Category: Philosophy

Posted on in Blogger, Epicureanism, Happiness, Inspiration, Philosophy, poet, Poetry

Epicureanism (Poetry)

images

Be Free,
Through the mind.
Reach out your hand.
Break,
The invisible glass
That blinds the man.
Idealism
Spiritualism
Will spread your wings.
Government
Should not, I repeat
Should not be existence
With Epicureanism.
Buy only,
The necessities
To feed your soul.
Passionate hunger
Drives the intuition;
Cruise control.
Money
Is not, I repeat
Is NOT a supplement
To Epicureanism.
Believe,
Discover the treasure
You hold within.
Strive,
Visual the values
Mother Earth has risen.
War
Cannot, I repeat
Cannot be a suggestion
To Epicureanism.
Void,
Educate and resist
Knowledge is inner power. 
Forgiveness,
Creates a window
Scenic viewing pleasure.
2014©H.M. Gautsch
Posted on in Aristotle, Ethics, Intro to Philosophy, Philosophy, Writer

Philosophical Vision: Ethics

We should act based on The Minimum Conception of Morality guide, through reason as well as regards to others. When it comes to ethics, there are three positive criticisms we should all know and be aware of, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue. 
According to Richard Kraut, Aristotle follows Socrates and Plato in taking the virtues to be central to a well-lived life. The virtue characteristics include justice, courage, temperance, etc. Aristotle also understood that we need a proper appreciation of such goods as friendship, pleasure, honor, wealth, and virtue all play into one another as a whole. 
Virtue outweighs both utilitarianism and deontology on the ethics scale. Not all theories are black and white. For example the things we must do or not must do. We all know lying is a negative criteria of ethics, but with a situation between an inquiring murder, lying would be considered protecting your friend’s or your family’s life. 
Utilitarianism consists of the quantitative and qualitative measures of pleasures. Bentham’s hedonistic calculus shows that not everyone’s levels of pleasures are the same. Compare a human with maybe a dog. The utilities vary as well as the pleasures. 
However Aristotle doesn’t follow Plato with sciences and metaphysics are needed for the understanding of one’s ethics. Considering there are three deficiencies of virtue, which consist of people in the categories, continence, incontinence, vice. For example, the evil individuals who wholeheartedly plan to endorse evil whatever it may be. 
For those who fall under the deficiencies, without metaphysics or sciences, we wouldn’t be able to “fix” those with psychological needs to adjust their virtue to where it needs to be. Back to the “Golden Mean”, the mean between the two extremes.    
Work Cited
Kraut, Richard, “Aristotle’s Ethics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (spring 2012 Edition). Web. 11/19/2012. .
Posted on in Argument, art, Emily Dickinson, Philosophy, Philosophy of the Arts, Poetry, therapy

Philosophical Vision: Institutional Theory

The institutional theory is the most complex theory in the aesthetics field. Also, the most recent that covers the definition of, “what is art?” According to this theory, the argument holds, “X is an artwork, if the “art world” says it is. The art world consists of individuals who have intellectual knowledge on aesthetics AND history of art.

Art therapy also backs up Collingwood’s theory, as art is supposed to express emotions. Many war veterans, amongst other victims of life’s disaster, use art therapy as a process in a treatment to recover from their pasts. Whether it’s painting, writing, or some other form of art, war veterans become artists.

In this case, therapists are considered the “art world.” If the art piece is not exposed to anyone else. Therefore, it is still classified as art in the sense of the classificatory definition. The piece is an artifact created by humans and a status is conferred even if it is just one individual. (“Emily Dickinson”) It is still not none. Therefore it is still art.

However, not all art is revealed to the art world nor was intended to be exposed to the art world initially. Therefore it can’t be art according to the early institutional theory. This includes the poems of Emily Dickenson that weren’t published until after her passing and also the likes of art therapy. Therefore, theorists could argue that these particular art pieces are not indeed art.

The transition of the institutional theory from early to later, excludes the conferring sense. So therefore, even if the “art world” cannot see an art piece, it is still art, even if it is not intended for the public eye. Therefore, art pieces created in art therapy and Emily Dickenson’s poems are still considered art.

Work-Cited
“Emily Dickinson: Lives of a Poet.” New York: Braziller, 1986. Print.
Posted on in Blogger, Education, Existentialism, Philosophy

Philosophical Vision: Existentialism


According to Crowell, existentialism belongs in the intellectual history and others would debate it as a bygone cultural movement in the 19th century. One of the philosophers who developed the term, Jean-Paul Sartre, was one who argued that existence precedes in essence; whereas existence has no meaning, you just are. In Sartre’s argument he categorized things as En Soi or “being-in-itself” and the human being was Pour Soi or “for-itself”.


Alienation also comes into play for existentialism. For example, when one looks into a keyhole to another, you are a “being-for-itself” with your own definition, however when a third party witnesses such event, you are a “being-for-others”. Whether it’s the same definition or not, you are in existence to a third party other than yourself and/or the individual in the keyhole that may or may not know of your existence.
  

Some could argue that it doesn’t matter what the third party may think or feel about the discovery they found with you peeking through the keyhole. You should be authentic and be yourself during your existence regardless of others.  

Ethics play a big part within existentialism, or it should. Even though we have the freedom of choosing, we need to be familiar with moral codes whether you’re choosing utilitarianism, deontology and/or virtue. Even though the key hole is a temptation for the curious, it doesn’t look so good when these moral codes come into play.   


So, be yourself based on the good moral codes you were taught. Let’s be real, “we are damned to be free”, so therefore we choose to peek through the keyhole regardless of the ethics for our own personal satisfaction. We are back at Pour Soi with our choices over half the time. Even with sad events such as suicide. We choose life or death because we are damned for it. 



Work Cited

Crowell, Steven, “Existentialism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2010.Web. November 25, 2012. .