Aesthetics

Emily Estanislau
Blog Post 4
12/2/2014

What is art?  It is the expression of human creative skill and imagination. The two aesthetic theories are formalism and romanticism. Formalism is when art is analyzed by its visual aspects. There is no need to really think and comprehend art using the formalism theory because all you need to know if just by seeing the art. Romanticism on the other hand is when art is fully contemplated and sparks an emotion towards the piece of art.

 I believe romanticism is more plausible than formalism because it isn’t limited to just visual beauty. There is much more to it than formalism.
             Romanticism has much more explanatory breadth because there is much more that goes into appreciating and understanding the artwork than the formalist theory. Many artists have created deeper meanings and messages in their artwork, not all art is just based on the visual beauty.

Romanticism also has more explanatory depth than formalism.  Romanticism controls the emotions and the artwork gives the ability to contemplate the piece of art and question what its trying to portray.

Formalism is more simplistic than romanticism because it is judged solely on the visual beauty and the aesthetic sense or emotion.

I believe romanticism is more conservative.  When people look at art they are always trying to find a deeper meaning and to fully understand the hidden message in the artwork. People look at art because it expresses emotions unlike formalism, which is just visual beauty.

1.     Romanticism and formalism are the most plausible explanations of art.

2.     Romanticism has much more explanatory breadth and depth, while formalism is more simplistic.

3.     Therefore, romanticism is the best explanation for art.

blog post 4

Allison Simpkin

Professor Gilland

Phi 100

12/2/14

Blog Post 4(option 1)

Formalism is when art is used to represent ideas to strike reality and guide our behavior. An example of this form of art is the famous statue of Plato. This piece of art uses aesthetic beauty which is eternal, an unchanged form and a universal archetype. Formalism is the view that art is a form of expressing beauty by using abstract things to show something in a different way. Using your mind to decide what it is that you are looking at and it is up to the individual persons view.

Romanticism is a form of art to express rational emotion. Romanticism expresses non-rational emotion using a full range of emotions. The emotions can make us aware on mysterious reality, deeper than the one we can typically relate to,

A.      Romanticism is more plausible than Formalism in explanatory Breadth. Romantics argue that rational beauty is too narrow on an aesthetic standard and should be supplemented with some sublime.   The piece of artwork has to have compares and is infantry powerful.

B.      Romanticism has more explanatory depth than formalism it gives room for imagination determining the meaning of the artwork in your own personal way. Formalism is almost a set in stone viewing of the art work and only on the physical realm of things while romanticism allows for a more in depth description of the art work.

C.      Formalism is more plausible than Romanticism in simplicity. Formalism has a clear meaning to art while Romanticism goes into great detail of non-rational emotion and into experiences. In Formalism the goal is to present formal beauty in a figurative or abstract ways to provide insight. There is a clear cut reason for this in art, in Romanticism   there are many components and artwork is perceived in each individual eye.

D.       Romanticism has much more conservatism to our current beliefs today than formalism does. Artists today look at art work with mostly emotion and formalists lack the emotional aspect of art. Rather we like it or not we initially interpret art if we like it or not by our emotions and afterwards if it generally interests us.

1.       Romanticism and Formalism are the plausible explanations on how we interpret art.

2.       Romanticism has more conservatism, explanatory breadth and explanatory depth, whereas Formalism has much more simplicity

3.       Therefore Romanticism is the best explanation on how we interpret art. 

Blog post 4

Sarah Nelson

Formalism says that the purpose of art is to present ideals that form reality and influence our actions. Romanticism says that a large part of art is to express emotions that are not logical but not the only purpose. I believe that romanticism is more plausible because when looking at something whether a statue or a painting, it provokes some kind of emotional response. It could be anger at a portrayal of something that you find offensive or just a sense of serenity. There is always some emotion triggered by seeing art and that is why I believe it is more plausible.

            Romanticism has more explanatory breadth because its purpose is not merely limited to the emotions that are expressed within art. This is compared to formalism that only has one purpose for art. The ideals that are portrayed in art do not extend to emotions that are portrayed as they are entirely different things. Ideals only cover a portion of art as not all art have ideals such as abstract art. However abstract art expresses emotion through the choice of colors used and the layout of the artwork.

            They have equal explanatory depth as they present the their respective things but it is merely presenting it and giving evidence through the art work but the viewer has to come up with their own interpretation and back it up with the evidence found within the work. It could be through the colors chosen, the objects within the piece or the way things are portrayed.

            Formalism is more simplistic as it has only has one purpose for art while romanticism has multiple for art. Romanticism claims that emotions is a large part of art but not all of it while formalism says that art portrays ideals and that is it.

            For conservatism romanticism is more conservative. People go to art museums to appreciate art and to relax as it makes them happy. With art people don’t always take the time to analyze it as with emotion they are immediate and therefore it is more conservative.

Romanticism and formalism are the most plausible explanations of the purpose of art.

Romanticism has more conservatism and breadth while formalism is more simplistic.

Therefore romanticism is the best explanation of the purpose of art.

Gabrielle Pierre-Louis

Philosophy

Prof. Rex

Blog Post #4

Aesthetic Theories

Aesthetic studies the philosophical foundation of the arts, the philosophical way of judging art. Asking ourselves about the meaning of art. Is art subjective or objective? What distinguishes original works from copies or forgeries? But today we ask what standards should we use to distinguish art and no art, or good and bad art? There are two versions of aesthetic studies, which are Formalism and Romanticism. Formalism is the purpose of art of art is to represent the forms or ideals that structure reality and guide our behavior and actions. In other words formalism is to appreciate abreact beauty through aesthetic senses. However, Romanticism is a major part of art’s no limitation function to express non-rational emotions. Romantics argue that rational beauty is too narrow an aesthetic standard and should be supplemented with the sublime – something that’s overwhelming beyond comprehension, lofty, vast, or infinitely powerful.

            I believe Romanticism is more plausible because it allows us to see mysterious things, and it gives us full range of experiences, when life become incomplete we become out of touch with nature and ourselves.

Romanticism have more explanatory breadth than formalism because romanticism focus more so on artwork based on rationality and how it impacts viewers on an emotional level. Formalism doesn’t not express emotional aspect of artwork; because of this therefore romanticism have more explanatory breath than formalism.

Romanticism has more explanatory depth than formalism because of how it describes what something is in detail. Also it describes what art is in better detail than formalism, it says that art can be whatever it wants to be and art shouldn’t have rules to follow. In other words formalism artwork is more of viewing with confusion where as romanticism give description. Therefore romanticism has more explanatory depth then formalism.

As you can see formalism have more simplicity then romanticism, because it doesn’t have a lot of explanation on why something is what it is. Formalist are more focused on how abstract the artwork form is, basically you can only judge the artwork by viewing then in words. Which makes formalism more confusing because emotion differ from person to person, because emotion doesn’t allow a lot of people to see things they would like to see them as.

Romanticism has more conservatism than formalism does. Romanticism is more consistent; it has a consistency about our common belief. Todays people use there emotion to judge a painting rather then the structure form. Many people may disagree with me, because they feel that maybe formalism have more explanation then romanticism. Then again formalism feels that artwork has more meaning and value than just its rational form.

1.                    Romanticism and Formalism are the most plausible explanations understanding what art is.

2.                    Romanticism have much more explanatory breadth, explanatory depth, and conservatism whereas, formalism has a little more simplicity

3.                    Therefore, romanticism is the best explanation of understanding what art is.

Melissa Tkacs

Professor Gilliland

Philosophy

Blog Post 4

2 December 2014

Starry Night: a Biblical Twist

The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh was painted in 1889 only one year before his death. It is stated that van Gogh composed this work of art during his stay at a mental institution after the incident of him cutting off his ear. It is said that this depicts the view that he had outside of his window there. His paining depicts a scene in the night overlooking a small town in the night. The painting shows a very swirled sky with all of the colors of the sky, moon and stars blending into each other.

            The interpretation of the Starry Night that I have chosen I believe is particularly insightful. Vincent van Gogh was a painter in a time that believed that paintings should portray an accurate representation of the scenery that is being painted. However, van Gogh’s paintings were more abstract, it is said that he used his exaggerated and non life like brush strokes as a way to portray the way that he was feeling inside. This painting of his may have originally been inspired by the darkness that he was feeling while in the institution, therefore explaining why the town was painted as a night scene. But, author of this interpretation says that the starry night may have a religious meaning to it. Backed up from the bible verse saying “Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me.” Genesis 37:9” because, within van Gogh’s painting, he portrays eleven stars and the moon. The bible verse has to do with the biblical character Joseph who was thrown into a pit and sold to slavery under the watch of his eleven brothers. Therefore explaining the quotation of the eleven stars shining over him as he was in the darkness not being good enough. This is said to be how van Gogh felt about the critics and other artists of the time shining over him and not appreciating his work.

            This interpretation has a great deal of explanatory breadth, it explains both the darkness of the town that van Gogh was in, and the lights of the critics and people who were believed as better artists shining over him.

            There is a lot of explanatory depth also. The explanation goes into saying why van Gogh was feeling this way in the mental asylum and the religious backing behind it all.

            When it comes to simplicity, it is complex to jump to this conclusion based on the fact that van Gogh was religious and may have painted this because of the verse in genesis. It has a lot of structure to the argument, with many explanations towards why van Gogh would paint it this way, so I would not classify this as a simple explanation.

            I would say that this view is conservative with our current views towards art. I would say this because it had a solid reasoning behind why he painted this, and not just an assumption that he painted this way just because he was in a certain state of mind.

There is evidence that van Gogh was religious and was being criticized poorly as an artist, so this points to there being great predictive power pointing towards this explanation being accurate.

1. The religious theory is an interpretation of the meaning of artwork Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night.

2. Though the religious theory is complex, it has a great deal of explanatory breadth and depth and predictive power with a moderate amount of conservatism.

3. Therefore, the religious theory is a good interpretation of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night.

http://legomenon.com/starry-night-meaning-of-vincent-van-gogh-painting

Blog Post 4

Neli Pani

Professor Rex

PHI 100

2 December 2014

Blog Post 4

Formalism is the purpose of art that represents ideas that create a structure a reality and shows the behavior. Romanticism is a major part of art because it’s able to express nonrational emotions.

Formalism is the most plausible than romanticism. Art is most known for the beauty people create it. Art is internal beauty and it will always there. From year to come, people will appreciate it. Romanticism wouldn’t be plausible because it doesn’t explain the beauty of the world. It only talks about emotions and how experiences are unrelated.

For explanatory breadth, romanticism shows more works of art than formalism because with the romanticism it shows emotions and the reason why art is important. It makes us aware that the expressions of the art are deeper and more mysterious than what we usually relate to.

For explanatory depth, formalism shows greater detail because the theory represents the formal beauty through senses, emotions and pleasures. From nature to the abstract objects the observer will appreciate the artwork. The difference between formalism and romanticism is that romanticism is dealt with emotions and the mystery of the art, it is also about us being out of touch with nature and us but formalism is the purpose of art and its beauty.

For simplicity, romanticism has fewer parts and is more complicated because its only deals with emotions and the theory is that we are unaware of reality and ourselves. It is complicated because romanticism supposedly makes us aware of a mysterious transcendent reality that we relate to. Also that art isn’t limited but the complication of the theory is that formalism makes more sense and has more parts because it deals with the beauty and the nature and the importance of art.

Conservatism, romanticism theory is more consistent with our current beliefs than formalism. Romanticism is more consistent because it represents the emotions that art give us that we can relate to. Without romanticism life would be complete and not worth living.

1.     Formalism is the most plausible explanations of art.

2.     Formalism has a little more explanatory depth, whereas romanticism has much more explanatory, simplicity, and conservatism.

3.     Therefore, formalism is the best explanation of art.