1. Indeed. He knows his musicians best, and has written his piece with their powers in mind. In this “proper” (not: original) performance he can “correct” the orchestra, and, perhaps apply newly acquired insights to his score. As long as such proper performance is a viable possibility the claim in the title is of aesthetic…

Polymodality, the synchronous perception of the world through several of our senses, is of the essence of many things. Perception is by an embodied agent, and what is perceived is a reality an embodied agent can move in (Gibson, McDowell). Through it the reality of the perceived is proven (Locke and Hacking). The principle of…

Van Luchino Visconti is bekend dat hij zijn acteurs in kostuums uit de tijd liet spelen en rondlopen om hun bewegingen authentiek te maken (men denke hierbij ook aan Walter Benjamins opvatting over hoe de camera doordringt in haar object). Men kan zich voorstellen dat de huidige pogingen om Ciné Città te behouden hun belang…

I have always understood Lacan to be arguing that children at a certain age move from the imaginary to the symbolic, and that this transition takes place with their introduction to language. I may have misunderstood Lacan, but that is not what this entry is about. It is about processing an idea. If there is…

Eerste beginsel van de retorica: ken uw publiek en verleid het met u mee te denken. Ik begin met iets over mezelf te vertellen en misschien gaat de rest ook alleen over mezelf (hoewel ik dat zelf natuurlijk niet geloof). Fokke en Sukke hebben mij nog nooit aan het (glim)lachen gebracht. Ik zie dat de…

1. Experimentation Though a core method for the natural sciences, most experimentation is prohibited for social sciences, for moral reasons (we are not allowed to manipulate people). This prohibition seems not to go against experimentation in the Humanities, since, here, the subject matter is the “products of human agency” (and not human agency directly, as…

The difference between photography and representation is brought by zooming in on another peculiarity of the vistas through windows and in mirrors. Photos, mirrors, and windows all prove that what is seen in or through them is real, really existant. And they prove this either by the polymodality of their perception (mirrors and windows), or…

As was proffered in class, artists aim at making works of art. But … when is someone an artist? Someone is an artist when … (fill in the dots) An institution is an art institution when … Well, artists must mean their work to be art and must at one time or another be recognised…

Opvoeding is geen lessituatie Lessen leiden tot een eindproef waarin kennis en andere leerbare technieken worden getoetst. Dat mensen die een reeks lessen hebben doorlopen daardoor ook tot een bepaalde manier van samenleven zijn opgevoed is wishful thinking. We hopen dat het zo werkt, maar de relatie tussen de twee, tussen enerzijds iets bepaalds kunnen…

We are so much Hegelians with regard to art. I can bring this out by arguing that our interest in art is little more than a category mistake. Sure, people sometimes make interesting, or beautiful pictures. So what? Why put them in a museum? We could rightly ask this rhetorical question with regard to old…