Moderator: Philosophy Prof. Rick Repetti, CUNY/Kingsborough

Participants: Mark Pellegrino, Mark Gleason, Mike Sebach, Rose Richards, Angel, Jennifer, Lu, Kameiko (Ally) Main

Topic: Philosophical inquiry into the nature of art. What is art? Are there criteria for what counts as art and what does not, such that a complete definition can be stated that includes all and only things that are art, and excludes only everything that is not art? What is good art? Possible criteria: clarity, symmetry, composition, intentionality, representational, etc.; whereas some good art may lack these, e.g., Renoir’s art has rich character. Is photography art, and if so, under what conditions/criteria? What is the Objectivist view of art, as espoused by philosophers such as Ayn Rand? Art preferences as mirroring, expressive of, personal values, analogous to sexual preferences as concretization and expression of personal values. Discussion of some Objectivist beliefs about and attitudes towards different types of art, and different criteria that make something count as art or good art. Objectivists’ motto, “check your premises”, serves as a way to interrogate one’s values through their visibility in one’s artistic preferences, e.g., why do I love this piece? Considerations of artists’ intentions, on the creator side of art, versus interpreters’ and consumers’ perspectives, and the extent to which either or both of these may or may not be objective and/or subjective. Rand’s view and examples of (her own literary) art as depicting values that are high (aspirational, idealizing, inspiring) as intentionally contrasted against and depicting values that are the low opposites (demeaning, cynical, destructive, death-oriented, darkness, iconoclastic, etc.). Discussion of a tendency among some Randians to replicate her personal tastes in art, e.g., Classical music vs. rock, misunderstanding the idea that it is not necessarily a type of art that is of positive or negative value, but the reasons an individual likes or dislikes a certain piece or type of art, which is relative to their value structure, experiences, etc. Analogies with aesthetic tastes in food, personal/subjective reasons for liking/valuing heritage foods, music, etc., despite their possibly being excluded as art. Art vs. decoration. Originality/creativity vs. replication/duplication vs. representational/reality-depicting.

Tangential topics: Samuel Meisner, Meisner work, mindful listening, speaking, focusing, etc. Free will and the internal/external factors that thwart its exercise.