The Thinker’s Job
Mar 21st, 2008 by Micah Tillman | 2 Comments |
Just as the Artist has a “job,” the Thinker has one too:
To (help) provide windows through which the people of her or his time can see truth.
There is always the pressure to be original, but the most fundamental truths never change. There are no “discoveries” of “new truths.”
What allows a Thinker to be original is the fact that the myths (i.e., stories, ideas, concepts) through which people see the world change from age to age (and place to place). To see through all their “windows” simultaneously, people will tend to herd together into new “spots” in intellectual space.
But not all windows are equally clear, and not all windows reveal what they claim is beyond them. Thus each new generation (or group) will need new windows through which to see the same truths their forebears had seen.
Taking this into account, the Thinker must be concerned with the quality and location of the windows he or she designs.
If it turns out he/she produced faulty windows, however, all is not lost. Often, bad windows lead other Thinkers to create better ones. They show — even if only by process of elimination — the places in “the wall” where the windows should be (or what the pattern of cames in the window — to highlight the structure of what is beyond it — should be).
The idea of indirect contribution can be a comfort to those who are not perfect. (I.e., me.)
(Context: I was doing more work on my dissertation and got to thinking about how Tugendhat portrays Husserl’s theory of intentionality as taking up a stance which is — in effect — between Brentano‘s and Meinong‘s and — in fact — better than both.)
I know this isn’t about your current topic but you referenced your earlier post about the Artist and since I wasn’t lucid enough at the time to comment to that post, I’m commenting to this one.
I disagree with you. To state that the Artist’s job is to “discover where beauty is happening and then capture it” is to severely over simplify all that an Artist is capable of doing. Many Artists have drawn attention to significant problems or evils by creating ugliness.
However, many aesthetically ugly objects are intrinsically beautiful because of attributes they possess outside of their appearance. The death of Christ on the cross was hideous visually but it is the most beautiful Thing that has ever existed other than the person on God himself.
I have no answer to the question of what the job of the Artist is, but I’m certain it is far broader than the discovery and presentation of beauty. We’d be more than happy to put you and the Wife up for a week or so if you’d like to visit with us this summer to discuss. :)
I’m wondering whether the definition posited for thinkers might not also serve for artists. The truth which artists seek to express might be less propositional in nature, and the medium they are working in is a more important part of the message itself.
In terms of the window analogy, the artist is a little more focused perhaps an fashioning a good window. The thinker is perhaps a little more focused on what is actually being viewed.
This view, I think, accounts for Tim’s rather interesting point that many artists (particularly in the last hundred or so years) are not interested in beauty per se.