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Full-Text Articles in Philosophy
New Grand Narratives—The Metaphysical Worldview Of Avatar And Cloud Atlas, Josef Früchtl
New Grand Narratives—The Metaphysical Worldview Of Avatar And Cloud Atlas, Josef Früchtl
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Referring to the films Avatar (2009) and Cloud Atlas (2012), the author will demonstrate that a new era of metaphysical holism follows Postmodernism. These films celebrate a resurrection of the flesh with 3-D technology and a reincarnation of souls with the aesthetic technique of morphing. However apocalyptic their visions of the future might be, and however much they might seem to worship technical megalomania, they are also and again conveying a resounding ethical message and a taste of Utopia.
The World Achieved: Film And The Enacted Mind, John M. Carvalho
The World Achieved: Film And The Enacted Mind, John M. Carvalho
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Stanley Cavell taught us that films give us a view of a world that differs from the world in which we view films only by not being that world. Films, that is, screen a world for us and screen us from a world that is not our own. Cavell’s view is based on a photographic conception of film images. A film is composed of photographic images collected on reels and put in motion at twenty-four frames per second. In “More of the World Viewed,” Cavell dares us to come up with a theory of perception that challenges the assumption that …
The Problem Of Cinematic Imagination, Rafe Mcgregor
The Problem Of Cinematic Imagination, Rafe Mcgregor
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to identify the problem of cinematic imagination, and then to propose a satisfactory solution. In part one I analyze the respective claims of Dominic McIver Lopes and Roger Scruton, both of whom question the scope of imagination in film, when compared to other art forms, on the basis of its perceptual character. In order to address these concerns I develop a hybrid of Gregory Currie’s model of cinematic imagination and Kendall Walton’s theory of make-believe in section two. Section three offers a reply to Lopes and Scruton, examining the problem in terms of …
The Last King Of Scotland Or The Last N----R On Earth? The Ethics Of Race On Film, Paul C. Taylor
The Last King Of Scotland Or The Last N----R On Earth? The Ethics Of Race On Film, Paul C. Taylor
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
This paper undertakes four tasks. It examines a tradition of cinematic and narrative representation that we might call “the narrative of moral gentrification.” It insists on the importance of excavating the racialist and often racist images, motifs, and myths that constitute this tradition. It recommends a form of philosophical aesthetics, located at the intersection of aesthetics, ethical perfectionism, and critical race theory, as a resource for doing this work. And it insists on the importance of subjecting problematic or qualitatively inferior expressive objects to critical scrutiny for the sake of developing proper iconographies and archives of white supremacist expressive culture.
A Silent Rhetoric: The Mechanism Of Propaganda As Persuasion, Ken-Ichi Sasaki
A Silent Rhetoric: The Mechanism Of Propaganda As Persuasion, Ken-Ichi Sasaki
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Under ongoing globalization the particularity of cultures has become a major topic in contemporary aesthetics. Someone insists on the right of national culture against globalism, others wish to bridge cultures.[1] Apparently opposing one another, they share the same gaze on the individual character of every culture. To confirm or transcend our cultural or national affiliation through art there exists the common dimension of aesthetic persuasion: that is the subject of this paper.
Film And The Public Memory: The Phenomena Of Nonfiction Film Fragments, James F. Moyer
Film And The Public Memory: The Phenomena Of Nonfiction Film Fragments, James F. Moyer
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Film theory and philosophy have in recent decades rightly critiqued earlier theorists' claims for the fundamentally realist nature of the cinema, and of photography generally. While cognizant of the problematic status of "realist" representation-of photography being somehow purely or naively representative-this essay nevertheless deliberately recuperates a realist discourse with which to value some forms of nonfiction film. The essay sees "nonfiction film fragments" as a form of witnessing, and tries to articulate our experience of such film in terms of memorializing the people and events it bears witness to. The essay goes even further in its claims on behalf of …
A Phenomenological Aesthetic Of Cinematic 'Worlds', Christopher Yates
A Phenomenological Aesthetic Of Cinematic 'Worlds', Christopher Yates
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Contemporary film aesthetics is beset by difficulties arising from the medium itself and the bewildering itinerary of film theory. Inspired by Martin Heidegger's hermeneutical vision in "On the Origin of the Work of Art" (1935), my essay seeks to overcome this paralysis by grounding the aesthetic value of cinematic art in its ability to "disclose the world" through a convergence of artist and viewer intentionalities. Stanley Cavell has gone far by exploring a corresponding "natural relation" between philosophy and cinema, but his work assumes an ontological discourse without an appropriate phenomenological method. I contend that Mikel Dufrenne's phenomenology of aesthetic …
Ariadne At The Movies, John Dilworth
Ariadne At The Movies, John Dilworth
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
Films are usually assumed to be types, with their templates or performances being tokens of those types. However, I give a counter-example in which two different films are simultaneously made by different directors, with the outcome of this process being a single template length of film which, I claim, embodies both of those films. But no two types could thus have a token in common, and hence type views of films must be incorrect. I further explain and defend the legitimacy of the example, and conclude by offering an alternative, representational view of the nature of films that can also …
Multiple Inheritance And Film Identity: A Reply To Dilworth, Aaron Smuts
Multiple Inheritance And Film Identity: A Reply To Dilworth, Aaron Smuts
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
I argue that Dilworth has not shown the type / token theory of film identity to be non-viable, since there is no reason to think that a single object cannot be a token of two types. Even if we assume a single inheritance view of types, Dilworth's argument runs into other problems. Dilworth does not provide any convincing argument for why intentions are necessary for identifying film and why production history alone will not suffice for identifying hardly conceivable forgeries. Intention is not necessary for distinguishing between fakes and the real thing, nor is it necessary to differentiate between two …
Ariadne Revisited, John Dilworth
Ariadne Revisited, John Dilworth
Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)
My article, "Ariadne at the Movies," provided a detailed, double film counter-example to the claim that films are types. Here I defend my views against various criticisms provided by Aaron Smuts. The defense includes some necessary clarification of the Ariadne article's broader theoretical structure and background, as well as some additional anti-type arguments to further withstand his criticisms.
Mixed Media May 20, 1996, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives
Mixed Media May 20, 1996, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives
All Student Newspapers
Mixed Media began as the student publication Your Name Here. The May 20, 1996 issue includes articles, poems, drawings, student events, photos, film stills and comics. Also a calendar of events including Commencement and campus activities for RISD students are in this issue.
Risd Press September 27, 1974, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives
Risd Press September 27, 1974, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives
All Student Newspapers
RISD press was a student newspaper published weekly in the early 1970s, a self-described attempt at consolidating all the information outlets of the school, including the previous student newspaper, Montage. The issue of September 27, 1974 had an article about the RISD Building Study report that took place in the summer. Also the RISD student board meeting for the activities budget outline was in this issue. Information about student health services, ads, classifieds, events listed for RISD students were mentioned.