RANDom question (haha, bad pun): why doesn't this discussion bring in engineering or architechture as a form of art? because from what I've read in 'Fountain' and 'Atlas,' Rand certainly considered us brainy creationist types as artists as well. It seems odd that both novels focus more on technological innovators whose works are artful and beautiful because they fulfill a purpose in a way that is uniquely efficient or useful. Not to say that fine arts don't fulfill this purpose, but your statement "When Rand talks about art, she talks about the philosophy behind art, the original meaning of 'aesthetics' in the Greek system, and her dealings with art are limited to the fine arts, definitely." is decidely confusing to me
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If, in Rand's view, 'the primary purpose of art... is the meaningful objectification of whatever is metaphysically important to man', then we can look at it like this:
More practical or industrial endeavors (things that definitely do not fall into the fine arts category, such as architecture, steel production, or what have you) are not technically considered artistic pursuits in and of themselves, but in exceptional cases, people who practice them can be considered artists, because the end result of their labors is a 'meaningful objectification of whatever is metaphysically important to man'.
In Rand's world, these metaphysically important things could probably labeled with names like 'logic', 'efficiency', 'practical usefulness', etc.
I haven't gotten far enough yet for that to be discussion -- apparently I'm still learning about psycho-epistemologies and cognitive melodies. However, Ch. 10's titled: Architecture: 'Art' or 'Design?' so I think I'm heading in that direction.
I did skip ahead a bit, to have a glance through the first few pages of that chapter, and saw this:
"In her preparatory notes for [Fountainhead], she wrote that architecture is 'the most important of the arts' [...] Yet, in her essays on art, Rand says virtually nothing about either the theory or the practice of architecture" (189). According to these guys, Rand didn't go back to it unless she was making the clarification worse, because it would require extensive revision of her opinions on either Fountainhead or aesthetic theory as a whole
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I don't think a disparity exists in her thought, just in the way she expressed herself.
As I said above, an exceptional practical creation can be considered art by the 'metaphyical importance' definition, if you consider things such as logic and efficiency metaphysically important, as Rand so obviously does.
I guess my only question would be: does that sentence which defines the primary purpose of art as the meaningful objectification of whatever is metaphysically important come from Rand herself, or from the authors of that book?
The sentence in question comes from Rand herself, in a series of lectures/essays she wrote. The authors of the text go on to say "For Rand, every art work--whether of painting, sculpture, literature, music, or dance--is a "selective recreation of reality" that serves to objectify, in an integrated form, significant aspects of its creator's basic "sense of life" (15).
Re: the architecture aspect: "For her, must as for Tolstoy and for the nineteenth-century philosophers in general, 'art' means primarily painting, sculpture, music, and literature (fiction, poetry, and drama)" (14). In her notes for Fountainhead, she writes that architecture is "the most important of the arts," but then "what little she does say about the nature of architecture in "Art and Cognition" is obviously inconsistent with her theory of art" (189). Purely focusing on her aesthetics, architecture doesn't belong, and the authors of this particular text quote Scruton when they're trying to justify Rand's evasion. I'm going to quote verbatim, because this is
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The architect designs for others, not what is metaphysically important to him; he's not autonomous.
Considered along with the above sentence, we have the key to reconciling Rand's aesthetics with her statement that architecture is the most important of the arts (at least up to a point).
See, Howard Roark does exactly the opposite of the above statement in FH and is portrayed by Rand as a hero. He is quite autonomous and his design concepts do objectify what is metaphysically important to him. This puts him in stark contrast with Peter Keating & co.
That is why, in the framework of Rand's aesthetics, it is possible to call Howard Roark an artist, and to say at the same time that Keating is not one. Inside this framework, considering architecture an art form doesn't mean that everyone who practices it is automatically an artist, but it does leave room for them, in exceptional cases.
As for architecture being the most important of the arts... well, that is still VERY much
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also, did you know about this:
http://www.objectivistcenter.org/cth-13-1759-AtlasShruggedMovieNewsHomepage.aspx
Angelina Jolie??
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And...huh.
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More practical or industrial endeavors (things that definitely do not fall into the fine arts category, such as architecture, steel production, or what have you) are not technically considered artistic pursuits in and of themselves, but in exceptional cases, people who practice them can be considered artists, because the end result of their labors is a 'meaningful objectification of whatever is metaphysically important to man'.
In Rand's world, these metaphysically important things could probably labeled with names like 'logic', 'efficiency', 'practical usefulness', etc.
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I did skip ahead a bit, to have a glance through the first few pages of that chapter, and saw this:
"In her preparatory notes for [Fountainhead], she wrote that architecture is 'the most important of the arts' [...] Yet, in her essays on art, Rand says virtually nothing about either the theory or the practice of architecture" (189). According to these guys, Rand didn't go back to it unless she was making the clarification worse, because it would require extensive revision of her opinions on either Fountainhead or aesthetic theory as a whole ( ... )
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As I said above, an exceptional practical creation can be considered art by the 'metaphyical importance' definition, if you consider things such as logic and efficiency metaphysically important, as Rand so obviously does.
I guess my only question would be: does that sentence which defines the primary purpose of art as the meaningful objectification of whatever is metaphysically important come from Rand herself, or from the authors of that book?
Reply
Re: the architecture aspect: "For her, must as for Tolstoy and for the nineteenth-century philosophers in general, 'art' means primarily painting, sculpture, music, and literature (fiction, poetry, and drama)" (14). In her notes for Fountainhead, she writes that architecture is "the most important of the arts," but then "what little she does say about the nature of architecture in "Art and Cognition" is obviously inconsistent with her theory of art" (189). Purely focusing on her aesthetics, architecture doesn't belong, and the authors of this particular text quote Scruton when they're trying to justify Rand's evasion. I'm going to quote verbatim, because this is ( ... )
Reply
The architect designs for others, not what is metaphysically important to him; he's not autonomous.
Considered along with the above sentence, we have the key to reconciling Rand's aesthetics with her statement that architecture is the most important of the arts (at least up to a point).
See, Howard Roark does exactly the opposite of the above statement in FH and is portrayed by Rand as a hero. He is quite autonomous and his design concepts do objectify what is metaphysically important to him. This puts him in stark contrast with Peter Keating & co.
That is why, in the framework of Rand's aesthetics, it is possible to call Howard Roark an artist, and to say at the same time that Keating is not one. Inside this framework, considering architecture an art form doesn't mean that everyone who practices it is automatically an artist, but it does leave room for them, in exceptional cases.
As for architecture being the most important of the arts... well, that is still VERY much ( ... )
Reply
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