Video Review

1. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.
The ket concept of the first film was different interpretations of beauty in art.
The key concepts and steps to creating art that is aesthetically pleasing from the second film are tools, symmetry, symbolism and artistic composition.

2. Which philosopher's theroy on aesthetics do you feel is most important? Be sure to mention the philosphers name, era (time in history), and contribtion to the aesthetic theory in your response.
I feel Plato's theory on aesthetics is the most important. The example given is he said when you draw a triangle in the sand it is an unperfect drawing of a perfect idea of a triangle the way you see it. The root of this is 5th Century Athens and Plato was the first philosopher on this subject and taught Aristotle.  He also wrote the very influential "The Republic".  I agree with this because everyone sees things differently and has different ideas of the way things should look. Although he held a low opinion of artists and poets, I agree that everyone has different ideas of perfect. I do disagree with Plato thinking that poets write about things that they do not know.  I don't believe that is always 100% true and shouldn't be placed on every poet.
3. What do you think about Changeux and Ramachandran scientific view of aesthetics and art? What was the most interesting fact you discovered from each speakers lecture?
From Changeux- I found interesting that he called art artificats, and he said that they are a form of non-verbal communication.  I also found it interesting that it takes 15 years for the human brain to develop and much of understanding art has to do directly with the brain.
From Ramachandran- Art and science meet in the brain; visual aesthetics. He is saying that the goal of art is to distort an everyday image that people see to make it aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  Things that may be realistic can be changed to be made into art and be pleasing to the brain.  Says "visual aesthetics" instead of "art".

4. How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?
The videos emphasize that art and aesthetics are always up for interpretation.  In the videos we get to hear background on other philosophers and hear experts talk about their opinions and theories on the matter.

5. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the topics in your reading?
Although the films were long, and Changeux was slightly difficult to understand, I found them very helpful.  They all flowed together and made the subjects in the readings easier to understand because you are hearing it in different words.