Reflection
The objectives of this unit made me realize what my values are, how they are formed and which of them are most important for me. I have discovered that my top priority values are: health, friendship, enjoyment, family, wealth, accomplishment and religiousness.
I have been thinking about external and internal drives that form values. External are about how people see us and what is socially acceptable in a way and internal are about what makes me satisfied with who I am. Wekmeister says: "As we inspect and analyze our own experience of ourselves, we encounter here, too, a complex process of equilibrating, of adjusting and readjusting to manifold internal and external situations" (Wekmeister 8). It means that we have to find a balance between our own wishes and other people's expectations.
Thinking and writing about my values has shown me that my family is most important for me, my parents, my brother and my cousins. My family's crucial value is religiosness and I have been brought up to believe in God. It is related to wealth, because this system of values represents that we get a reward for being industrious, stable and reliable. Friendship is connected with enjoyment and these values come both from external and internal drives, because we need other people to socialize with and we also have an internal need for socialization.
My future learning goal is to work on myself every day in order to become the person who respects all the values that are important for me and never forget to nourish values in order to become successful.
Work cited:
Wekmeister, W. H. (1967) The Individual in Man and His Values. Ch. 1, pp. 3-32. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
What is Art For?
Reflection
The objectives of this unit made me think about the origin af art myself. I have never thought about art the way Ellen Dissanayake does. Her adjective "paleoanthropsychobiological" literally opened my eyes. I discovered the whole new perspective of looking at art and appreciating it. She says: "The idea of art encompasses all of human history" (Dissanayake 15). I agree with that, but I had never thought about it the way she does. Now I understand what she means when she says that "art includes all human societies and that it is a psychological and emotional need".
Reading about Ellen's comprehension of different periods of art and their classification and her own definition explained to me what art really is about. I have adopted the idea of art being universal for example.
My future learning goals will be connected to appreciating art in new ways in the light of discovering whole new meanings by trying to look at classical works of art from a more universal point of view. It will be very interesting going to Louvre one day for example and thinking about why "The Mona Lisa" has been valued from the day it was painted up to now.
Work cited:
Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll (Ed.). Keynote addresses 1991 (NAEA Convention), (pp.15-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
Is Food Art?
Reflection
I never thought about food as art, but this unit made me take it into consideration and persuaded me that food can qualify as art. It is a "minor art" and as Elizabeth Telfer says: " food is necessarily transient, it cannot have meaning and it cannot move us" (Telfer 24). However food still is art because it is not only useful but it is there for our pleasure also. It influences our senses and every person has their own tastes. We would all have the same taste in food, were food not an art form.
I have always enjoyed food and new tastes, but I never thought about it much, because I am not interested in cooking. I usually eat to satisfy my hunger. However, there is a reason why I prefer some food over other.
My future learning goal will be to explore cuisines from all over the world and try to find out which food may be considered universal, what are the differences and what are the similarities among the dishes of different nations.
Work Cited:
Telfer, 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.
