The(Sometimes) Liberative Role.F

Slide 1: On the (Sometimes) Liberative Role of Aesthetic Education by Vladimir Zeman & Gary Boyd Concordia University, Montreal, Canada for INTERSYMP – 2007 Baden Baden

Slide 2: Enlightenment CONCERN A primary concern of the eighteenth century enlightenment was emancipating persons from the domination of the traditional religious worldviews which through texts, music and architecture had long permeated all walks of life.

Slide 3: Aesthetic education  In Kant’s Critique of Judgment there was another (in addition to pure reason) path to enlightenment, one best characterized by Schiller’s phrase ‘the aesthetic education of mankind.” Here we first survey Kant’s and Schiller’s positions, then follow with considerations of the emancipatory and sometimes dominative aspects of aesthetic education, and what is to be done now.

Slide 4: Pre-enlightenment Dominative Aesthetics - 1

Slide 5: Pre-enlightenment Dominative Art - 2

Slide 6: Pre-enlightenment - - And still continuing

Slide 7: Concern Now  Now, that our immense population and ceaseless over-activity is despoiling our little planet, meaningful humane survival depends on universal critical aesthetics-education to help liberate us from aesthetically fostered addictions to consumerism, and to various absolutist oppressive ideologies and religions, including the old religion of instrumental techno-science.

Slide 8: Aesthetic Domination C 20 “Less is more !” -1

Slide 9: Dominative Art C 20 - “Sex is war !” - 3

Slide 10: Dominative Art C 21 “War is Sexy!”

Slide 11: Beauty Sells Insatiable Consumption Habits

Slide 12: Content of Aesthetic Education  FORMAL QUALITIES & Techniques  Information, beauty and meaning all as relationships between the artefacts and systemically situated human receivers.(not just properties of the artefacts per-se)  Behaviour as the control of perception  Sociosystemic situatedness & values  Reproductive Addiction  Liberation through Unexpected Variety

Slide 13: Humans as finite and erotic beings  Body sex and mindsex are aspects of each other and tribe (all are one system).  Expected death makes the reproduction of identity-stuff (soul-stuff) psychologically mandatory.  Aesthetic qualities are among the main facilitators of reproduction of both genes and memes - as well as tribal cultures.

Slide 14: KEY CONCEPTS  Emancipation oriented social science:-  Kant’s understanding of comprehensive scientific enquiry as based on “reflective judgements”  Schiller’s project of Aesthetic Education:-”..man plays only when he is in the fullest sense a human being, and he is a human being only when he plays”.

Slide 15: LIBERATIVE AESTHETICS -1

Slide 16: Liberative Aesthetics - 2 

Slide 17: Liberative Aesthetics 3

Slide 18: What is to be done?  We must (!) democratically, legitimately, recursively, regulate the quality and availability to the young & naif, of all salient seductive observables so that what is perceived will help cultivate responsible potent persons, with capabilities for carrying on, learning-conversation supported, meaning-making reflective practical judgements (rather than alienated addicts).  With Web-based learning communities, Is this perhaps possible?

Slide 20: REFERENCES  Kant, I. (1987) Critique of Judgment. Indianapolis: Hackett.  Schiller, Friedrich (1982) On the Aesthetic Education of Man. In a Series of Letters. Oxford: Clarendon Press.  Bourdieu, Pierre (1998) les règles de l’ art. Paris, Éditions de Seuil. (also Baudrillard on Art & also on Seduction)  Boyd, Gary (1984) (1984) "Cybernetic Aesthetics: Key Questions in the Design of Mutual Control in Education" in R. Trappl(ed.) Cybernetics and Systems Research 2, pp.677-681. Amsterdam: Elsvier Science Publishers.  Crawford, 1997  Habermas, Jurgen (1968) Knowledge and Human Interests. Boston: Beacon Press.  Luhmann, Niklas (2000) Art as a Social System. Stanford , Stanford University Press.  Marcuse, Herbert (1977) The Aesthetic Dimension; Toward a Critique of Marxist Aesthetics. Boston: Beacon Press.