Art and Human Nature Essay Example for Free

Art and Human Nature Essay When discussing art it has continuously been examined how much it is applied to human nature. In The Art Instinct by Denis Dutton he spend an entire chapter discussing the colorations between the two. Art can be seen in human nature through its history, it’s comparison to language, and its creation from humans through genetics and their tendencies. Language has always been considered a part of human nature. All culture through all ages has some manner of language. Though it changes throughout the world with over six thousand known types, the universal ability to communicate is unquestionable â€Å"Despite vocabulary and surface grammar differences †¦ languages are never mutually incommensurable †¦ This is possible because language structure is shared across cultures and because languages are ties to universal prelinguistic interests, desires, needs, and capacities (30). Language is cross-cultural and though the mannerism and speech are different they are all inherent in their ability. At the same time one cannot argue that each language and gesture changed throughout the different culture. This is how language can be considered so universal in human nature. Art can be said to have the same universality of language. Like language it has transcended through all cultures and history. Different cultures all express them in a different way, and though everyone doesn’t necessarily understand all others cultures art, it is still a human universals. Also like language, art has the innate ability throughout all societies. Art in many way is very comparable to the human nature of language â€Å"The field of natural languages resembles the field of art considered cross-culturally: both exhibit an interplay between, on the one hand, deep, innate structures and mechanisms of intellectual and emotional like and, on the other hand, a vast ocean of historically contingent cultural materials† (31). With these many colorations art appears essentially connected to human nature. This thought that art has coloration with human nature has been around throughout history. Plato though rejected art as a form of knowledge, he still admitted it connection with nature. He saw art as an imitation of nature, which was already the imitation of the Forms, which make up our true reality. This he felt was disillusion, which brought out the worst customs of human nature. Either it represented a misleading view of our world in the sense of the beauty always found in art, but not in true reality. Or that it feeds our most basic instincts From a Platonic point of view, much of the violent entertainment offered by dramatic form – from the theater of the Greeks to the violence and animal passions of today’s entertainment media †¦ For Plato, the arts at their worst are bad for the soul because they engage and reward its basest elements (32). Though you sense that Plato fears the dangerous of the arts, this is only because he admits the inherit nature of it. Aristotle however has quiet a different opinion of art. He realized that with the variety in art it provides awareness into the human condition. In his works on drama and poetry he demonstrates that impact that art has had throughout the culture and history of his own society. Also he argues for the natural tendency that mankind has to represent themselves with art expresses the innate nature of it â€Å"Human beings are born image-makers and image-enjoyers† (33). Though the idea behind art and its connect between human nature is not always the same, it has existed during the course of history. Like art, human nature itself has been questioned on wither it is truly natural or has evolved over time and cultures. With the evolution of man many of human instincts has developed over time. Natural selection over thousands of generations have helped hones many skills needed to survive throughout mankind’s existences. These effects over many generations can be considered part of what makes up human nature â€Å"pressure over thousands of generations can deeply engrave a physical and psychological traits into the minds of any species (42). However it can also be argued that much of natural instincts come from our social nature. There is always the inherent hunter-gather sense that all humans have, but on the other side are the social tendencies we all have in common Human beings, for example, are curious about their neighbors, like to gossip about them, pity their misfortunes and envy their successes. People everywhere tell lies, justify and rationalize their own behavior, exaggerate their altruism. Human beings like to expose and mock the false pretentions of others. They enjoy playing games, telling jokes, and using poetic language (45-46). This social nature can be seen as innate within all cultures. Both this and genetic predispositions of humans is what human nature is derived from. This is where Dutton true argument comes full circle. Human nature no matter its origins is what makes up humans and all that they create. With our natural instincts we developed many tendencies, and theories. Our history as humanity we have gone through many things such as survival, not only those from the environment, but from the social forces that surrounds us. All of this is what truly makes up human nature, and from all this is where we create art. This is what makes humans what they are, and with that what they feel inspired to create no matter the culture and its form of art. This is how he reasons that art is human nature â€Å" eventually produced the intensely social, robust, love-making, murderous †¦ knowledge- seeking, arguing, clubby, language-using, conspicuously wasteful, versatile species of primate we became. And along the way in developing all this, the arts were born (46). Since art is derived from all that is human nature how can itself not be human nature. Through its colorations with language, the history, and the effects that human genetics and social tendencies have had art can be considered to be a part of human nature. Art like human nature has transcended throughout all of mankind’s existence. Wither art will ever be considered a part of human nature, its impact on humans not only through history but culture cannot be denied. Dutton, Denis. The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, Human Evolution. Array New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009.

Lord Of The Flies: Our Society Suppresses The Evil That Is Presented I :: essays research papers

Lord of the Flies: Our Society Suppresses the Evil That Is Presented In All of Us   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows how our society suppresses the evil that is presented in all of us. Throughout this adventure Jack changes from a well mannered choir bo, who was scared to kill a pig, to a savage hunter who leads his band of hunters to kill everything in site. Jack was a load and strick choir leader and always seemed as if he would do anything to be leader, while Ralph was not severe or even very load, but he always wanted what was best for the group. Ralph uses the conch as a symbol of order and it is opposite to the pigs head (the lord of the flies) which attributes to the killing and sheer brutality of the hunters.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jack is the perfect example of a boy whose dark side took over when he was no longer bound down to a civil environment. After being unable to bear killing a pig due to the horrific blood, he became eager to gain respect, almost redeem himself, by becoming a hunter. He was remarkably enthusiastic about hunting. He painted his face and got spears. He eventually cared no more for being rescued, because all he wanted to do was kill pigs. The number of hunters kept on growing and he began to get other kids to hunt with him. They soon had a routine (the dance) and whenever they did thad they had to kill, because they got so pumped up when they did it. Jack then began killing as if it were a luxury. They became savage hunters as evil took over; they killed almost as if it were a sexual performance for them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As this adventure began, Jack was the leader of the choir. He was a bully who always wanted to be the leader and be looked upon with the utmost resopect. When Ralph came along as a mild and sensible boy, and was chosen ahaed of Jack as the leader, Jack was furious. Jack wanted more than anything to become leader and he began an amoral reign as he let the evil within take control. He became a hunter and a bold dictator looking bot for order, but for fun. Ralph was searching for order, yet Jack's overpowering will to succeed Ralph as the leader led him to compleat madness. He now was an killer and had let his evil half take over. By the end of the story he had become so evil,

Criticism of Quitak’s Child observation Essay

Quitak first explains that she is â€Å"working on the assumption that the problematic aspects of our experience contain the maximum potential†. However I think it is important to clarify from the outset, how she reached this assumption, as the reader does not know whether she went into the observation with this belief or whether these assumptions were developed as a result of her observation. There is another important omission relating to who the author actually is. She hasn’t positively stated that she is a Social Work student, although this is implied when she states that her observations had â€Å"implications for social work.† Therefore it is difficult to ascertain her purpose for carrying out the observations. Furthermore Quitak fails to mention how she came to select the child included in her observations, how many observation sessions took place and the length of the sessions. Therefore the reader is unable to assess whether there were any issues of bias involved in her selection process. The fact that she is the product of English middle class parents means she may be going into the study with particular assumptions, as she is observing a child who has a Palestinian parent. A significant area which was lacking in her observations was her inability to â€Å"tune in to Selena’s inner world† (pg 250), although Quitak does acknowledge this omission. She didn’t really try to question and understand Selena’s behaviour or how she might be feeling when she demonstrated behaviour she didn’t like, which meant her observation suffered as a result. King (2010) stresses the importance of â€Å"to access the child’s emotional world†.

A Prayer For Owen Meany - 822 Words

Early in chapter seven of John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany in the striptease club, there is an extensive amount of foreshadowing done in the popular Old Freddy’s which flows over into the quant Jerrold’s. While Johnny experiences an existential crisis, as time and again it was proven to him that Tabitha was lying and had been for an alarming period of time in A Prayer For Owen Meany. Tabitha, enchanting as she is, is unarguably human and that means she does have her faults, and it s revealed that lying endlessly to loved ones flows into a perfect direction according to her moral compass. If she had lived maybe she would have confessed the truth to her Wednesday nights, but considering she wanted it to be a time where she could be†¦show more content†¦Though the owner of Jerrolds reassures Johnny that it was a proper place not at all the â€Å"joint† Johnny was sure she worked at (347). Though that begs the question on why she would feel t he need to keep the secret so deeply hidden. She only sang in a small dinner club and it was considered respectable even by Rev. Merrill. Concern for how her mother and sister would react isn’t realistic after she had Johnny while going to her singing lessons and then birthing a child outside of wedlock. The same can be said for becoming a scandal. She didn’t need to lie about her dress or about her singing career but she did anyway. After all, that was why Tabitha made sure her job was good in the eyes of the Lord with Rev. Merrill. If she didn t need reassurance for her peace of mind, then why did she guard the secret if she was willing to share said secret with a Rev. Merrill. Other than the fact that Rev. Merrill becomes the father of her child, there isn t a reason to trust him more than family. Though she did lie for the entirety of Johnny’s life, whether she would she have eventually told him the truth. Tabitha was his mom and she was a very loving pers on, and she didn t seem like she would enjoy spending the rest of her life in deception. Not many people would be happy with that kind of life.Show MoreRelatedA Prayer for Owen Meany800 Words   |  4 PagesA Prayer for Owen Meany In A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving, Irving portrays the relationship between faith and doubt within the struggles of Johnny, which in the end alienates him from a normal, human life because the miraculous moments he has encountered changed him and vanishes all his doubt. However, it demonstrates that he is living in the past, which has causes grief and anger for his lost best friend, which has kept him from living normally. In the beginning of the novel, it demonstratesRead MoreA Prayer For Owen Meany1080 Words   |  5 Pagestrue to yourself. John Irving, the writer of A Prayer for Owen Meany, depicts what the constructed idea of fate and free will is conferred for Owen Meany. 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A Prayer for Owen Meany Essay In his novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, author John Irving uses a final chapter of over 100 pages to provide appropriate closure of his intricate novel. In the final chapter, Irving provides answers to large questions the rest of the novel raises. Irving answers the question â€Å"who is John Wheelwright’s father?† while also providing further information and closure, as well as the answer to â€Å"why the practicing of ‘the shot’ was so important for Owen and John.†Read MoreA Prayer For Owen Meany Analysis1023 Words   |  5 Pagesidentity means lacking these values. In A Prayer for Owen Meany, Johnny never fully develops his own values and dreams because he sacrifices his identity for dependence on Owen Meany. In his childhood and early adulthood, Johnny had a friend named Owen Meany that always told him what to do and he always went along with it. 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