The Truth About Lies

Carrying on from our discussion of objective and conveyable realities, consider the following musings on the role and nature of Art:

“We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.”
-Pablo Picasso

“Art renders accessible to [those] of the latest generations all the feelings experienced by their predecessors and also those felt by their best and foremost contemporaries...[Art] is a means of union...joining [people] together in the same feeling. Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that others are infected by those feelings and also experience them...A real work of art destroys in the consciousness of the recipient the separation between himself and the artist, and...also between himself and all whose minds receive this work of art. In this freeing of our personality from its separation and isolation, in this uniting of it with others, lies the chief characteristic and the great attractive force of art.”
-Leo Tolstoy

For your Thursday post:
In one of your other classes, find a lie that makes you realize a truth. Identify the feelings with which it infects you, and consider the nature of your knowledge. Is it subjective? Can it be both subjective and universal?

Do You See What I See?

By now you should have constructed a definition for Forensic Epistemology.  As an expansion of your work, you might read this definition of epistemology, one part of an incredible resource for all things philosophical.  For Tuesday morning, please read this interview with Errol Morris, in which he discusses the objective reality of photography, among other things.  In your post, please engage Morris' position by considering whether there is something more objectively real about a photograph of a scene than about a scene its self.  Consider, also, his discussion of the rules people have constructed for and around photographs.  Are there those with which you agree?  How does this interview affect your views on photography?  How about on the existence of objective realities?

Let's Get a Sense of Knowledge

For Thursday morning, please consider sensory perception as a way of knowing.  Share two examples of things you know as a result of your senses.  Try to consider different senses, and to evaluate how subjective your knowledge is in each case.

Nice Knowing You

Today, please begin by thinking and writing about what you mean when you say, "I know."  Does the phrase's meaning change in context?  Is it always true?  Are you ever wrong, and if so, why?  Take your time; explore knowing.