Towards a Methodology of Artistic Research. Oct 11th

Transcription

1 Towards a Methodology of Artistic Research Oct 11th

2 In Christian culture the warnings of and around hubris, the human arrogance, disappeared entirely The contrary came into focus: Human being is an image of God and the only authority on Earth Everything has been created FOR humans And given to humans as a material

3 Such an attitude already originates in Jewish tradition but not before the Christian Era the idea became a belief with consequences The world was taken as a storehouse that is intended to the use of human beings And the world does not contain anything right or wrong All rights and wrongs are negotiable and dependent on human needs No natural or intrinsic limits may affect the craft and art

4 Such an attitude was visible already in the end of Roman period, from 5 th century onwards: Earth is under a constant change that originates in human needs; the change does not need an explanation in any other level than in praxis; practical is the explanation since it reveals the saturation of the human needs, clearly and distinctly

5 From historical viewpoint, cultures that did not adopt such an attitude were left into a pre-technological obscurity that still prevails The aggressive dynamism of Christian culture has its roots here, and the reason to its effectiveness one can find in the belief that Earth is a stockpile for humans

6 It was a question of attitude In China there was early invented quite effective technical tools, like a compass, gunpowder, mechanized printing, etc. But the Chinese never find themselves entitled to overrun Nature with these findings since Nature in Chinese tradition is not exploitable, not FOR human

7 The change in Roman times was evident in philosophical writings and natural sciences, thus in all knowledge It became as well a part of moral: there must not be anything that regulates the freedom of man within Nature If someone claims that there must be some regulations, that was interpreted as a pagan belief or magic

8 This can be seen, e.g., in the stance towards the Native American practice where anything killed in Nature must become honoured at the same moment, like a buffalo whose spirit became the spirit of the human community that gave the bones back to Nature with a chant that was a prayer for the common existence of man and buffalos This practice was aggressively opposed by the first Christians that took the Prairies as their godgiven land

9 In old Finnish tradition, partly effective even today, the killing of a bear is followed by a peijaiset (funeral feast) where the bear is apologized and honoured because of its being the most beautiful of all animals, most brave and the closest friend of man Christian church attacked this tradition very aggressively and forbade peijaiset under penalty of excommunication

10 The difference between man and Nature was considered undisputed Man is the highest creature in Nature and of a separate origin than the rest of it Man is given all keys of Nature, as its manager This role gives responsibility but only towards the direction of some universal god that was himself responsible of the permanence of Nature

11 The change that took place had huge consequences that even we follow, cherish and are frightened by It was the beginning of the idea of techno-logy where techné was not taken as a part of a (historical) human practice but as an independent territory where the authority was human and originates in god-given act

12 Technology is not a collection of techniques or a technical skill but an attitude that includes the following: 1) Man and Nature are of separate origin 2) Man is above Nature 3) Man s needs overrule all 4) Nature is outside and thus whatever takes place in Nature has no consequences in man 5) Man s knowledge of Nature is universal and man has it intrinsically

13 The same emphasis was given in Patristic tradition that guided the thinking between in West Man s function on Earth is to complete the creation and this is done by (1) reproducing himself and (2) subordinating all other creatures Nature gives endlessly material that man may refine into a more developed beings and there are no limits in doing so

14 Craft thus became a part of a divine plan where creation was carried on and on Human needs replaced a need to do what is best in everything And human needs are as many as there are human beings In Nature, most of the beings are underdeveloped and it is human task to find out how they may become completed

15 Techné was re-interpreted: if man is able to picture a change and find a way to realize it, it is good to realize it No other criteria is needed In 4 th c. a Bysantine man Basil (later a saint ) explained that waters in Nature are in a wild state but can be cultured by man by constructing dams, dikes, canals that will change the environment into a better one for man

16 Basil: The world will be more beautiful when furnished by human improvements In 6 th c. Cosmas told that god build a house and man will complete and adorn it There is no incompatibility between god s creation and man s purposes All this included an encouragement for technological development, done by all

17 After the Patristic Era, in 12 th c. a more layman attitude flourished: man has his reason that is the best in Nature, and therefore whatever man decides to do, it is best for all This is shown in the interest in purely formal thinking, like logic and mathematics, where human mind was able to solve complicated problems that were universal and thus applicable to techné

18 William (from Soissons) wanted to show that logic is able give guidance to craft just by revealing any relationship there is in Nature If man follows logic, he becomes omnipotent in his relation to Nature, since Nature knows nothing of logic Logic bestows man with the laws that are necessary and man won t waste time in experiments, he goes directly to the solutions that are necessary

19 William construed a machina that is not dependent on erratic human experience but logical necessities: we may find, just be counting, which way leads to best solution IN EVERYTHING, both theoretical and practical One of his contemporaries tried this in kitchen utensils in order to complete the kitchen: to find all utensils that COULD BE NEEDED in the best possible kitchen

20 The point is that not only human needs but the overall knowledge what there COULD BE needed became the objective in practical thinking Practice as such is insufficient, we need a practical machine ( machina ) that shows us whatever we perhaps could need This step towards a more modern idea of techné was taken 1132 and not since then disappeared

21 Not few scholars warned of the possible consequences of such an attitude Peter Abelard & John of Salisbury clearly warned their contemporaries (12 th c.) of consequences that could be awakened by this attitude, like unlimited automatized pace that can trigger off unlooked-for environmental change to which man is not yet ready ( there is right time for every change )

22 The arrogance shown by Christian writers was, however, so thick that the contrary was taken for granted: man not only is put to manage Nature but he as well knows the future that Nature is ready because man includes the divine wisdom given to him in creation The arguments were just spinning around the creation and its special gift to man

23 The idea of if I can, I ll do it became a motto of many Medieval writers They developed the technological principle in the context in which people were much less skilled than the Greeks were, and perhaps therefore no warning was effective In principle the I can was ok tho no one knew really whereto it will lead us

24 In 13 th c. Thomas Aquinas construed a whole system (grounded loosely on Aristotle) that explains why man can and will (and should as well) The moral was that man must fulfil his task in completing the creation Every craft (techné, art) must become developed into its extreme in order to fulfil the task

25 I say it again: during the Medieval Era, culture of craft was badly underdeveloped, people practically knew nothing of the heights Romans and Greeks had achieved It took 700 years, 13 th c., before the practice-based culture became recovered Before that, practice was natural order ordered by logical necessesities

26 Contemptus mundi, a feeling of contempt towards earthly issues Earth will end quite soon, thus there is no need to take care of Nature/World Nature can be exploited entirely Only criterion for a well-done practice is immediate benefit and evident utility Practice has not its own laws that could have guided man but the laws come from outside, from if I can, I do since Nature is for man

27 Physico-theology was the basis of techné: further creation is legitimized by the special role of man Anything that popped up from human labour was good since Nature was only nature, unfinished, underdeveloped, crude and raw Origen (Origenes, 2 th c.) called world a reflection of sin

28 The attitude somewhat took a different direction in the 13 th c. when Greek scriptures (Plato&Aristotle) became known An Apollonian attitude shook the building Nature was taken in more positive light, even as a wonder though it won t be enough to man and man s thinking was needed to complete Nature

29 Historical imperative: Augustine s City of God (De Civitate Dei, 426) explained that history is dependent on human thinking and human work though its outcome is already known: man will become god-like This presumes that man becomes skilful in his practice and sees the ultimate goal Augustine mellowed the contraries but saw man in physico-theological light, as a working man for higher authority