What made Rudolf Nureyev an outstanding dancer? Some insights from biographer Julie Kavanagh’s Rudolf Nureyev: The Life. On his focus as a student and his eliminating non-essentials from his life: “I’ve always tended to reject everything in life which doesn’t enrich or directly concern my single dominating passion.” A fellow student noted: “When Rudolf arrived […]
Nureyev as thinking dancer (and movie recommendation) Read More »
Artist Michael Newberry and I did a joint session at the Atlas Retreat in Malibu. Our topic was Postmodernism versus Evolutionary Art. In this article, Newberry writes up our themes with accompanying pictures. “The BBC took a poll of 500 people in the art world and the result was that The Fountain, the urinal pictured above,
Newberry reports: postmodern vs. evolutionary art Read More »
Art begins in the mind of a creative individual. The artist takes his significant experiences and thoughts as raw material and creates a perceptual embodiment for them. Each artist makes independent judgments about which of his experiences and thoughts are significant. And to the best of his ability and with his unique style, each artist
Post-Postmodern Art [original text] Read More »
[In July 2015 I gave a talk at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on “The Next Revolution in Art.” The text of my talk follows.] Why art matters to us Art is a perennial human desire. We need and hunger for stories, images, and sounds that are unique, beautiful, self-affirming, and/or profound. We love to
The Next Revolution in Art — my lecture in Hong Kong Read More »
With much thanks to Matheus Pacini for his work on the transcription, below is the text for my “13 arguments for liberal capitalism in 13 minutes.” The original videos are at YouTube. The graphic integration of the arguments in a flowchart is here. And here’s the transcript in PDF. 13 Arguments for Liberal Capitalism in
Transcript of “13 arguments for liberal capitalism in 13 minutes” Read More »
How did Beethoven become Beethoven? “The ‘personality’ of such a man as Beethoven is a slowly developed synthetic whole. It is formed by the gradual combination of its constituent elements into an organic unity. For the development of a personality a rich and profound inner life is necessary, and for that reason it is usually
Creative geniuses as selfish — Beethoven version Read More »
When Mstislav Rostropovich was already an accomplished cellist at age 19, he began teaching at the Moscow Conservatory: “But it was also obvious to me that the most important priority was to educate my pupils to love music. And parents should aim to stimulate in their children a love for music and not a love
Rostropovich on love and music education Read More »
The great Rachmaninoff on what the creator needs and what this implies for others: “A creator is a very limited person. Always he revolves around his own axis. There is nothing for him but his own creative work. I agree that the wife has to forget herself, her own personality. She must take upon herself
Creative geniuses as selfish — Rachmaninoff version Read More »
How Art became Ugly 2019 lecture in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Kant’s Philosophy and Modernist Art 2023 interview in Norway, with Jan-Ove Tuv. The Next Revolution in Art My 2015 lecture in Hong Kong. Translation into Cantonese. Why Art Became Ugly Article first published in Navigator (Volume 7, Number 7), September 2004.Translations: German [pdf], Korean [pdf],
My publications and posts on major figures and movements in the history of ideas. Jump to: Before Philosophy * Thales * Socrates * Plato * Aristotle * The Stoics * Augustine * Aquinas * The Renaissance * The Reformation * Bacon * Descartes * Spinoza * Locke * The Enlightenment * Hume * Smith *
Intellectual History Read More »