[Artemisia] art or science: an artificial debate (Therasia)

[Reuben and Arwen]

  My responses are in text.  Esther
   
  Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:13:14 -0700
From: "Dr. C. M. Helm-Clark Ph.D." 
Subject: [Artemisia] art or science: an artificial debate on a modern
topic

To even to pose the question is to give in to the
mindset of a modern person.   No Medieval person 
would even ask the question since prior to the
18th century, the arts were merely a subset of
science - where science (not natural philosophy,
which is now essentially relabeled as modern
science) is the opus of everything knowlable.

The distinction of art vs. science is a 19th century
trend in philosophy, a taffy pull between Ruskin's
maladaption of Vasari's ideas on divine inspiration
and the movement of thought on the nature of industry,
capitalism and the technological means of production 
embodied by folks like Hegel and Marx.
   
  My advice: don't waste time on what is a meaningless
debate for your Medieval persona. Learn about what
Medieval people thought instead on these subjects.

   
  Esther:  You are right.  We are, however, modern people trying to think and create as if we were people from another time and place.  I think it's important to find out how we, as our modern individual selves, relate and react to fine arts, crafts, and sciences.  If we recognise the modern thinking, then we can start to explore how our personas would have thought and felt; especially when there would have been a significant difference.  The SCA is a modern construct without complete imersion in a specific culture and period, for me it's sometimes hard to decide what Esther thinks as opposed to what Arwen thinks.  I need to sort Arwen out first.
   
  Arts and Sciences competitions are part of the SCA as a modern construct and are a big part of the SCA.  Sometimes our entries are judged using modern ideas and ideals.  Some entries are even judged by popular vote with no documentation.  Many times these casual competitions are won by the prettiest entry, not the most authentic.  I've won some of them this way when I was new to the Society.  Well, and admitedly, not so new too.
   
  What I'm trying to accomplish by asking these questions is finding out how other people, their modern-selves and their personas, think and why.  I don't believe there are hard and fast answers that will apply to every persona or modern person.  The more input I have from others, the more I have to think about.  
   
  An excellent starting place is Umberta Eco's _Art and
Beauty in the Middle Ages_, which was the work that
put him on the map as an historian.

   
  Esther:  I've only read his fiction.  I'll have to check this out.
  
I believe I had an article in the Maple on this
subject. Juliana, is that article still around on
any of your computers? It might be worth it for
me to web it somewhere and I'm currently 1700 miles
from all my backup disks...
   
  ttfn
Therasia
   
  Esther:  I'd love to read this.  Does this mean the Maple is up and running again?  Hooray!  I need a subscription!



       
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