Descartes might, however, point out that it does not matter which forms or symbols are used so long as direct knowledge is acquired. Furthermore, it would be impossible to completely separate the artist from the form; or even the viewer from the form. Mathematics is a purer means of representing reality than painting or language. Both Descartes and Langer would surrender to the inevitability of symbolic communication. Even mathematics involves the use of symbols. Langer points out that thought "begins and ends with language; without the elements, at least, of scientific grammar, conception must be impossible," (88). As they recognize familiar structures and forms as well as colors in their works of art, Langer and Descartes would also discover that all symbols -- elements of language or not -- have a certain type of structure. What makes language meaningful is its structure, its linearity, and its discursiveness. Language...
Langer might take the conversation one step farther than Descartes. For example, Langer would note the "tendency to organize the sensory field into groups and patterns of sense-data, to perceive forms rather than a flux of light-impressions," (89). Descartes and Langer would ultimately shake hands after their painting class, agreeing that input from sensory organs is the primary means by which human beings gain knowledge. At the same time, Langer underscores the importance of applying meaning to sense data whereas Descartes remains content with the simple acquisition of that sensory input.
In "Piaf," Pam Gems provides a view into the life of the great French singer and arguably the greatest singer of her generation -- Edith Piaf. (Fildier and Primack, 1981), the slices that the playwright provides, more than adequately trace her life. Edith was born a waif on the streets of Paris (literally under a lamp-post). Abandoned by her parents -- a drunken street singer for a mother and a
Besides this, one can, as a separate undertaking, show these people later the way of reasoning about these things. In this metaphysics, it will be useful for there to be added here and there the authoritative utterances of great men, who have reasoned in a similar way; especially when these utterances contain something that seems to have some possible relevance to the illustration of a view. (13) By contrast, Mercer
This work provided an intensive discussion historical forces that were to lead to modern humanism but also succeeds in placing these aspects into the context of the larger social, historical and political milieu. . Online sources and databases proved to be a valid and often insightful recourse area for this topic. Of particular note is a concise and well-written article by Stephen Weldon entitled Secular Humanism in the United States.
Charles Van Doren has concluded that the Copernican Revolution is actually the Galilean Revolution because of the scale of change introduced by Galileo's work. The technological innovation of the Renaissance era started with the invention of the printing press (the Renaissance). Even though the printing press, a mechanical device for printing multiple copies of a text on sheets of paper, was first invented in China, it was reinvented in the
Many inquiries were made into the universe, from how it worked to its creation, as well as the construction of a workable calendar and an understanding of numerous illnesses. These collective areas of discussion fall under the term of natural philosophy, or philosophy of nature. Before modern science was developed and widely used, natural philosophy was the prominent method of gaining knowledge. So dominant and involved was natural philosophy
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