Saturday, September 6, 2014

Aesthetic Relativism

I often write about aesthetics and the problem of objectivity versus relativism. Sometimes I feel as if I am a lonely voice, but I'm not entirely alone in my position. Here is a little video talk by Robert Florczak of Praeger University who lays out the issues quite clearly:


This is an oversimplification, of course, but I think a lot of his points are very true. From time to time on this blog I try to sort out what the issues are in musical aesthetics. If you search under "aesthetics" in the search bog to the right, you will find a host of posts on this topic from all sorts of different perspectives. You will also find some interesting debates in the comments.
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2 comments:

  1. RickardSeptember 7, 2014 at 1:19 AM

    An interesting video. PragerUniversity's videos tend to be less politically correct (at least the ones I've seen) but the point is that they stick with the truth and not aren't afraid to express it. But there are some things I disagree with, in this case the statement that graffiti can't be good art. Grafitti just like any other methods of making art can range from just ugly and not art to very impressive and artistic. I suppose the presenter was thinking of the ugly and not art type though.

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  2. Bryan TownsendSeptember 7, 2014 at 8:16 AM

    Yes, that and other things was why I said the talk was an oversimplification. His basic points are good and it is heartening to see the premises of modernism questioned so forthrightly, but the truth is that there are some very fine pieces of modern art and music, despite the aesthetic problems. Too bad Bridge disappeared, as he would probably have something to say here!

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