However the view that art should be valued for its expressive qualities or catharsis as Aristotle called it; the emotional purging and cleansing. He believed people watched tragedies to make themselves emotional and upset but in a way happy, as they then have purged any negative emotion they had. If art was merely something that caused emotion it would be trivial, but the fact that art can convey something that is transcendent lies its value. However the argument that forms matters shows us that anything can trigger emotions such as pity or fear, without having to be art, but formal qualities are unique.…
A very different view of beauty came from Immanuel Kant, an 18th century German philosopher whose work sparked changes in many fields including aesthetics. He holds our mental faculty of reason in high regard and believes that it is our reason that fills the world we experience with structure. He argues that it is our capability of judgment enables us to have experience of beauty and grasp those experiences as part of an ordered, natural world with purpose. (Douglas…
David Hume is a renowned Philosopher that has shaped the ideas of cause and effect (causality) as we know them today. He suggested that true cause and effect relationship has to be the result of A causing B. The occurrence of B happening is contingent on the fact that A occurs before B, thus causing B to happen. Since he holds that this is the only rational way to conclude that one thing causes another to happen, he goes as far as to say that human beings will never know the exact cause that takes place in order for B to be the result. Hume comes to this conclusion because he maintains that there are secrete causes that cannot be observed by the human eye, thus it is impossible for humans to rationally conclude that one thing caused another…
Pragmatism is based on the philosophy that ideas must be tested and re-tested, that experiences dictate reality. Pragmatists also believe in no absolute truths or values existing. David Hume argues that, "no proof can be derived from any fact, of which we are so intimately conscious; nor is there anything of which we can be certain, if we doubt this" (Treatise 2645). Hume's empiricist ideals were roots to early pragmatic thought, by way of the theory that, in our reality, nothing is certain and everything that can be sensed must be constantly qualified to find a place in reality.…
perception of self. Many people have presupposed perceptions of self. Many consider Hume to be archaic. 17th century worldview presupposes science and science's worldview of understanding nature. Wood has a view of nature as mechanistic, Hume shares Wood's view. With Hume it's presupposed. People often jump to Wood's presuppositions without questioning his initial reasoning. Science is essentially mathematics applied to nature. Ledger Wood says everything is mechanistic; man is just a cog in nature's mechanism. Hume buys into the same view of nature. Too many people see nature as mechanistic, although nature is a mechanism. This is the modern/mechanistic world view. People see the uniformities in nature…
In ancient Athens, a person who committed suicide without the approval of the state was denied the honors of a normal burial. The person would be buried alone, on the outskirts of the city, without a headstone or marker.[146] However, it was deemed to be an acceptable method to deal with military defeat.[147] In Ancient Rome, while suicide was initially permitted, it was later deemed a crime against the state due to its economic costs.[148]…
knowledge,” (CW, I.233) or, as he also calls it, “intuitionism,” which was espoused in different ways by Kant, Reid, and their followers in Britain (e.g. Whewell and Hamilton). Though there are many differences among intuitionist thinkers, one “grand doctrine” that Mill suggests they all affirm is the view that “the constitution of the mind is the key to the constitution of external nature—that the laws of the human intellect have a necessary correspondence with the objective laws of the universe, such that these may be inferred from those.” (CW, XI.343). The intuitionist doctrine conceives of nature as being largely or wholly constituted by the mind rather than more or less imperfectly observed by it. One of the great dangers presented by…
As a means of fully understanding the argument brought forward by Hume’s, one must understand certain key words used. According to Merriam Webster dictionary online coherence can be defined as “logically or aesthetically ordered or integrated, having clarity or intelligibility, having the quality of holding together”; and constancy is “the quality of staying the same : lack of change, the quality of being loyal to a person or belief, steadfastness of mind under duress”. Constance and coherence are biological dispositions, wired into the very fabric of our mind. The mechanism of constancy and coherence, as described by Hume…
Every philosopher begins with the premises from which he bases his entire philosophical theory. Descartes rejects all the premises and holds innate into question. He withholds all the assumptions and only believes in things that can be proven. His goal in subjecting everything to methodical doubt is you don’t know it is true until you have the proof. Descartes begins by doubting his own existence and starts with the premise, “I think I am therefore I am”. He is not sure whether he exists or not but the fact that he is thinking is the proof that his mind exists. Descartes is Mind-Body dualist and although mind cannot exist without a body, he believes mind and body are separate from each other. He proved that mind exists but that doesn’t prove that the body exists. He undertakes pyramidical approach and base of all his premise is that his mind exists and from there follows series of all other premises. He then proves that he has innate ideas from which he proves God exists which leads to the proof that his body exists. Descartes proves he exists by the virtue of thinking therefore he has the concept idea of “self”.…
According to David Hume, “A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence.” In order to believe in something there must be a solid amount of evidence to substantiate the knowledge or the belief. Evidence is in this case, is defined as something that is presented in support of an assertion. Though it is important to note that the support that an evidence provides could be either strong or weak. As for something to be considered a ‘strong’ form of evidence, it must be provided with anything that links it towards direct proof. Different areas of knowledge require different forms of evidence that would lead to prove the belief. By using two areas of knowledge as an example in this essay, I will discuss the extent of evidence needed…
Hume believed that all morality was the product of habit or custom. He also claimed that it was our sentiments that was influencing human moral and actions. We use these sentiments, or feelings, to find a conjunction between the motive, not the reason, behind an action and actually performing the action itself. Hume believed that our sentiments had the power to result in specific actions. At a certain point, this means we are predetermined to act as we do. These sentiments control our actions to the degree of casual need, or the habitual expectation that what happen today will happen again the next day and so on unless given reason to believe otherwise.…
In his Treatise of Human Nature David Hume offers two categories of virtue which aim to divide the moral terrain into the natural and the artificial virtues. In order to assess Hume’s distinction, I shall firstly establish what Hume identifies ‘virtue’ to be. I shall then proceed to catalogue two distinctions employed by Hume in establishing his distinction: their degree of partiality and equality and the motive distinction. As Hume’s distinction has been contested for its blurriness I shall thus proceed to refocus Hume’s distinction by arguing that it is their motive that ultimately keeps them distinct, thus justifying Hume’s distinction…
Impressions are emotions and perceptions caused by mental experiences, while ideas are faint thoughts and beliefs that are based on these impressions. Hume argues that external impressions of the…
Esthetic theory refers to the division in philosophy that is concerned with beauty and art. It deals with the scientific study of sensory and emotions. Esthetic theory may also be termed as Aesthetic theory. The term aesthetics is derived from a Greek word aisthanomal which means to perceive, feel or sense. It has been defined by scholars as an expression of nature, art and culture. Aesthetic is further divided into four theories; music, literary film and art.…
The word “Aestheticism” has Greek roots, coming from the Greek meaning to perceive (with the senses). Aestheticism would later come to refer to the world's appreciation of beauty, becoming the name of a 19th century concept prevalent in Victorian England, which placed utmost emphasis on beauty and pleasure in life. Aestheticism is also very prevalent in Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, centered around the life of Dorian Gray. Youth and everlasting beauty is a form of aesthetics that is mocked by the character Dorian Gray. Without contemplating aestheticism, one cannot fully understand why people desired that beauty and aestheticism in the first place. Aestheticism is rooted in a personal desire to be beautiful and everlasting like…