Re: lexicon
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Sunday, June 1, 2003, 21:08 |
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On Sun, Jun 01, 2003 at 01:43:34PM -0400, Sally Caves wrote:
> Why do you think that? Why can't art also be "hard-wired" in the brain?
Well, maybe we just haven't studied art sufficiently to identify the
universals, but the term is applied so broadly that I can't see
what it is that might be "hardwired art."
> Art is a fundamental aspect of human society and has been from the beginning,
> evolving along with language and culture. What has changed our
> understanding of this basic human truth is the scientific revolution, and
> scientific materialism. We are basically machines, we function to get
> things done, society functions to provide us with the basics, art is an
> excrescence belonging to those "humanist" guys.
Back up a bit. We ARE machines, but usually the term "humanist" is
reserved for the folks who agree with that statement. And while I agree
with it, I certainly don't think art is an "excrescence". I'm a bit of
an artist myself - drawing as well as conlanging. And it may be that
it's part of our programming, but I still don't think it's as fundamental
as language.
-Mark
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