Professor Kant first delivered a series of lectures on education in 1776/77. His views were influenced by and are often congruent with those of Johann Georg Sulzer, the leading (and scary) education theorist of the time in the German states. (Here’s an earlier post on Sulzer.) A re-reading of Kant’s On Education highlighted for me […]
Kant on imagination in education Read More »
… is by Sting. From his 1999 Brand New Day album. If you like, listen to the song while reading the lyrics below (YouTube version here). Then further below are the lyrics with my thematic-dramatic-arc notes added. “Fill Her Up” Mobil stationWhere I standThis old gas pumpIn my hand. The boss don’t like meA face
The best religious conservative song ever [reprise] Read More »
“A contemporary who saw Leonardo working on the Last Supper describes how he stayed on the scaffolding from dawn to dusk without putting down his brush, forgetting to eat and drink, painting all the time. Then for two, three, or four days he would not touch his work and yet be staying there, sometimes an
How artists work: Leonardo anecdote Read More »
I’m a philosopher, and on the job I ‘ve been known to read literary works as “premises with feet.” Despite that occupational hazard I’m also fascinated with how great fiction writers can seamlessly integrate abstract philosophical themes with concrete literary portrayals. When I teach Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, my focus in class is philosophical, but
Howard Roark and Peter Keating: first meetings Read More »
“With his Fountain (1917), Duchamp made the quintessential statement about the history and future of art. Duchamp of course knew the history of art and, given recent trends, where art was going. He knew what had been achieved — how over the centuries art had been a powerful vehicle that called upon the highest development
Marcel Duchamp, Fountain (1917) | The ‘Father’ of Conceptual Art Read More »
The cartoon reminds me of an earlier post about Rimsky-Korsakov on the “hardship” of the composer’s life. According to Shostakovich: “Rimsky-Korsakov used to say that he refused to acknowledge any complaints from composers about their hard lot in life. He explained his position thus: Talk to a bookkeeper and he’ll start complaining about life and
The difficulties of being/not being an artist Read More »
From a later preface to Hans of Iceland, originally published anonymously in 1823: “When a man’s prime is past, when his head is bowed, when he feels compelled to write something more than strange stories to frighten old women and children, when all the rough edges of youth are worn away by the friction of
Victor Hugo on the power of the mature writer Read More »
A favorite poem, by Rupert Brooke, which I sometimes use in my Introduction to Philosophy course. The Great Loverby Rupert Brooke I have been so great a lover: filled my daysSo proudly with the splendour of Love’s praise,The pain, the calm, and the astonishment,Desire illimitable, and still content,And all dear names men use, to cheat