Philosophy

Making the World a Better Place Philosophy 1001, Dr. Cara Nine ‘Better Place’? ‘Making the world… ’? Making the world a better place There are two sets of philosophical questions: 1. What is ‘good’ or ‘better’? (That is, what does a ‘better world look like and why? ) 2. What kinds of actions are ‘right’? (What are we justified in doing to bring about the good? ) Ideas of the good life Hedonism Desire Satisfaction Theory Objective Goods Theory Theories of Right Action Utilitarian Deontological Feminist Virtue Theory Cases Protesting Unjust Government Aiding an impoverished community Torture Letter to Menoeceus

By Epicurus (341-270 BC) Epicurus ‘Hedonism’ in popular culture http://www. hedonism. com/ Hedonism: Different kinds of desires. Just to be clear… “It is not an unbroken succession of drinking-bouts and of merrymaking, not sexual love, not the enjoyment of the fish and other delicacies of a luxurious table… ” For Hedonism: “For the end of all our actions is to be free from pain and fear” Intrinsic vs. Instrumental goods Instrumental good Intrinsic Good For Epicurus, Happiness is secured by: A tranquil emotional state. Example: We should not fear death Evidence : Misery clearly hampers the good life; happiness clearly improves it.

But, is happiness what we want for our loved ones? I recall a talk by a doctor who described a patient of his (who had perhaps had a prefrontal lobotomy) as ‘perfectly happy all day long picking up leaves. ’ This impressed me because I thought, ‘Well, most of us are not happy all day long doing the things we do,’ and realized how strange it would be to think that the very kindest of fathers would arrange such an operation for his (perfectly normal) child. –Philippa Foot, Natural Goodness, p. 65 Desire Theory and Problems with Hedonism Hedonism Happiness is the only intrinsically valuable good. A happy life is a good life.

The argument from evil pleasures Hedonism’s response: Happiness from evil actions IS as good as happiness from virtuous actions. The Paradox of Hedonism Happiness is like a butterfly—the more you pursue it, the more it eludes you. Be still and let it come to you. Paradox of Hedonism 1. If happiness is the only thing that directly makes us better off, then it is rational to single-mindedly pursue it. 2. It isn’t rational to do that. 3. Therefore, happiness isn’t the only thing that directly makes us better off. Argument from multiple harms: If hedonism is true, then you can be harmed by something only because it saddens you.

You can be harmed in other ways. Therefore, hedonism is false. False Happiness Experience Machine Nozick thinks that the real life is clearly better, despite equal levels of happiness. What makes the real life better? Desires and The good We desire for our lives to be based in reality. This desire matters. Other desires matter, too. Desire Satisfaction Theory The good life is getting what you want. Something is good for you if and only if it satisfies your desires. Good things about desire-satisfaction theory Allows for a variety of ‘good’ lives. Good things about desire-satisfaction theory

Prioritizes personal autonomy and avoids paternalism Avoids objective values “objective” = fixed independently of your desires and opinions “subjective” = refers to your desires and opinions Motivation? Problems with the Desire Satisfaction Theory Getting what you want may not promote your good Desires based on false beliefs Fix! The desire must be based on informed beliefs. More Problems Dis-interested or Other-regarding desires Problems, cont. Disappointment: I was playing great tennis… I’d finally taken my game to what felt like a notch above all my opponents’. It should have been great… But it wasn’t.

It felt hollow—It reminded me of the story of King Midas: My success wasn’t translating into happiness. –John McEnroe—(with James Kaplan, You Cannot be Serious) Impoverished Desires Objective Goods Theories of the Good Life Hedonism Desire Satisfaction Theory Objective Goods Theory Objective Goods Theory What is good is defined independent of your desires or opinions. Objective well-being concept: Income? The objective/universal approach defended Nussbaum’s approach http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=Qy3YTzYjut4 Appeals to ‘natural law theory’, that things are good when a thing fulfills its nature. Things are bad when they are unnatural.

Solves (? ) Hume’s argument We can know only two sorts of claims: conceptual truths or empirical truths. Moral claims are neither conceptual nor empirical truths. Therefore, we can have no moral knowledge. Natural law theory’s response: If you know the nature of ‘human’, and what it takes to fulfil our human nature, then we can know what is morally good. Options for objective goods: Happiness Options for objective goods: Autonomy Relationship with other objective goods. Essence of ‘human’ Possible problem with adding autonomy to the list: Cultural variations. But Do we have to be culturally relative? Options for objective goods:

A sense of self Having commitments, likes and dislikes, values and goals. Options for objective goods: Morality Aristotelian virtue Human flourishing– “If you concern yourself not at all with what you owe to others or with what they need from you, you live in profound isolation. .. Morality is good for us because it … gives me a kind of friendship not just with my friends but with everyone. ” (Kazez 54) Martha Nussbaum: Basic capabilities. Life. Bodily health Bodily integrity. Senses, imagination, thought. Emotions. Practical reason. Affiliation. Other species. Play. Control over one’s environment.

Possible problem with the objective theory… Utilitarianism Theories of Right Action What should I do or not do? Utilitarianism A brand of consequentialism An action is morally required just because it produces the best results. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) Utilitarianism (1861) The quest for ‘the good’ is identified with the question of what is right and wrong to do. Mill writes: “All action is for the sake of some end and rules of action, it seems natural to suppose, must take their whole character and color from the end to which they are subservient. “ (in other words… The ends justify the means! ) 1.

Rationality in choice of conduct is maximizing the satisfaction of one’s chosen goal (or the goal that is best to pursue). 2. The rational goal of human striving is happiness, and happiness consists in pleasure and the absence of pain. I should do what maximizes happiness-for-me-over-my-entire-life. Acting effectively to achieve this goal is being prudent. Prudence requires a kind of impartiality. So… In merely individualistic terms: Ice cream NOW = 2 units of Happiness, and 3 units of Pain later. To maximize happiness over my entire life, I should not have ice cream now. But Mill’s utilitiarianism is universal project (not individualistic! 3. Human striving 4. The moral goal involves impartiality. One person’s good counts the same, in the determination of what is to be done, as the same-sized good of any other person. 5. The moral goal equals the aggregate happiness of all persons. 6. So, moral rationality demands that we maximize aggregate human happiness. … and animals? Problems… Utility monster: Trolley Problem Trolley Problem Trolley Problem Trolley Problem Deontology Kantian ethics Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) What matters with regard to whether an action is right or wrong is what kind of an action it is. (The end doesn’t justify the means! )

Kantian Deontology Person’s essence = autonomy Autonomy = self+rule Ethical principles follow logically. Consistency and Fairness Equal with regards to our autonomous rational personhood. What if everybody did that? How would you like it if I did that to you? Problem Case If disastrous results would occur if everyone did X, then X is immoral. Redescribe the act? But this makes the morality of an act merely a matter of its description. Kant’s answer: The Categorical Imperative (version 1): Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law. Is a maxim universalizable?

Formulate your maxim clearly. Imagine a world in which everyone supports and acts on on your maxim. Then ask: Can the goal of my action be achieved in such a world? Example: Lying The universalized maxim of lying generates a contradiction. Categorical Imperative (version 2): The Principle of Humanity Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only. Persons are rational agents The moral law is the law of reason So we rational beings are beyond value since we are the sources of value ‘Means’ only: Used as a means AND respected as rational agent at the same time: problems with the principle of humanity: The notion of treating someone as an end is vague. 2. The principle fails to give us good advice about how to determine what people deserve. – punishment and Lex Talionis (Law of Retaliation) 3. The principle assumes that we are genuinely autonomous, but that assumption may be false. Baron d’Holbach The Argument Against Autonomy 1. Either our choices are necessitated or they are not. 2. If they are necessitated, then they are out of our control, and so we lack autonomy. 3. If they are not necessitated, then they are random, and so we lack autonomy. 4.

Therefore, we lack autonomy. 4. The principle cannot explain why those who lack rationality and autonomy are deserving of respect. – What is the scope of the moral community? Argument against animals 1. If the principle of humanity is true, then animals have no rights. 2. If animals lack rights, then it is morally acceptable to torture them. 3. Therefore, if the principle of humanity is true, then it is morally acceptable to torture animals. 4. It isn’t. 5. Therefore, the principle of humanity is false. Feminist Ethics “The male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; the one rules, and the other is ruled. –Aristotle “As regards her individual nature, each woman is defective and mis-begotten. ” –Aquinas “[W]omen must be trained to bear the yoke from the first, so that they may not feel it, to master their own caprices and to submit themselves to the will of others. ” –Rousseau “… laborious learning or painful pondering, even if a woman should greatly succeed in it… They will weaken the charms with which she exercises her great power over the other sex…. Her philosophy is not to reason, but to sense. ” –Kant Feminist Ethics Previous (male-dominated) philosophy: Made false claims about women.

Identified female with nature/animals and male with reason/human. Ignored female experiences and perspectives. Un Chien Andalou , 1929 silent surrealist short film by the Spanish director Luis Bunuel and artist Salvador Dali General Approach: Women are the moral equals of men. “The right to life of women in Pakistan is conditional on their obeying social norms and traditions. ”–Hina Jilani, lawyer and human rights activist 2. Experiences of women deserve our respect and are vital to a full and accurate understanding of morality. Some statistics: Women’s nominal wages are 17 percent lower than men’s.

Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property. 3. Traits that have traditionally been associated with women are at least as morally important as traditionally masculine traits. 4. Cooperation, flexibility, openness to competing ideas, and a connectedness to family and friends, are often superior to ways of reasoning that emphasize impartiality, abstraction, and strict adherence to rules. Lawrence Kohlberg’s 6 stages of moral development: Moral Development: Gilligan Women fared poorly on Kohlberg’s model. Advancing to only around stage 3. ) Women tend to think and experience the world differently than men. Gilligan’s model or moral thinking: In A Different Voice Women’s Experience Justice is…. blind Dr. Denis Mukwege tries to restore dignity in Congo. Women’s Experience: Vulnerability to Rape Major-General Patrick Cammaert, former commander of UN peacekeeping forces in the eastern Congo: “It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in armed conflict. ” Perceptions of rape in war: From: something that is inevitable when men are deprived of female companionship for prolonged periods

To: an actual tactic in conflict. Effect on victim: Rape is always torture. Women’s Experience Increased dependence and diminished autonomy. Fewer choices and less control over important aspects of their lives (than men). Central fact of most women’s lives is their dependence. Consider a moral assumption: stand up for our rights and defend our honour against attacks: Does a woman stand up to an abusive husband, knowing she may be killed, have her children taken away from her, not know where her next meal will come from? Not just women We all are deeply connected with others.

Moral philosophy that pretends that we are fully autonomous beings without dependent relationships fail to take an important part of human life into account. Ethics of Care Importance of Emotions “Reason is a slave of the passions. ” –David Hume Motivates. Helps us Understand (Sympathy/Empathy) Care: combination of sympathy, empathy, sensitivity, and love. Particular vs. Universal Describes our obligations. Particular obligations = I have them only to particular people. Universal obligations = I have them to all persons. A strict version of Ethics of Care theory denies the existence of universal obligations.

Ethics of Care: Moral obligations come from RELATIONSHIPS. Relationship roles will sometimes require of you conflicting actions. There is no easy formula. Problems with the Ethics of Care: Must be supplemented by other theories. Or risk restricting the scope of the moral community too much. Role of emotions needs further exploration. Downgrading impartiality has its costs. Review Theories of ‘The Right’ Utilitarianism Theory Pleasure/freedom from pain is the only intrinsic good. An action is morally required just because it produces the best results. Rationality Impartiality Maximize human happiness Utilitarianism

Positives Intuitive Matches good with the right Equality Useful for social policy Utilitarianism Negatives Utility monster Animals? Conflicts with Justice Deontology Theory (Study of Duty) The end doesn’t justify the means Derived from Autonomy (self + rule) Deontology Categorical Imperative 1: Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law. Deontology Categorical Imperative 2, The Principle of Humanity: Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only. Deontology Positives

Explains duties of justice Clear rules Equality Intuitive Deontology Negatives Principles difficult to apply Problems with autonomy Scope? Feminism Theory Men and women are moral equals. All of human experience deserves our attention/respect. ‘Feminine traits’ are as morally relevant as ‘male traits’ Interpersonal ways of moral reasoning are often superior to abstract, universalized, rule-governed moral reasoning. Care/Relationships Feminism Positives Embraces full account of human experience Can account for interpersonal moral reasoning, dependence. Feminism Negatives Problems with accounts from emotion Downgrades impartiality

Striving to Live Above the Veil W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk, a collection of autobiographical and historical essays contains many themes. Themes such as souls and their attainment of consciousness and the theme of double consciousness appear in many of the compositions. However, one of the most prominent themes is that of “the veil. ” The veil provides a connection between the 14 seemingly unconnected essays that make up this book. Mentioned at least once in most of the essays the veil is the stereotypes that whites bring to their interactions with blacks.

African Americans are prejudged as incapable and thus not given a chance to prove themselves. This can become a self-fulfilling prophecy if one is told they can’t do something, they may internalize that belief and think they can’t, when in fact they can. Du Bois puts it as, “this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others” (Du Bois 2). The veil is a metaphor for the separation and invisibility of black life and existence in America; also a way to represent the idea of blacks living in a “white world”. The veil is symbolic of the invisibility of blacks in America.

Du Bois says that Blacks in America are a forgotten people, “after the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil” (Du Bois 2). The invisibility of Black existence in America is one of the reasons why Du Bois writes The Souls of Black Folk, in order to explain the “invisible” history and strivings of Black Americans, Du Bois writes in the forethought, “I have sought here to sketch, in vague, uncertain outline, the spiritual world in which ten thousand Americans live and strive” (v).

Du Bois in each of the following chapters tries to build the idea of Black existence from that of the reconstruction period to the black spirituals and the stories of rural black children that he tried to educate. Du Bois in the book is contending with trying to establish some sense of history and memory for Black Americans, Du Bois struggles in the pages of the book to prevent Black Americans from becoming unseen to the rest of the world, hidden behind a veil of prejudice.

He writes in the after-thought, “Hear my Cry, O God the reader vouch safe that this my book fall not still born into the world-wilderness. Let there spring, Gentle one, from its leaves vigor of thought and thoughtful deed to reap the harvest wonderful” (165). Du Bois wanted this book to inspire Blacks to fight for their rights and equality, he didn’t just want this book to be read, he wanted people to react to the writing and make a change. The veil also acts as a psychological barrier separating blacks from whites.

The theme of this separation of blacks and whites is a central metaphor of the book starting with the first lines where Du Bois recalls his encounters with whites who view him not as a person but as a problem, “They half approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then instead of saying directly how does it feel to be a problem? They say, I know an excellent colored man in my town”(1). The veil in this case hides the humanity of blacks which has important implications to the types of relations that developed between blacks and whites.

With their humanity hidden behind the veil black and white relations at the time of the writing of The Souls Of Black Folk were marked by violence: draft riots in New York during the Civil War, riots following the reconstruction period, the lynching of Blacks, and the formation of the Klu Klux Klan. The theme of separation caused by the veil is repeated throughout the book several times. For example slave religious practices were separate from white religious practices. Although many times slaves and their masters worshipped together.

Religion during the slavery period provided two very different things for master and slaves. For the master religion was a way to justify slavery and for slaves religion became a form of resistance; a way to resist social death and hope that they can overcome the barrier of white prejudices. Another difference is what the reconstruction period did for each race. For blacks reconstruction was a time of optimism and freedom; for whites reconstruction was a time in which the north repressed a defeated region, with ignorant former slaves, who unable to act constructively for themselves were pawns for the people of the North.

These differences created immense misunderstanding and because of that neither race was able to overcome the obstacle of learning and excepting a different culture; both whites and blacks thought the worst about each other. Du Bois unlike other blacks is able to move around the veil, operate behind it, lift it, and even transcend it. In the forethought Du Bois tells the reader that in the following chapters he has, “Stepped with in the veil, raising it that you may view faintly its deeper recesses, -the meaning of its religion, the passion of its human sorrow, and the struggle of its greater souls. Du Bois in the first Chapter steps outside the veil to reveal the origin and his awareness of the veil. He also rises above the veil in chapter six, when he explores the great arts, “I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across the color-line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of the stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they will come all graciously with no scorn nor condensation. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the veil” (67).

No discrimination is to be had when he is reading great works of art because his race doesn’t affect his ability to read and interpret them. Also it is Du Bois’s awareness of the veil that allows him to step outside of it and reveal the history of the Negro. Du Bois goes on to show his white audience the history of the Black man following reconstruction, the origins of the black church. Du Bois then talks about the conditions of individuals living behind the veil from his first born son who, “With in the veil was he born, said I; and there with in shall he live, -a Negro and a Negro’s son….

I saw the shadow of the veil as it passed over my baby, I saw the cold city towering above the blood read land” (128). In this passage Du Bois is both within and above the veil. He is a Negro living like his baby within the veil but he is also above the veil, able to see it pass over his child. After Du Bois’s child dies he prays that it will, “sleep till I sleep, and waken to a baby voice and the ceaseless patter of little feet-above the veil” (131).

Here Du Bois is living above the veil but in the following Chapter he once again travels behind the veil to tell the story of Alexander Crummell a black man who for, “fourscore years had he wondered in this same world of mine, within the Veil” (134). Du Bois relates to Crummell who struggled against prejudices while trying to become a priest. In the Chapter on “Sorrow Songs” Du Bois implores the reader to rise above the veil. He writes, “In his good time America shall rend the veil and the prisoner shall go free” (163). Du Bois compared the veil to a prison that traps Blacks from achieving progress and freedom.

According to Du Bois the veil causes Blacks to accept the false images that whites see of Blacks. Du Bois although not directly in The Souls of Black Folk critique’s Booker T. Washington for accepting the veil and accepting white’s image and misconception of blacks. Booker T. Washington accepts the white idea that blacks are problem people; not a people with a problem caused by white racism. Washington seeks to work behind the veil by pursuing polices of accommodation. Du Bois in contrast wants blacks to transcend the veil by politically disturbing the concept of what blacks are and what they are worth and by gaining a full education.

The veil is a metaphor that suggests the invisibility of black America, the separation between whites and blacks, and the obstacles that blacks face in gaining self-consciousness in a racist society. The veil is not a two dimensional cloth to Du Bois but instead it is a three dimensional prison that prevent blacks from seeing themselves as they are, but instead makes them see the negative stereotypes that whites have of them. This book was Du Bois’s “letter” to the American people urging them not to live behind the veil but to live above it.

Critical Analysis Madonna R. Stengel Spalding University In the selections, Forethought, Chapter I and Chapter V from W. E. B. De Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk, the author is attempting to explain the inner struggle playing out in the subconscious of African-American’s minds following the era of reconstruction, as well as offer his common sense solutions to this matter. He refers to this battle of dueling realities within the mind as double consciousness, using “the veil” as a metaphor to illustrate the isolation and sometimes the protection felt when living within the veil.

He attempted to help African-Americans, as well as whites find peace with each other and within their souls, by being true to themselves, instead of accepting the ascribed identities or being the offenders who ascribe those identities. This theme of autonomy and injustice is obviously a common thread of many African American authors, although De Bois takes the concepts a bit further by analyzing ascribed vs. avowed identity and the reality of human limitations.

The message, especially in Chapter V is a forward thinking, broad view that involves setting ethical priorities, educating people appropriately, while not allowing imposed limitations regarding race, gender or socio-economics to hold some back nor the stumbling block of human limitations hold other back. Therein lies the difference between De Bois and some other authors, who endeavor to empower by offering only grandiose ideals without common sense solutions. W. E. B De Bois was very concerned with this dual consciousness theory and image of the “veil” as an approach to bringing broad understanding to the African-American experience.

He believed that it was important for African-Americans to recognize this phenomenon, but equally important was the education and recognition of those who imposed the “veil. ” De Bois is implying, not so subtly, with the veil analogy that it’s a tool to separate and diminish whoever is wearing it and if there is no ability to look figuratively into the eyes, one can’t know the soul, and if one can’t know the soul, one does not have to recognize the humanity. Therefore, injustices and sub-human treatment is much easier to carry out and defend.

Also, as educator De Bois was concerned with access to an equitable and appropriate education for all, even if that meant “teaching the worker to work. ” He realized that the key to empowerment was education. He also realized that it was not only the African- Americans population that was in need of an education. He held strong to the belief that it was imperative to train blacks and whites with respect to one another’s culture, in an effort to bring peace and understanding between the races. He also realized that some people, regardless of their race, social status or gender were more inclined to be scholarly than others.

He writes, “Neither or both: teach the worker to work and the thinker to think; …And the final product of our training must be neither a psychologist nor a brickmason, but a man. And to make men, we must have ideals, broad, pure and inspiring ends of living—–not sordid money-getting, not apple of gold. ” The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not fame. So, the message is be true to oneself, and the rest will follow. Works Cited Du Bois, W. E. B. (1969) The souls of black folk: Essays and sketches. New York: Fawcett World Library.

Kiandria Grissett Business Math-7 4 / 20 / 2013 Estimation 1. Discuss at least two “real world” examples in which you use estimation in your daily life. 2. Discuss from your examples how estimating can have negative effects if you over or under estimated. 3. Think of an example in a real world scenario when a company or organization might use estimation and have negative or devastating results. One real world example I would like to discuss is how many minutes it takes me to get up and be at the marina at 11am. I work on Baldhead Island which means I have to catch a ferry to get to work.

Each ferry leaves every half hour and not a minute late and I have to be there before 11am. I usually estimate my time right on point I wake up at 9:30 am it usually takes me 20 to 30 minutes or less to take a shower, get dressed, brush my teeth, and do my hair. I leave my house no later than 10:15 am which puts me at the marina at 10:45 am waiting on the boat. Another example that I would like to discuss is getting my boyfriend back and forth to court when he has it being that he is from another county in the state of North Carolina and it takes us at least an hour and forty-five minutes to get there.

When he does have court it usually takes in at 8am. We usually wake up at 6:20am (I know we are pushing it on the time) get dresses, feed the dogs and are out getting gas no later than 6:40am. We make this long drive down the interstate driving 80 to 85 miles an hour just to make it to court by roll call but for some odd reason we always make it on time. That’s what I call good estimation. Some negative effects when over and under estimating are sometimes had to tell because you never know what may be going on, on the highway.

Let’s dig into over estimating I think can be a good thing which means you are where you need to be early enough so that you are not rushing. It can also be a bad thing because if I leave my house too early and the ferry is running late this means I may have to sit there for three maybe four hours waiting on a ferry which makes me miss money from work. Under estimating is always a bad thing because you really don’t want to be late for anything that is important point blank period.

Being that I live twenty minutes from the ferry I have to drive thru another town to get to the marina. Sometimes this town is very busy because they always have cook-offs, parades, and sometimes just traffic from the outage. So under estimating for me sometimes is a no, no because I never know how traffic is going to be. An real world example scenario being that I am a cosmetologist and I use to work in a hair salon and some specials we use to run were negative because it use to bring a lot of business but when the specials were over it was like back to running a slow salon.

I think it was devastating to the owner because she was estimating that she had a great salon and a good location and it would bring a lot of clientele but because this town is so small I tried to explain to her some of these people don’t like to change up their stylist because they have been going to them for a long time. So she estimated by running specials it would bring customers and keep them coming but she was sadly mistaken.

Aesthetics – Emotionalism ART – 170-N Indiana Wesleyan University April 13, 2013 Abstract I have read and understand the plagiarism policy as outlined in the syllabus and the sections in the Student Bulletin relating to the IWU Honesty/Cheating Policy. By affixing this statement to the title page of my paper, I certify that I have not cheated or plagiarized in the process of completing this assignment. If it is found that cheating and/or plagiarism did take place in the writing of this paper, I understand the possible consequences of the act/s, which could include expulsion from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Aesthetics – Emotionalism When it comes to art work there are several different theories of understanding and interpreting art work. The best way this author understands art work and appreciates art work is through emotionalism. The theory of emotionalism is defined as, “the most important element about a work of art is its vivid communication of moods, feelings, and ideas” (Indiana Wesleyan University Syllabus, 2013). For art work to speak to this author there must be vivid feelings, an obvious mood displayed, or an idea of understanding.

While there are several pieces of art throughout the textbook, Gardner’s Art through the Ages, there are three that really show why this author appreciates art work with emotionalism shown. These three pieces of art will show why emotionalism is something to be appreciated in art work. The first piece of art that depicts emotionalism is, the portrait of Caracalla, ca 211-217 CE, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, p. 114 (Kleiner, 2010, p. 114). To this author the portrait depicts emotion or feelings. If one was to look at this piece one might think that this person was angered or in fear of someone or something.

A piece of art that makes one think, what is going on or what is on this person’s mind, is a piece of art that this author really appreciates. Emotionalism art work is art work that makes the viewer look for feelings in which this piece does. This author believes that the portrait of Caracalla is a great example of the theory of emotionalism, and could easily be described as to why. The next example of emotionalism found in the text book is, A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, New York Public Library, New York, p. 360 (Kleiner, 2010, p. 360).

The art work is a picture of a field with dead soldiers lying all over. This art work depicts all of the vivid communication found in emotionalism. With moods, in this art work, one might feel sad or happy (depending on what side you are on). With feelings one could feel anger or sadness from the loss. Or one could feel overwhelmed and not sure what to do. The emotion of feeling is endless in this piece as it would depend on what side one is looking at this piece. The final emotion is ideas. With ideas in this piece, one might think that this side lost or could draw quick conclusions by the death total.

This piece of art prompts a lot of ideas that could quickly draw one to the piece. The title alone would lead one to draw ideas on what has happened. This author feels that this piece of art work is another great piece that show emotionalism. The final piece of art that this author feels that best shows emotionalism is, Max Beckmann, Night, 1918-1919 Kunstsammlung Noedrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, p. 400 (Kleiner, 2010, p. 400). This piece of art displays the feelings of the artist as to portray what he believed was the brutality of the 20th century. The art work shows disfigured people being pulled, stretched, and twisted.

This art work gives the idea that society is harsh and people are being torn apart trying to survive. Again, this is another great example of emotionalism, because the people in the art work show feeling and moods. This art work could easily be described as a display of emotion. This could also be described as art work to show the hectic change of event brought on by the new society’s expectations. This work by Max Beckmann is a great piece to explain emotionalism at the theory behind it. As one can see there are several ways to emphasize emotionalism.

These three pieces of art work that this author has chosen, will show you the ideas behind the theory and how to depict each idea. There are many ways to see and understand emotionalism in art work. These three examples are just a few that will help one better understand what emotionalism is and how to find it in art. This author hopes that his examples were found to be helpful in gaining a better understanding behind his chosen theory and would encourage one to explore emotionalism in art. References Kleiner, F. S. (2010). Gardner’s Art through the Ages (2nd ed. ). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.

The road to self-actualization is one filled with forks. One must constantly make decisions that affect character and one’s ultimate destination in life. Some travel this road very consciously, making informed and well thought out decisions that they hope will lead them in the right direction. Others live haphazardly, not taking into account the possible consequences of poor decisions. Often times one of the most major forks is a decision between moral obligation and private passion.

Pressing matters of family or work may call one to put personal aspirations on hold for the sake of the whole. But does one necessitate abandonment of the other? Which way will lead to a happier life? Tom Wingfield, the disillusioned narrator of Tennessee Williams’ Depression-era play, “The Glass Menagerie,” must battle through this specific plight. He struggles to find the answer to the question of when desire overrides duty. All humans are blessed with a plethora of gifts, but all have one in common: life.

This being said, there is one common humanistic duty: the obligation to live that life in the most satisfying manner in the hopes of reaching fulfillment. However, the individual decides which manner is most pleasing to himself or herself, and one person’s idea of a life well lived is wholly different from another’s. This fact should not be disdained, but embraced. Diversity is what allows for unique and inspirational perspectives that can create new ideas and changes in society and culture.

Nevertheless, there are those that do not share this view, which leads to an all-too-common clash of wishes – between parents and children, subordinates and superiors, students and elders, etc. Tom Wingfield conflicts with his mother, Amanda, in this way. Her only wish is that her children, Tom and Laura, fulfill the classic American Dream of hard work and success. However, Tom has dreams of being a writer, and Laura is too painfully shy to even leave the house. Clearly there will be at least one person displeased at the end of the day.

The Wingfields live lives of short fuses hidden under good intentions – Tom and Laura do not wish to disregard their mother entirely, but they have their own wishes that she does not respect. There are daily battles over who has the right to decide the lives of the family. Tom rightfully uncovers the truth that in order to achieve true happiness in self-actualization, one must choose the paths one takes alone. As stated above, some people truly put thought into their decisions, while others do not.

This done not imply that the thought-out choice is the superior one. One can reflect upon an important decision for weeks, months, or years, and still make the wrong choice. If this is true, how is one supposed to make the proper choice? How does one settle on the fork leading to the happier life? The answer is blunt and cruel. Sometimes there is no “happier life. ” Many situations present themselves with no clear better choice. Tom debates his ever-growing desire to desert Amanda and Laura and live the life he feels he would enjoy infinitely more.

He convinces himself that this would be his happier life, and does leave in the end, but not without some unwanted baggage. Wherever he goes, he is haunted by guilt of leaving Laura behind. It is evident that even when one does all the right things, when one takes into account outcome and consequences, and still makes the decision alone, it is very possible that there is no silver lining. One must simply do one’s best to make the decisions one feels good about and live with them.

Introduction

The connexion between the built and the unbuilt / between the “indoor” and the “outdoor”/ between the mass and the nothingness is a really sensitive and problematic subject.

The experience of a infinite can be badly affected by the ways its borders are treated, i.e. by commanding how a individual enters/exits the infinite. Transitional experience plays a critical function in overall feel and experience of infinites. Different types of infinites require different types of interventions on their border conditions.

A metropolis needs to be imagined as a infinite occupied by diverse sets of people with diverse demands and aspirations. The quality of a metropolis has to be judged by what it offers to its occupants – the right to populate, travel about and work with self-respect and safety.

Porosity is one of the many steering factors in planing a infinite, specially public topographic points, which are the cardinal strategic infinites in supplying the area/city its character.

Not merely does careful design of such infinites increase the aesthetic quality of the topographic point, but besides plays a major function in increasing the criterions of functionality, safety, quality and many such factors under which a metropolis can be categorised.

Porosity, is one spacial quality that can decidedly profit the public infinites, specially in topographic points like Delhi, where the person is acquiring isolated from the community in his attempts to get by up with the gait of life that the metropolis has to offer.

Besides, with the increasing spread between the two utmost income groups of the metropolis, the infinites, which are meant to be ‘public’ , cater merely to a certain subdivision of the society, pretermiting those which fail to carry through the ‘entrant requirements’ .

Apart from giving infinites back to all the subdivisions of the society, increasing porousness in community infinites can besides move as a step against increasing offense rates in the metropolis, as it opens up the infinite to a larger subdivision of the society.

Subject: Porosity in public infinites

Research Question: How can porosity in public infinites be increased to heighten their public-service corporation for the society in general?

Public Spaces

Public infinites are an inevitable constituent of human colonies. Parks, place, roads, beaches, etc are typically considered public infinites. They are the common land for people to interact with others, portion cognition or goods, or carry out their day-to-day rites, be it day-to-day modus operandi or occasional celebrations. By definition, they are infinites that should be accessible to all the members of the society, irrespective of their economic strength.

It was stated that:

Sing the standard of entree, public infinite is a topographic point which is unfastened to all. This means its resources, the activities that take topographic point in it, and information about it are available to everybody. Refering the standard of bureau, public infinite is a topographic point controlled by “ public histrions ” ( i.e. , agents or bureaus that act on behalf of a community, metropolis, commonwealth or province ) and used by “ the populace ” ( i.e. , the people in general ) . As for involvement, public infinite is a topographic point which serves the public involvement ( i.e. , its benefits are controlled and received by all members of the society ) ( Akkar, Z 2005 ) .

Of class, these definitions refer to an ideal public infinite, while the urban ambiance is non wholly composed of stiffly public and private infinites ; alternatively, it is an merger of public and private infinites with different grades of publicness. Accepting that the relation between public and private infinite is a continuum, it is possible to specify public infinites as holding assorted grades of publicness. Sing the dimensions of entree, histrion and involvement, the extent of publicness will depend on three classs: the grade to which the populace infinite and its resources, every bit good as the activities happening in it and information about it, are available to all ; the grade to which it is managed and controlled by public histrions and used by the populace ; and the grade to which it serves the public involvement.

Life in public infinites, non merely has a map in the society as a whole, but it is besides a rich beginning of single amusement, pleasance and drama. One unfavorable judgment of the predominating socio-functional attack towards urban public infinite can be that the person ‘s position is frequently disregarded. To what extent do metropolis inhabitants like to run into other urbanites in public topographic points? Barely any contriver, designer or urban decision maker seems to be interested in that inquiry. Planners and metropolis councils are eager to talk about public infinites as meeting topographic points. They find it an attractive thought to gestate of public infinites as a consolidative component where all sectors of the urban population meet. With the aid of that image they can show their metropoliss as communities, despite all the contrasts and differences. Most societal scientists covering with urban public infinite besides tend to see procedures that take topographic point in the public kingdom as a part to the societal organisation, as a fulfillment of social demands. This top-down-view, nevertheless, neglects the day-to-day user ‘s position. Do metropolis inhabitants wish to acquire together with all their co-urbanites? Everybody who has of all time been in a metropolis knows the reply: no, surely non with everyone. On the other manus, it can non be denied that at least some persons derive great pleasance from being in populace.

Whether a infinite will work good depends on a scope of facets that include graduated table, usage, safety and comfort, denseness and links. In many instances it is the person ‘s experience of walking or dancing down a street, and the quality of environment, that is the most of import component. Design so becomes about maximising pick and seeking to supply for different persons ‘ ends.

Mitchell, D ( 1995 ) adds another dimension to public infinite by seting frontward the point that public infinites are besides, and really significantly, infinites for representation. That is, public infinite is a topographic point within which a political motion can interest out the infinite that allows it to be seen. In public infinite, political organisations can stand for themselves to a larger population. By claiming infinite in public, by making public infinites, societal groups themselves become public. Merely in public infinites can the homeless, for illustration, represent themselves as a legitimate portion of “ the public”

Public sphere is best imag- ined as the suite of establishments and activities that mediate the dealingss between society and the province ( Howell 1993 ) .

Problems with public infinites

Despite the revival of involvement in public infinites, urban design and be aftering litera- ture has often hinted at the decreasing “ publicness ” of public infinites in modern metropoliss. Some research workers have pointed out the menace of recent denationalization policies, and claimed that public infinites, traditionally unfastened to all sections of the population, are progressively being developed and managed by private bureaus to bring forth net income for the private sector and function the involvements of peculiar subdivisions of the population ( Punter, J 1990 ) . Others have commented on the high grade of control now maintained over entree and usage of public infinites through surveillance cameras and other steps intended to better their security ( Reeve, A 1996 ) . Still others have argued that modern-day public infinites progressively serve a “ homogeneous ” public and advance “ societal filtering. ”

These open-access populace infinites are cherished because they enable metropolis occupants to travel approximately and prosecute in diversion and face-to-face communicating. But, because an open-access infinite is one everyone can come in, public infinites are authoritative sites for “ calamity, ” to raise Garrett Hardin ‘s celebrated metaphor for a parks ( H, Garrrett 1968, cited Ellickson, R 1996 )

A infinite that all can come in, nevertheless, is a infinite that each is tempted to mistreat. Societies hence impose rules-of-the-road for public infinites. While these regulations are progressively articulated in legal codifications, most begin as informal norms of public etiquette ( Taylor, R 1984, cited Ellickson, R 1996 ) . Rules of proper street behaviors are non an hindrance to freedom, but a foundation of it ( Ellickson, R 1996 )

Oosterman, J ( 1992 ) , in his diary Play and Entertainment in Urban Public Space: The Example of the Sidewalk Cafe , points out that since 1989, several metropoliss and towns in the Netherlands have invested 1000000s of guldens in the design and redesign of place, streets and Parkss. These designs are besides meant to hold a societal impact. Many treatment Sessionss are held about the nature of societal life in urban public infinite and its map in the greater urban society. This is the instance in arguments among policy-makers and contrivers every bit good as among societal scientists and designers. Although the constructs used in these Sessionss do non ever merit a award for lucidity, some features appear through the haze: urban public topographic points should be accessible, or even democratic topographic points.

Other participants in the treatment about public infinite do non portion this belief in the possibilities of altering urban society by altering its public infinites. Richard Sennett ( 1990, p.201 ) for illustration is instead pessimistic in his latest book The Conscience of the Eye. People no longer look to be able to get by with the societal and cultural differences of the modern metropolis. They maintain their web of personal dealingss within physically and visibly segregated societal universes: ‘sealed communities ‘ as he calls them. Harmonizing to Sennett, urban public infinites can non bridge the spread between those universes, even though they are supposed to make so.

Today one can non open a book about public infinite design without coming across a image of either the Piazza San Marco in Venice or the Campo in Siena: two attractively designed place mentioning to the romantic ideal of free, accessible public infinite, where everybody meets anybody.

Comparing their idealistic theoretical account of a ‘real ‘ public infinite with the modern-day metropolis makes writers like Habermas and Sennett instead pessimistic about modern-day urban civilization. The metropolis ‘s urban district is excessively privatized and unaccessible. This pessimism is non surprising. Over clip, the graduated table of society grew, the mobility of the population increased and new agencies of communicating developed and disseminated among the population. These and other conditions led to different claims on urban public infinites

Solution?

William H. Whyte argues that metropoliss should exercise no controls on “ undesirables, ” including mendicants and aggressive flakes. In his words: The biggest individual obstruction to the proviso of better infinites is the undesirables job. They are themselves non excessively much of a job. It is the actions taken to battle them that is the job. “ The people have the right freely to piece together, to confer with for the common good, to do known their sentiments to their representatives and to request for damages of grudges. ”

In their survey with the Jagori, Kalpana Viswanath and Surabhi Tandon Mehrotra concluded that Women ‘s ability and right to entree and utilize public infinites is dependent on the sorts of boundaries imposed upon them due to nature of the infinite and its use. Therefore holding a assorted use of infinite is more contributing to free and easy entree. Very rigorous districting leads to separation of infinites for life, commercialism and leisure. This increases the likeliness of some infinites being closed to adult females and other vulnerable groups such as kids. For illustration in Delhi, we ( Viswanath, K Mehrotra, S ) found that sellers selling mundane points make a infinite safer, whether in the metro, residential countries or coach Michigans. The local staff of life and egg marketer gave a sense of comfort to adult females who returned place at dark. Similarly sellers provided visible radiation and a crowd around coach Michigans which tend to go progressively empty and dark as it gets subsequently.

But this phenomenon of safety provided by the peddlers is non understood by all govt governments. Anjaria, J ( 2006 ) tells the narrative of status of street peddlers in Mumbai. They are often described by civic militants, municipal functionaries and journalists as a “ nuisance ” ; and are seen to stand for the pandemonium of the metropolis ‘s streets and the cause of the metropolis ‘s ill-famed congestion. On the other manus, to others they represent an undeserved claim of the hapless on the metropolis ‘s public infinites. This despite the fact that even a casual expression at the metropolis ‘s streets and pathwaies shows that parked, privately-owned autos are by far the metropolis ‘s greatest invaders of public infinite, and the greatest obstructor to the motion of walkers. However. to the self-proclaimed guardians of public infinite, the civic militants and the NGOs set on taking peddlers from the metropolis ‘s streets, these facts are irrelevant. Vicinity by vicinity, the metropolis ‘s pathwaies must be reconfigured, disorderly pathwaies must be made monofunctional. The offense of the peddler is to belie this dream. And, therefore they have become a “ public nuisance ” because, by working on the street, they are engaged in an activity that contradicts the supposed cosmopolitan ideals of the modern public infinite.

The inquiry may be how do we convey the ethos of privatized infinite that we have become used to together with the return to more democratic values that many people aspire to for the Millennium? Kath Shonfield in her recent part to the Demos series on the ‘Richness of Cities ‘ ( Shonfield, 1998 ) focuses on public infinite and what she calls the new urbanity. She promotes the ‘urban right to roll ‘ and suggests alteration to urban policy that would include urban rights to entree, widening public entree as a rule of new developments, and re sing the thought of the arcade as an urban design theoretical account to be explored. ( cited Jon, R 1999 )

In order to determine the design, size and signifier of public infinites in town Centres, it is necessary to understand their functions and maps. Public infinites in town Centres can be classified in two wide classs: links and nodes. Linkss are roads, pavings or pedestrianized countries which constitute paths leting motion between land utilizations and attractive forces. Nodes are transverse roads where a figure of links meet in the signifier of public infinites such as market squares or place.

There have been different theoretical accounts of gender witting planning adopted by metropoliss to react to violence against adult females and adult females ‘s fright of force. The “ broken Windowss ” attack focuses on zero-tolerance to offense, closed circuit telecastings ( CCTV ) and an exclusionary attack to making safer infinites [ Mitchell, D 2003 ] . This attack criminalises certain sorts of people and behaviour such as cheery work forces. The safer communities theoretical account on the other manus, puts forth a vision of doing public infinites safer through activities, land usage, societal mix and affecting users in planing schemes and enterprises for safer public infinites. These are seen to be more contributing to constructing ownership instead than the top-down attack of the “ broken Windowss ” . The safer communities initiatives emphasise “ activity, land usage and societal mix ” ( Whitzman, C 2006, cited Viswanath, K and Mehrotra, S 2007 )

Stavros Stavrides ( 2007 ) says:

Alternatively of thought of societal individualities as delimited parts one can see them as interdependent and pass oning countries. In an attempt to depict urban infinite as a procedure instead than a series of physical entities, we can detect patterns that oppose a dominant will to repair spacial significances and utilizations. These patterns mould infinite and make new spacial articulations since they tend to bring forth threshold infinites, those mediate countries that relate instead than divide. Urban porousness may be the consequence of such patterns that perforate a secluding margin, supplying us with an alternate theoretical account to the modern metropolis of urban enclaves. A metropolis of thresholds could therefore stand for the spatial property of a public civilization of reciprocally cognizant, mutualist and involved individualities.

Walter Benjamin, in his essay entitled “ Naples, ” explored the thought of verve and assortment in the modern metropolis. The porous stones of Naples offered him an image for a city’s public life: “As porous as this rock is the architecture. Building and action interpenetrate in the courtyards, arcades and stairways” ( Benjamin, W 1985 ) . Porosity seems to depict, in this transition, the manner in which urban infinite is performed in the procedure of being appropriated ( Sennett 1995 ) . It is non that action is contained in infinite. Rather, a rich web of patterns transforms every available infinite into a possible theatre of expressive Acts of the Apostless of brush. A “passion for improvisation” as Benjamin describes this public behaviour, penetrates and articulates urban infinite, loosening socially programmed correspondences between map and topographic point. Porosity is therefore an indispensable feature of infinite in Naples because life in the metropolis is full of Acts of the Apostless that overflow into each other. Defying any clear limit, infinites are separated and at the same time connected by porous boundaries, through which mundane life takes signifier in reciprocally dependent public public presentations. Therefore, “just as the life room reappears on the street, with chairs, fireplace and communion table, so, merely much more aloud, the street migrates into the life room” ( Benjamin 1985 ) . Porosity characterizes above all the relationship between private and public infinite, every bit good as the relationship between indoor and out-of-door infinite. For Benjamin porousness is non limited to spacial experience. Urban life is non merely located in infinites that communicate through transitions ( “pores” ) , but life is performed in a pacing that fails to wholly separate Acts of the Apostless or events. A temporal porousness is experienced while eating in the street, taking a sleep in a fly-by-night corner, or imbibing a speedy espresso standing in a Neapolitan cafe . It is as if Acts of the Apostless are both detached and connected through temporal transitions that represent the unstable fugitive experience of juncture. Everyday occasions therefore seem to switch and rearrange beat and paths of usage ( de Certeau 1984 ) . merely located in infinites that communicate through transitions ( “pores” ) , but life is performed in a pacing that fails to wholly separate Acts of the Apostless or events. A temporal porousness is experienced while eating in the street, taking a sleep in a fly-by-night corner, or imbibing a speedy espresso. It is as if Acts of the Apostless are both detached and connected through temporal transitions that represent the unstable fugitive experience of juncture. Everyday occasions therefore seem to switch and rearrange beat and paths of usage ( de Certeau 1984, cited Stavrides, S 2007 )

Harmonizing to Starvides, Porosity may hence be considered an experience of habitation, which articulates urban life while it besides loosens the boundary lines which are erected to continue a rigorous spatial and temporal societal order.

Thresholds, therefore play an of import function in happening the drama of connexion and sepration between infinites. A survey of thresholds can assist uncover the existent correspondence and mutuality between spacial individualities.

In post-colonial Asiatic metropoliss like Hong Kong similar conditions of urban porousness exist. Hong Kong ‘s urban environment is devoid of the cultural conditions that mark the traditional “ universe metropoliss ” of the West. There are no memorable public infinites, no refined residential cloth, and no model memorials to religion, political relations, art, cognition or civilization.

“Urban life in Hong Kong is traditionally additive in signifier. The functions of Parkss, plaza and gardens in Hong Kong take on maps that alteration with the clip of the twenty-four hours. They are by nature multipurpose infinites, festival evidences, concert sites, and jury-rigged athleticss spheres. While these unfastened infinites are to the full utilized in cardinal times, they lack any individuality and are normally wastes and lifeless when non in use.” ( Lu, L 2005 )

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