Module 2

Video One: Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts
 1. The keys concepts that I've learned from this video are:
-Plato thought are things are beautiful and that we are attracted to beauty
-Plato's thoughts on beauty did not take into account the role of art and aesthetics
-Aristotle did not focus on beauty, but tragedy (plays)
-Aristotle's rules of composition of tragedy: unity of action:a single action and no sub plot, time: time frame of plot should not go beyond 24 hours, and place: tragedy should stay in the same location
-Idea of beauty was overwhelmed by dedication to God
-Neoclassical aesthetics evolved during the height of the Renaissance
-Neoclassical aesthetics is an aesthetics of proportion, symmetry, harmony, and order
-Foundations for aesthetics today was laid in 18th century England
-Idea that there is special attitude of disengagement that is essential in appreciating art
-Hutchinson believed human being has beauty and harmony
-Beauty and good are one in the same
-Inner sense of beauty is innate and spontaneous
-Kant claimed that sensibility and reason are brought together through aesthetics
-Hegel's thoughts on aesthetics were highly influential
-Almost every philosopher had their own ideas and meanings as to what aesthetics means

2. Which philosopher's theory on aesthetics is most important in my view:
-I feel that the philosopher from the 18th century, Immanuel Kant theory on aesthetics is most important. He claimed that sensibility and reason are brought together by the means of imagination. He states that there is almost nothing that you can't treat beautifully. He introduced that judgment of the beautiful is not ruled bound, but is based on feeling. I agree with this statement because not every person sees and interprets things the same, for it is true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


4. How the video relates to the readings from the text:
-The video relates to the text in that the text explains much of how art came to be, what aesthetics is, and how art is different; in themes, etc, which is exactly what the video talks about just in more depth.

Video Two: CARTA: Neurobiology, Neurology, and Art and Aesthetics 
1. The keys concepts that I've learned from this video are:
-Art evolves from the brain
-Art is influenced by culture
-Conscious and unconscious and emotions are affected when viewing art and aesthetics
-Art makes us aware on one's self

3. What I think about Changeux's and Ramachandran's scientific view of aesthetics and art and what to me is the most interesting fact I've discovered:
-I found it interesting that Changeux talked about the conscious and unconscious, but I think that Ramachandran's view was more interesting. Ramachandran's view is more towards visual aesthetics and how our brain looks at art and how art pleases our brain.

4. How the video relates to the readings from the text:
-The video relates to the text in that it explains in depth how the brain functions and they both explain the significance of art.

Article:
1. The keys concepts that I've learned from this article are:
- the brain allows us to be able to make sense of the lines, colors, and patterns that are on a flat canvas
-artists create allusions which make art seem more realistic, for example three dimensional
-we do not notice lines when we look at a room, but only when a drawing of an object is when we notice the lines
-the part of our visual system that picks out light and dark edges responds to lines too
-the brain has a special affinity for faces and finding representations of them, which infants can identify too
-the brain can find faces in art easily
-the amygdala happens to respond more to blurry images of faces that show fear instead of images that are more detailed (the amygdala is the part of the brain that houses the emotions of fear, etc.)
-we may be more engaged when looking at something because the visual system is distracted
-luminance tends to appear when there is color contrast
-luminance allows our brains to think something is brighter, even though it really is not
-artists use luminance in their works to give three dimensions, when there are shadows and different lighting used that make the art seem like their is actually depth to them
-the brain is tricked by this three dimensional element
-we often do not notice shadows and how they can be obscure shaped or misplaced
-the "peak shift principle" that animals that are attracted to a certain shape will be more attracted to it if it is an over the top version of that previous shape
-things can look out of the ordinary to us, but our brain enjoys them

2. Which philosopher's theory on aesthetics is most important in my view:
-Well I think that Picasso has a pretty important theory because he stated "we all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies." Picasso was from the 20th century. I think Picasso's statement is important because like the article says with this "lie" art would not exist and people would not enjoy art. Due to this realization of truth through art, people can understand the artist's motives, emotions, and feelings, which directly relates to the text from Living with Art.

3. What I think about Changeux's and Ramachandran's scientific view of aesthetics and art and what to me is the most interesting fact I've discovered:
-I think that Ramachandran's scientific view of "the peak shift principle" is very interesting. Through this principle our brains are tricked and to me that is very interesting. That if we associate a certain color with an object, our brains can be tricked if a different object shares the same color.

4. How the article relates to the readings from the text:
-As I previously stated in topic 2, I think that the article relates to the text and gives a more in depth reasoning as to why artist's create such works of art. The text talks about how art is created and why artists create works of art; to express their emotions and feelings and past experiences. This article justifies how artists can be creative through lines, colors, and shadows, etc.

My opinions of the videos and the article:
I thought that the videos were very informative and that the article was informative too. I personally liked the article better in that it the text was there and that I didn't have to go back like I did in the videos to remember what was said. Both the videos and the article go hand in hand with the book. All are very explanatory about art and aesthetics.