Brett

What is a country, anyway?

If you were an immigrant from a different culture wouldn’t you have to strive to find that? And because of that would you feel part of it or not?

As much as I wish this wasn’t true I think you’re right. I’d like to find some objective merit. But I’m reminded of what someone said about the Shoah,...

Maybe it doesn’t mean anything anymore.

It’s like saying that posters on this site are just ‘geeks with dictionaries’ and they all disagree so philosophy is a con and that Plato, Hume, etc. ...

Like this phrase. As if there’s some effort to hide the fact that there’s no ‘merit’ in art and that it’s a con.

I understand that, but I feel there’s not really an attempt here to try and find that merit through discussion. To try and pin it down the best we can...

I think it’s worthwhile, in determining whether a novel, for instance, has artistic merit, to remain with the genre the book lives in. The works of Ga...

Would you consider reviews of books by other authors as at least having some basis for making judgements on ‘merit’?

You left out some of the other reasons critics may have for reaching a conclusion about a book, ideas like: quality of writing, plot, characters, gram...

True, we could. And I’m sure the writers play with symbolism and ideas, but I can’t imagine that the bulk of the audience, who go for the action, are ...

It’s convenient to pass off ‘Romeo and Juliet’ this way, it helps your argument. What could be taken from the play, if you bothered is: ideas about ma...

This sounds exactly like Transformer movies, but it doesn’t sound like ‘The Tempest’. If you think this sums up those movies then you’re probably righ...

I think this is right. There’s no point approaching it from this position. But we could actually compare what Shakespeare does compared to Bay. For in...

I’m not trying to be smart here, but if you don’t have those, maybe you’re an immigrant and a citizen, does that mean you’re not part of that country?

I think it does mean more than just living there. You relate to the nature of the people and its culture. But I'm not sure what that's like if you are...

Never mind, you did well.

But you have and we see it and it’s not Trump.

I think you just won.

The term elitist seems to be defined by those who don’t like them. I don’t really know who they are. I have some idea of who you think they are. So wh...

I think, looking back on history, the elites have always owned the art, whether it’s the Vatican or the rich. I imagine the individual, or individuals...

You're slippery but transparent.

Actually, whether there was a demand for it or not by consumers art would still exist and the discussion would still be alive.

Well we are if you think it was made because you wanted it, that you asked for it.

I’m saying you didn’t get it because you asked for it. You found it.

I’m happy to exclude art critics, but if you are going to give the consumer the same understanding of art as the artist then you yourself don’t know a...

You didn’t ask for it, it was given to you. I keep telling you, the artist doesn’t care about you.

Absurdity is exactly what you’re talking about. People seem to be afraid to even mention the word these days, as if it might lead to some sort of mass...

Again, exactly.

Very interesting.

Exactly.

quote="ZhouBoTong;d5398"]However, once convinced of their superiority, the elites are happy to force their tastes on the rest of us[/ I find it amusin...

I think that still comes down to defining good art as ‘ I know what I like’, which doesn’t really help in deciding whether elitists are defining art a...

A while ago on a recent post unrelated to this I used an analogy to help me explain my point. The immediate response was criticism for using something...

Well that’s quite interesting because it resembles a little what I wrote in a post on ‘Art and Morality’. So I’m inclined to agree with you there.

How do the artists decide what to produce without creating that error? How do they know what it is?

Just wondering if you might agree that Dickens did actually carry out his ‘duty’ with his books.

The Artful Dodger.

You need to do some reading on Charles Dickens.

I think you’re probably talking about a kind of censorship here, that because of its potential art has a responsibility. But who decides what these re...

Why do you regard Dickens account as uncorrobated? He was there and wrote about what he saw.

Why should art have a duty?

Just to be sure, I do understand what you mean by this. And if the subjectivity is to do with emotions then I don’t think that’s enough to say whether...

No, I’m not suggesting you did. You just asked me to make a point about my statement that art may not be about emotions.

I’m not sure, though I lean towards being sure, that artists are producing work targeted at your emotions. If it was the case that they were, then the...

It might be a mistake to think that ‘emotions’ is what art is about.

Except your students will most likely fail their philosophy exams.

Not to the artist. Entertainment is for entertainers.

This doesn’t suggest a knowledge of art. If anything it suggests very little understanding of art. If you had a better understanding of art but didn’t...

No, you can say that. But that’s where it ends because you don’t know enough about art to take it any further, otherwise you would say more than just,...