Cartesian Persepectivialism In Art

In considering the existence of material things, Descartes accepts the strong possibility that material things exist since there are objects of pure mathematics. He provided two arguments for their existence, one based on the faculty of imagination, the other base on the perception of the senses. In explaining the first, he distinguishes between imaginations and understanding, imagination according to Descartes, requires a special effort of the mind that is not required in understanding. He gave an example using the triangle and the chiliagon. When we imagine a triangle, we not only conceive that it’s a figure composed of only three sides, but also look upon it as present by the power of the internal application of the mind. Like the triangle, we can likewise conceive that a chiliagon is a figure composed of a thousand sides, but we can not image the thousand sides of a chiliagon or view them as present with the eyes of the mind. With this, Descartes proves that I can conceive or understand a

Rene Descartes is one of the most known French philosophers among the world’s known philosophers. The most common phrase of Rene Descartes is “I think, therefore, I am” that is universally known. He further says that human being use different reasoning in an attempt to have the most equitable endowment and tackles a question on the most appropriate way that individuals might use reasoning. In his book, Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes presents an argument that opposes an individual’s trust of senses. His works are appealing but to some extent is a sense of oddity that is noticed. This paper will discuss Rene Descartes views on the sense of data, what is appealing about his argument on the senses in relation to the actual meditations.

Descartes’ argue that mind is better known than body by first claiming humans as fundamentally rational, meaning “a thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, is willing, is unwilling,” ( Descartes, 19) he therefore argues that humans have the ability to know their proper minds clearly and distinctly. He proposes the conception of the mind where the imagination and the senses are also inherent capabilities of the body (faculties), specifically powers of the mind.

Abstraction is the creation of art without representation of objects, in which the artist has total freedom of the art that they are creating. I will be using three paintings from three different time periods in order to show the development and lasting effects of abstraction in the twentieth century. The first work that I will be looking at is Foghorns by Arthur Dove. I will use this piece to show the beginning of abstraction, and how ideas of abstraction were present before the movement began. The second painting that I will be looking at is Jackson Pollock’s Lucifer. I will be using this painting as an example of the height of abstraction in the 20th century and will be discussing Pollock’s influence on abstraction. The third piece of art I will be looking at is Many Mansion by Kerry James Marshall. I will use this work to show the remnants of Pollock’s influence, and the influence of abstraction in general, on art in the later half of the century. For the development of this paper I looked at two of the course readings. The first reading that I used was The Tradition of the New by Harold Rosenberg. I used this article to show how Foghorns by Arthur Dove relates to abstraction, and to show how ideas in creation of this painting can be linked to ideas of abstract art. The second reading that I used for this paper was The Legacy of Jackson Pollock by Alan Kaprow. I used this article to gain information about

Epistemology is the study of knowledge, or how we know anything and what it means to know anything. It is where one can explain how our mind is linked to reality and if these relationships are valid or invalid. In this paper, I will first present the views of Descartes on epistemology. Next, I will clarify his view of God, the body, and the mind. I will also discuss how well Descartes presents the arguments and how well they work for each topic. Lastly, I will discuss my overall agreement with his project for knowledge in general, however, I further discuss a few key components that later philosophers came to add on.

However, one must remember that by “mind” Descartes meant only “a thing that thinks” (Meditations, p. 20), which is to say that thinking is the essence of the mind. From this kernel of truth Descartes builds up the rest of his understanding of the mind and part of this understanding is that the mind is entirely accessible to itself and in this sense is one unified thing. However, today the

Non-conformist to traditional art forms, Conceptualism challenges the viewer to delve into the mindset of the artist. It is often seen as multidimensional as it forces the audience to decipher the artists intentions. This art movement has been completely rejecting the standard ideas of art since the mid-1960’s. Since then, many artists have made a name for themselves by self-consciously expanding the boundaries of art. Many of these artists have said they’ve linked their work to artist Marcel Duchamp.

A painterly quality with an otherworldly aesthetic is what set pictorialism apart from other photographic practices at the time. This notion of perfection is what really captures my attention. What I find quite interesting is that looking into this aesthetic every man

“The division between realism and abstraction is not as clear as we might first believe. ” Within The Practices of Looking, Sturken and Cartwright examine the relationship between perspective and realism. In addition to explaining how perspective is important in replicating reality within art and video games. The example given to illustrate this perspective in Practices of Looking is a painting from Mark Tansey, called The Innocent Eye Test. The painting is a critique of the form of realism and depicts a cow stood in front of men in lab coats, staring at an artists realist painting of a cow. Tansey does this to show that the narratives never actually occurred. Realism within art ultimately provides a difficult question to the audience, what

Vanishing point was the main focus for this paper, the VP is where the orthogonal lines all meet. Knowing how to find the VP made me want to choose what I believed to be challenging pictures out of what was given to us. This being said, I chose Gas, Edward Hopper 1940, Corridor in the Asylum, Vincent Van Gogh 1889, and L`Europe-Geneva Bridge, Gustave Caillebotte 1876. In these three paintings I not only saw a challenge, but also a neat story that can be conveyed in finding the VP.

Characteristics of Abstract Expressionist Paintings-optical buzz, all-over composition, Matisse sometimes painted images on large canvases, as did Picasso but paintings still retained an object like character- the viewer needed to stand back to see the complete composition. Abstract expressionist paintings, on the other hand, draw the spectator into them. The field of vision is thus larger than the field of vision of the spectator, who finds himself in a world beyond measurement (class handouts) "Portable Mural"

Building off his established idea of the Cogito, Descartes continues to formulate an idea of how the world operates. He arrives upon one of the most widely held metaphysical opinions, especially among a majority of the world’s religions, which is mind-body dualism. Mind-body dualism states that there are two types of entities in the world; those which have extension and measurable qualities such as the body and existing separately is the non physical mind.

This paper will attempt to explain Descartes’ first argument for the distinction that exists between mind and body. Dualism is a necessary aspect of Descartes’ metaphysics and epistemology. This distinction is important within the larger framework of Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) because after doubting everything (body, extension, senses, etc.), Descartes comes to the conclusion that because he doubts, he must be a thinking thing and therefore exist (p.43). This means that the mind must be separate and independent from the body. One can doubt that the body exists while leaving the mind intact. To doubt that the mind exists, however, is contradictory. For if the mind does not exist, how, or with what, is that doubt being accomplished.

As Gombrich describes, objectivity is the ability to represent something exactly as it is seen in nature without any influence. According to Gombrich, the objectivity of the representation in a work of art does not define how correct or real the art is. On the contrary, realism is defined by the information conveyed from the art. If the information is correct, the work is realistic. Gombrich believes this because there are multiple limits to representing objectively. One of the most prominent limits is style because as much as any artist would like to recreate nature objectively, style overrules. Every artist has a unique temperament which is represented in their work, making it a limit to representing an object objectively. Furthermore, the style itself is a limit to objectivity as well. Style includes but is not limited to the method of recreation or technique. The choice of technique restricts the artist freedom of choice as the artist can only render what his technique is capable of rendering. Not only is the limit to objectivity seen in the work of art itself, but it is also present in viewing nature itself with the eyes. The artist will see certain aspects of nature that others will not see based on his technique. For example, an artist drawing a scene will focus on the scene in terms of lines. Another limit to objectivity is the preference of an artist. An artist will only paint what he likes, which is what he can paint.

In Descartes theory, known as Cartesian Dualism, states that the mind interacts with the body at the pineal gland. He believed that while two separate entities, the mind controlled the body but they could interact with one another. According to Crane T. and Patterson, S. (2001) “Descartes’ suggestive characterization of a human being as a res cogitans. If I am first and foremost a ‘thinking thing,’ an individual whose mind is an immaterial and non-extended substance, then I need to explain those relations which might be said to exist between my mind, so understood, and my body, when that is defined as a material, physical thing.” Other philosophers believed in another theory called monism. Monism is basically the belief that mind and matter are made up of the same thing.