In her photographic works, Carrie Mae Weems explores a multitude of issues, including (but not only) gender, social-class and race. In an interview with the MacArthur Foundation (2013), who awarded her the MacArthur fellowship in 2013, she states that “My disadvantage, for the most part, when I am viewed by the world is that I am viewed only in relationship to my black subjectivity... (my work is) partly about race, but, (it 's) considerably more”. Even the biography of Weems ' work on artsy.com (2017) states that her Kitchen Table Series (pictured above) “...depict the artist seated at her kitchen table and examine various tropes and stereotypes of African-American life”. However, in the aforementioned interview, Weems clearly states that …show more content…
To Lacan, there is always a sense of menace about the gaze of the intruder, although one has to wonder, what is the source of this menace? Kripps (2010) pinpoints that the feeling of menace as the acknowledgement of power distribution within the social sphere. I would go further than this, I would call it guilt. Through recognizing their potential to be objectified, both Sartre and Lacan felt guilt about acknowledging their ability to objectify anything within their respective fields of vision. This is what Bryson (1988) refers to as the “Politics of Vision”, which he describes as the ways in which “power uses the social construct of vision”.
Bryson also offers within his essay an alternative theory to that of Sartre and Lacan. This perspective comes from Keiji Nishitani (cited in Bryson, 1988), whose book “Religion and Nothingness” is largely based on the criticism of Sartre 's ideas of subject as central to the field of vision, and the perceived threat from the intruder. Nishitani argues for radical impermanence; that the object is what it is only in relation to other objects and that the perceived qualities of the object are impermanent. All objects are in a constant state of growth and decay and they all change depending on their environments. Furthermore, the only way to stabilize an object would be to blank out the entire universe around it. Both subject and object rely on each other to
Racial stereotypes have always been a serious issue in society. The stereotypes impact many aspects of our life. We more or less get carried away by our perceptions toward race, and judge people in a certain frame unconsciously, as Omi set forth in In Living Color: Race and American Culture. Taken by Hilary Swift, this photo presents an African American woman, waiting for a bus that can take her to the Kitchen of Love, a food pantry that located in Philadelphia aiming to feed people suffering from hunger, where she volunteers. It happens in dawn so it’s still dark outside. The surroundings give us an idea that it should take place in a black neighborhood (Stolberg “Black Voters, Aghast at Trump, Find a Place of Food and Comfort”). The woman is staring at the direction where the bus is coming, with a smile on her face. As a photojournalistic image, this photo is aiming to portrait a kind and helpful African American woman, however, does this photo really “positively” portrait an African American woman?
Jean-Paul Sartre is a French philosopher who makes his claims based on a combination of two philosophical traditions – existentialism and phenomenology. Sartre himself is an atheistic existentialist. He summarizes his claims regarding existentialism with three words – anguish, abandonment, and despair (25). In this paper, I will talk about Sartre’s definition of existentialism, its relation to essence, Sartre’s views on the moral choices and how they relate to art.
It’s been a subject of news reports both local and national: the opiate drug epidemic in central and northeast Pennsylvania is skyrocketing and Geisinger Marworth is stepping in to do something about it.
“To be just is to be perceived”, or as Irish philosopher George Berkeley prefers to put it, “esse est percipi”. In this argument, Berkeley details extensively how material objects, as humans have come to know them, do not exist. Berkeley uses a series of premises to aid in the elimination of skepticism surrounding the existence of the world humans have come to know and grow fond of. At first read, Berkeley’s conclusion that the abstract ideas of substance, matter, or any physical objects simply are not real is very hard to grasp when humans have based their justifications on what is real versus not real on their own senses, and the validation of other people. However, Berkeley does an excellent job of making an argument one cannot refute.
In Meditation Two of René Descartes’ Meditation on First Philosophy, he notes the sight of “men crossing the square.” This observation is important as Descartes states, “But what do I see aside from hats and clothes, which could easily hide automata? Yet I judge them to be men.” This is an important realization as Descartes argues that instead of purely noticing the men through sight, it is actually “solely with the faculty of judgement,” the mind, that perceives and concludes that the thing wearing a hat and clothes are men. I argue that this view of the outside world by Descartes is incomplete as his idea of “I” is faulty, as well as having a misunderstanding on the importance of the senses.
Renee Cox, as an African American woman and artist, uses her body and identity to start a discussion on the Black experience in America. Besides representing a population of minority artists, the female and the non-white, her art has affected society with her brazen approach to her craft. Cox’s significance comes from her open display of race and sex. In many of her pieces, nudity and the celebration of the African American experience is the focus. In addition to this, her medium of choice, mixed media and photography, is opening an outlet of art that isn’t traditionally used. In essence, Renee Cox is an artist that can pave the way for future artists by diversifying through medium, race, and sex.
Carrie Mae Weems is an African American artist, who works with text, fabric, audio, digital images, but mostly known for her “Kitchen Table” photography series. Her art is focused around the serious issues African American have to face in the United States every day.
Existentialism, a philosophical ideology conceptualized by Jean-Paul Sarte, encapsulates most thought processes where “the individual is obliged to make a choice as though he were choosing for all mankind” (Arnold, “Jean-Paul Sarte: Overview). Put simply, Sarte’s concept of existentialism is the thought process by which humans find themselves existing, and the analysis of their existence itself (Tulloch, Sartrian Existentialism). This analysis of existence found itself in many writings during the twentieth century, and acts a driving force in both Bishop’s “In the Waiting Room” and Lispector’s “The Daydreams of a Drunk Woman”.
Recalling his previous thoughts in Meditation Two, the Meditator supposes that what he sees does not exist, that his memory is faulty, that he has no senses and no body, and that extension, movement and place are mistaken notions. Perhaps, he remarks, the only certain thing remaining is that there is no certainty. Although this argument often seems logical and fully-developed, Descartes uses this meditation to as inspiration prove that perhaps there is one thing that is absolutely certain in the universe: his existence.
The philosophical thought is that the mind and body are two separate things; with one being able to exist without the other has caused much discussion and debate among philosophers and theologians over the years. René Descartes and Plato, two well-known philosophers, argue that people have a mind or soul, which is somehow connected with the body, but the mind or soul can exist independently from our body. Descartes introduces the mind-body argument while Plato presents the soul-body argument. Although the arguments differ in some ways, Descartes and Plato also have similar opinions on the issue. As a person of faith, there is some difficulty in explaining to a non-believer that when a person dies, the soul does not perish with the body. While siding with Descartes and his belief in a perfect God, this essay seeks to review the issues of dualism and meditation, through the eyes of Descartes and Plato.
In the First Meditation, Descartes invites us to think skeptically. He entices us with familiar occasions of error, such as how the size of a distant tower can be mistaken. Next, an even more profound reflection on how dreams and reality are indistinguishable provides suitable justification to abandon all that he previously perceived as being truth. (18, 19) By discarding all familiarity and assumptions, Descartes hopes to eliminate all possible errors in locating new foundations of knowledge. An inescapable consequence of doubting senses and prior beliefs
It is the purpose of this essay to examine both Descartes’ Cogito argument and his skepticism towards small and universal elements, as well as the implications these arguments have on each other. First, I will summarize and explain the skepticism Descartes’ brings to bear on small and universal elements in his first meditation. Second, I will summarize and explain the Cogito argument, Descartes’ famous “I think, therefore I am” (it should be noted that this famous implication is not actually something ever said or written by Descartes, but instead, an implication taken from his argument for his own existence). Third, I will critique the line of reasoning underlying these arguments. Descartes attacks
Baker amuses readers with a humorous take on items we interact with every day. In this piece, he classifies and examines inanimate objects into three categories- those that don’t work, those that break down, and those that get lost. The sole purpose of all these lifeless objects is to defeat man. Baker hypothesizes that man and inanimate objects may live together peacefully but doubts it.
“We are left alone, without excuse. This is what I mean when I say that man is condemned to be free” (Sartre 32). Radical freedom and responsibility is the central notion of Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy. However, Sartre himself raises objections about his philosophy, but he overcomes these obvious objections. In this paper I will argue that man creates their own essence through their choices and that our values and choices are important because they allow man to be free and create their own existence. I will first do this by explaining Jean-Paul Sartre’s quote, then by thoroughly stating Sartre’s theory, and then by opposing objections raised against Sartre’s theory.
It endeavors with portray the nonsensical perspective about man 's nature, will typify nothingness and see it Likewise An widespread sourball about fear, on doubt concepts, Furthermore will underscore experiential solidness.