Eugene is an interesting city to people watch in given all the different styles and people. There are many places to people watch in Eugene, especially on campus. I decided to people watch at the UO rec center.

The first person was an older white man who looked like a teacher. He had a tattoo of a cross on his left calf. He looked rather healthy with grey hair pulled into a ponytail and glasses. He wore a grey cut off shirt and unbranded shorts with new balance shoes. The biggest image was the cross for me, which I believe demonstrates his value and belief for faith. The way he was dressed tells me either he doesn’t care about having the newest work out clothing or it could mean a number of different things. Some of the assumptions I am making are that he is a teacher, a believer of faith, healthy, older, and doesn’t care about the newest athletic wear. I think my assumptions point to my belief in faith, which probably why I noticed the cross. Also, I’m a fan of Nike and their products, so the fact that he wasn’t wearing any Nike apparel created a bias for my assumption.

The second person was a college student working at the rec. She was wearing a blue UO rec shirt and leggings with a fuel band on her wrist. She had earrings in each ear and her hair tied back. The most eye catching item were the bright orange Nike running shoes she was wearing. In my opinion, this person must have values for health and fitness given her fuel band. She also works at the rec, which could mean she enjoys being around fitness and the gym. Also, her choice of shoe could show she is creative or has an eccentric personality. The assumptions I am making are that she is athletic, healthy, fashionable given her earrings, creative, and eccentric. These assumptions speak to the point that I’m creative and have an eye for color. I also care about health and fitness so I associate myself with those that care about fitness and health.

The third person was a male who could have either been a graduate student or just a member. He was covered in tattoos while wearing mostly Nike apparel. He also had gauges in his ears that were half covered by Beats by Dre headphones. This male must value self-expression or creativity given his multiple tattoos. He must have a strong belief in tattoos and body art along with gauges. The Nike apparel and Beats by Dre tell me he is interested in current products and could be considered “trendy.” The assumptions I am making are that this guy really likes tattoos and body expression while also being “trendy.” Personally, I’m not covered in tattoos head to toe, but I do understand the appeal and desire to want to carry certain people, messages, images with us at all times. I believe there is significant self-expression in tattoos and some are very creative. This intriguing belief I have of tattoos could be why I notice them. I wouldn’t say I’m a trendy person, but I do like certain products, some newer than others.

The inspiration of this essay stems from a quote in Elizabeth Telfer’s piece. The quote is from Oscar Wilde and it reads, “All art is quite useless” (Wilde 1948: 17). Telfer mentions that this argument must be fallacious, but what it caused me to do is think. I pondered if art could really be considered useless and the obvious answer is no, but I found it interesting that Wilde would say that. I decided to look up “art is food” articles to see if I could find one that touched on the arguments against the notion that food is art, which is the main question in Telfer’s piece.

The article I found that discusses issues raised in the readings is “Can Food Be Art?” which is posted on philosophy.com. This article highlights three main reasons brought forth against food being art. The first argument is the caducity of food, which the article explains how food is fleeting; meaning it isn’t a lasting sculpture, painting, or temple. The article addresses the other side of the coin in the sense that installations are fleeting, not lasting, and still considered art. The second argument is that food experiences are more subjective than other forms of aesthetic experiences. This speaks to the individual affair we have with the food when we taste it, because the food appeals to our distinctive sense. The final argument is that food cannot vehicle meaning. This calls into the question the meaning of food and if the meaning is in the food or if it is more in the gesture or words exchanged over the food. These arguments bring up interesting points of discussion, but they don’t hold significant water. Each argument can be rebutted with a current form of expression that is greatly accepted as art, which is similar to food. For example, the food is fleeting but installations, an accepted form of art, are also fleeting example discussed above highlights the lack of strong arguments used in the article. There’s a possibility there could be better arguments as to why food is not art, but I don’t believe there are good arguments given there are many ways food can be considered art.

Although the article’s arguments may be average, there are issued raised that are similar to this week’s material. The article touches on aesthetic experiences, which reminded me of how well Telfer explained aesthetic reactions. Telfer starts with a discussion on what makes a reaction an aesthetic one, “We naturally associate the word “aesthetic” with the arts, but we can also speak of an aesthetic reaction to natural thing such as a beautiful landscape, or to man-made, non-art objects such as pieces of machinery (Telfer 9). This definition supports the notion that food is art for a few reasons. First, food can and often creates an aesthetic reaction, which is usually similar to aesthetic reactions from paintings, sculptures, music, or plays. Additionally, as Telfer states, aesthetics are often associated with the arts and if food can create aesthetic reactions then food can be connected to the arts. As for how closely connected the two are, I think that is a better debate.

Similarly to paintings, there is a vast range of what is considered food. Food can range from simple pieces of food to intricate gourmet dishes. An interesting point from this week’s material is the idea of “slow food.” The presentation videos were very informative and really hit home how disguising fast food can be. Even in the fast food industry there has a been a recent shift for healthier, better ingredient options. Slow food is an interesting concept in which it stands against everything a fast food meal stands for. The video discusses the movement of slow food, “Many tastes are better than one, this new movement says.” This movement seems to be very meaningful and beneficial for food as more than just a burger and fries. The movement will contribute to others’ aesthetic reactions of food, which is discussed in the article I found. Although I believe this is a good movement, there are critics, “Critics of slow food say it is just a trend and too expensive for ordinary people.” The narrator disagrees and says this movement is long overdue. The argument of this movement being too expensive for ordinary people may be true for top of the line New York City restaurants, but there’s no reason the movement couldn’t simply influence a person’s cooking at home. Overall, both the readings seem to come to the conclusion that the arguments for why food is not art are relatively weak, resulting in the conclusion that food can create aesthetic reactions and is art.

 

Sources:

Borghini, A. (n.d.). Can Food Be Art? Retrieved April 26, 2015, from http://philosophy.about.com/od/Philosophical-Theories-Ideas/a/Can-Food-Be-Art.htm

Tefler, E. (2002). Food as Art. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 2). New York, NY: Routledge.

For this weeks comment or question, I will be discussing the video presentation by Denis Dutton. Dutton’s TED talk was on the subject of A Darwinian theory of beauty. A topic that really struck me was the fact that when some of these objects were made the species making them didn’t use language. Dutton mentions this in his talk, “The people that made the objects in that day didn’t use language. Objects were made between 50,000 and 100,000 years before language was created.“ My question for the week stems from this thought. My question is I would like to pose to the class is: How were ideas conveyed between the species without the use of language? Dutton states, “It’s hard to grasp, but it’s an incredible fact.” Given the world we live in now, with all the technological and communication advances, this notion of communicating without using language seems impossible.

Although the ways in which we convey ideas have changed, there are still some ways of thinking that haven’t. Similarly to so many things in the world that change, the ways and forms of communication have changed such as storytelling and dancing turning into cell phone and social media use. However, Dutton goes on in his talk to explain some ways of thinking that haven’t changed over time. For example, “One fundamental trait of the ancestral personality persists in our aesthetic cravings, which is the beauty we find in skilled performances.” Dutton uses some examples, “From the Lascaux, the Louvre, and Carnegie hall,” to illustrate objects that have been admired for many of years. Applying this way of thinking to modern day is interesting because our society definitely still thinks in this way. Talking about sports for example, fans love to watch their favorite team or player put on a skilled performance. Dutton mentions in the talk that, “We find beauty in something done well.” The admiration of a job well done is still present and rings true to this day. Our ancestors might have used pictures or some other way to communicate, but the messages they were conveying are still prevalent in our society today.

 

Source- Video Presentation: Denis Dutton, A Darwinian theory of beauty.

1. Family
2. Loyalty
3. Personal Development
4. Wisdom
5. Enjoyment
6. Integrity
7. Leadership
8. Creativity
9. Health
10. Independence
11. Friendship
12. Personal Accomplishment
13. Security
14. Community
15. Expertness
16. Wealth
17. Prestige
18. Power
19. Service
20. Location

Today’s Activities:

Woke up, went downstairs to wake up my friend who was visiting from Portland: Loyalty, friendship, community, and service.

Drank a glass of orange juice: Enjoyment, and health.

Conference call for work: Personal development, wisdom, enjoyment, leadership, personal accomplishment, security, community, expertness, and service.

Called my dad and mom twice today: Family, loyalty, personal development, wisdom, enjoyment, and community.

Did homework: Personal development, wisdom, creativity, personal accomplishment, and expertness.

Played catch (baseball) with roommate: Family, personal development, enjoyment, friendship, and community.

Went to Chipotle for lunch: Enjoyment, health, friendship, and community.

Watched TV and the Red Sox/Yankee game: Personal development, wisdom, and enjoyment.

Did more homework: Personal development, wisdom, creativity, personal accomplishment, and expertness.

Reflection

Family is the most important value to me because I truly believe I am a product of my parents. They put so much time, effort, money, and love into creating the person I am today that I feel it is only right that I give back to them in every way I can. The least I can do is call them every day and spend some of my time to see how they are doing. My family extends to my best friends that I have a bound that stretches way beyond a friendship. Tying in with family is the value of loyalty, which means a deal to me. Loyalty is something that comes from my family and my upbringing as a child, which has resulted in me being very loyal to those that deserve it.

I’m pretty good at self-inventorying and thinking through what matters to me so there aren’t belief patterns that are no longer valid to me. The value of personal development, along with my other four top values, is something I demonstrate every day of my life. I always do something throughout the day that pushes me closer to my goals and dreams. Wisdom and enjoyment go hand in hand when considering furthering my growth as a person. I believe knowledge is power so gaining wisdom is very important to me. I also understand the power of enjoyment and enjoying life, because life can be hard so it is a necessity to have fun and laugh.

As for goals for myself, I don’t have any goals that I have yet to pursue because I’m actively pursing my goals everyday. There is nothing standing in my way because I have had life experiences that have taught me that life is too short to wait around for something to happen. If you want something bad enough, you have to go out and make it happen.