaining possibilities

Fear that imaginative activity is “prone to subjective flights of fantasy”—this leaves that actual qualities behind and replaces them with individual, arbitrary fantasy.Argue that app. must be guided by scienceCOGNITIVE CAMPS: recognizes positive aspects of imagination; however, they insist that it should be constrained by the

necessary condition of scientific knowledge.

Brady thinks

nec. condition places an unrealistic and unacceptable intellectual demands on appreciators in order to have a “correct” app

.

Critics misconceive [her] position by assuming that a free imagination is an imagination without limitsSlide12

DEFENING IMAGINATION *Defending imagination must be done on a case-by-case basis 

EATONclaims “imaginative flights” (the lamb and the locust tree), no way of answering whether these examples are appropriate without relying on cognitive model

-“imagining well” makes no sense unless one knows what the object is, something about it, and the context in which it is found.-also claims Brady does not give explicit example of where imagination falsifies nature.

*reply

lamb in baby clothes, falsifies nature.  imagination engages in entertaining beliefs, not in ascertaining factsnot opposed to belief or reducible to fancy

imagining

is accompanied by

an awareness of the relationship

between an imagining and the beliefs that surround it.

*

PLAYFUL VS. SERIOUS/TRIVIAL

EXAMPLE OF A BOY AND A GEOLOGIST EXPERIENCING A HILLSIDE

-the

boy

sees a hill as a giants head -playfulclaim is that the boys imagining points to perceptual features

EXAMPLE OF ICE-CREAM –CONE AS MOUNATIN IMAGE -not only irrelevant, but trivial *RELEVANT VS. IRRELAVANT IMAGININGS

-standard for distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant not fixed by truth and falsity -relevance is determined based on her guidelines *IRRELAVANT IMAGININGS : (1). Fail to meet condition of disinterestedness (2). Those that can be shown to have no relationship to the qualities of the aes. object (ice-cream cone) Slide13

THE COMMUNICIBLITY OF IMAGAINTION -it is a common mistake to assume the imagination is characterized by waywardness *KANT

the intersubjectivity of aesthetic judgments-individual judgments based in feelings claim subjective universality -aes

. judgments lay claim to communicability: *Hepburn echoing Kant:*if we share a common environment, the annexed form [of imagination] can range from the universally

intersubjective, through the shareable though not universal, to the highly individual and personal. Basic natural forms are interiorized for the articulating of a common structure of the mind. Through these, the elusively

nonspatial is made more readily graspable and communicable. (170)*imaginings



particular

rather than general, BUT

they are potentially shareable

-other elements of

aes

.

response



perception

, emotion, and cognition are also potentially shareable.

* “Like emotion, imagination is an individual power shaped by the events and values in any individual life. It is this

particularity that gives our imaginings their richness. At the same time, our imaginings are not unrelated to the objective world, indeed, they center upon it; imaginings are connected to qualities in objects and surrounding beliefs” (171).