Week 2

1. In the Aesthetics: Philosophy of Arts video I learned about the different views and perspectives of various philosophers throughout history and their roles in defining art and aesthetics. It was very interesting to hear the different views and how they related to current modern day works of art. It helps me to generate a better understanding of what art actually is. In the CARTA : Neurobiology Neurology and Art and Aesthetics it was interesting to see the different ways that we process art. It's not as simple as just looking at a picture. So many different elements and parts of the brain are actually helping us to interpret art.
2. I like the theory presented by Kant, who I believe is from the Renaissance era. I like the idea of beauty is in the eye of the person viewing the art and is subjective to our own interpretation. He believes that we can beautify even the ugly aspects of art because beauty is not rule bound, but based on feelings.
3. Changeux believes art is distinct from language and is a form of nonverbal communication. He used the term esthetic efficacy which is the effects on emotion and reason. Its interesting to see that we use bottom-up processing when looking at art. The way our brains interpret colors, depth, faces, images and the emotions we experience plays a role in the way we understand art. We are interpreting art on conscious as well as unconscious levels. Ramachandran states that art is created as a pleasing effect to the human brain. I like what he said about art having cultural influences, but also having a universal set of laws.
4. The videos relate to the readings because they discuss the concepts of aesthetics and the way we interpret art and its meanings from the biological aspect.
5. I believe the films were a great advantage and add on to the readings. They helped to explain different views of aesthetics and philosophical views. I also like the other video because it helps us understand how our brains process what we are actually seeing and why we have diversity in the way we interpret the same works of art.