daimyo: Careful now! You are starting to carry on two party, philosophical conversations with yourself. That has to be a sign of something.
Sorry, I Just Don't Get It.
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I've just started reading this thread, having noticed that it has grown to monumental proportions. I shall enjoy perusing it, but one of the early posts begs an answer, and if this has already been addressed, my apologies.
Significant tax credits when the billion dollar picture of soiled tennis shoes is donated to a public institution.
As one of the very few artists who has made a pretty good living from painting pictures for longer than some of you have been sentient on the planet, I can tell you that a lot goes on that has nothing whatsoever to do with loving art. At the high end, much of the activity in the art world revolves around art as a business commodity. Sometimes, artwork is priced in the stratosphere because it is useful for it to be so priced.
Simple answer for some, not all, but a significant portion of, the gazillion dollar high end art market:
Significant tax credits when the billion dollar picture of soiled tennis shoes is donated to a public institution.
As one of the very few artists who has made a pretty good living from painting pictures for longer than some of you have been sentient on the planet, I can tell you that a lot goes on that has nothing whatsoever to do with loving art. At the high end, much of the activity in the art world revolves around art as a business commodity. Sometimes, artwork is priced in the stratosphere because it is useful for it to be so priced.
The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
The named is the mother of myriad things
Thus, constantly without desire, one observes its essence
Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations
These two emerge together but differ in name
The unity is said to be the mystery
Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders
Chapter 2
When the world knows beauty as beauty, ugliness arises
When it knows good as good, evil arises
Thus being and non-being produce each other
Difficult and easy bring about each other
Long and short reveal each other
High and low support each other
Music and voice harmonize each other
Front and back follow each other
Therefore the sages:
Manage the work of detached actions
Conduct the teaching of no words
They work with myriad things but do not control
They create but do not possess
The name that can be named is not the eternal name
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
The named is the mother of myriad things
Thus, constantly without desire, one observes its essence
Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations
These two emerge together but differ in name
The unity is said to be the mystery
Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders
Chapter 2
When the world knows beauty as beauty, ugliness arises
When it knows good as good, evil arises
Thus being and non-being produce each other
Difficult and easy bring about each other
Long and short reveal each other
High and low support each other
Music and voice harmonize each other
Front and back follow each other
Therefore the sages:
Manage the work of detached actions
Conduct the teaching of no words
They work with myriad things but do not control
They create but do not possess
More true now than ever before...because such a vast amount of wealth has accumulated into such a tiny percentage of the population. It's really more about the value of the currency than the value of the art/collectible. The high-end collectibles market has gone into the stratosphere in recent years due to that tiny percentage attempting to convert digital currency into tangible items while the currency is still perceived as having value.
The first time I saw the proof of the square root of 2 being irrational it opened a gate for me in understanding how our minds work. We are binary beings. We invented computers in our own image in that way. Billions of little "it is" or "it isn't" from data from our sensory organs, which are our only inputs. And the gloriously huge number of permutations and combinations that follow, making an amazingly diverse set of individuals to populate the planet at any one time. Mathematics and the Tao have fed my brain and soul for the 40 years since.
I have just read the three page definition of pass interference in the current NFL rulebook. It spells out what it is and what it isn't, yet on the field it certainly becomes really subjective. The rule for too many men on the field (What happens when there are female players in the NFL?) is one sentence and in practice is certainly objective. As assigned ref counts.
Which leaves me to believe that the fault of trying to make the subjective into objective is a problem of language. Language is only one aspect of our thoughts. Beethoven said there had to be music because language cannot convey all the meanings, thoughts and feelings about our universe and we had to come to some way to express this. Maybe that's a good definition of art. That which expresses beyond language.
I have just read the three page definition of pass interference in the current NFL rulebook. It spells out what it is and what it isn't, yet on the field it certainly becomes really subjective. The rule for too many men on the field (What happens when there are female players in the NFL?) is one sentence and in practice is certainly objective. As assigned ref counts.
Which leaves me to believe that the fault of trying to make the subjective into objective is a problem of language. Language is only one aspect of our thoughts. Beethoven said there had to be music because language cannot convey all the meanings, thoughts and feelings about our universe and we had to come to some way to express this. Maybe that's a good definition of art. That which expresses beyond language.
Truly that is one of the beauties of science but that does not mean that many questions will not be answered. Science grows exponentially with our technology and has expanded at a rate that we could not have predicted. Science may very well answer some questions previously relegated to philosophy. Only time will tell is we will have chance before the massive meat grinder of a universe we seem to live in, ends us.
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