The Emerson Institute for Freedom and Culture

Denis Dutton on The Colbert Report

2009-01-31T13:31:00.001-08:00

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

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Paul McCartney Appearance

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Steven Pinker Reviews The Literary Animal

2009-01-31T12:10:00.000-08:00

Steven Pinker reviews The Literary Animal. Pinker is right that Joseph Carroll is at his worst when criticizing others and at his best when analyzing literature. I fear the former turns many people off from learning about the latter. However, Pinker shows his propensity to be too literal with literary works (something Denis Dutton makes fun of in his latest book The Art Instinct) when he criticizes the evolutionary psychological approach to understanding Pride and Prejudice: "Today, a depiction of a contemporary middle-class family that worried aloud about finding wealthy husbands for the daughters, and about their being disgraced by a daughter running off with the son of a steward, would elicit guffaws, not a flash of recognition." Let me rephrase his statement: "Today, a depiction of a contemporary middle-class family that worried aloud about finding wealthy husbands for the daughters by sending them off to college, and about their being disgraced by a daughter running off with a high school dropout would indeed elicit a flash of recognition." Same plot, slightly different details. The point is the plot, not the details of the plot, for which historical and cultural analyses are indeed appropriate. Pinker also goes on to claim that the arts have no adaptive function at all, something which Dutton addresses in his new book. I also had addressed it in my dissertation Evolutionary Aesthetics to some degree. In short, Pinker forgets about sexual selection, and he forgets about other animals in this criticism. Why do humans make music? Well, why do birds and whales and gibbons sing? Protohumans likely, like gibbons, were singing apes, and uses those songs for mating demonstrations. Music and language were likely byproducts of a bifurcation of that mating song, with poetry and songs a reunification of language and music. Why do humans dance? Well, why do territorial fish, displaying birds like the Cock-of-the-Rock and deer dance/display? They are showing off their physical fitness. And so are dancers. Fiction allows for the creation of "what-if" stories that people can use to make better choices in the future, which is certainly adaptive in the sense of natural selection (as Pinker does at least acknowledge) -- even if language and storytelling probably had their origins in sexual selection. There is a natural tension and back-and-forth between sexual and natural selection, after all. Pinker then goes on to suggest that literature's ability to instruct is indeed adaptive, but its ability to delight is a mere byproduct. But what is delight? The feeling of delight is produced by the brain, and is a reward to itself for engaging in adaptive behaviors. The feeling of delight is how the brain rewards itself for seeking out instruction that will help the organism to survive in the future. Delight is thus not a by-product, but is itself an adaptation. Those who delight in storytelling will seek it out, and gain the educational benefits; those who do not delight in storytelling will not seek it out, and will not gain the educational benefits. Even a slight benefit will be selected for over time. So how is delight not adaptive? However, Pinker is right that there needs to be a broader consilience in regards to bringing the sciences to the study of the arts. I would also add to his list the inclusion of Gravesean psychology.

Income Tax Status

2008-12-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

The Emerson Institute for Freedom and Culture is exempt from federal income tax for related purpose net income as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Accordingly, contributions to Emerson are deductible for federal income, estate, and gift tax purposes. In addition, Emerson has been classified by the Internal Revenue Service as a public charity and is not a private foundation.

This information will be formally put on the web site when it is redesigned -- hopefully soon.

Wisdom and Literature

2008-11-28T13:35:00.001-08:00

The arts have a future when you actually have a critic argue that the reason why we should study literature is because it is full of wisdom.

501(c)(3) Achieved!

2008-11-28T13:33:00.001-08:00

Good news! The Emerson Institute is now a 501(c)(3). That's right, we're a nonprofit. That means we can now collect money and get to work on supporting pro-market artists and scholars!

Patronizing the Arts Review

2008-10-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

Joseph Epstein gives an interesting and excellent review of Marjorie Garber's Patronizing the Arts. In it he points out all the problems of the government and the universities as arts patrons. I think it also shows why there needs to be someplace like The Emerson Institute to patronize the arts. When we get to thte place where we can do so. Of course, all patrons require something of the artists they are patronizing, and EIFC will be no different, but you may rest assured that it will be excellence, and not the kind of mediocrity created by government patronage nor the kind of insularity created by the university's patronage.

Experimental Arts and Humanities

2008-09-30T11:53:00.001-07:00

The Emerson Institute for Freedom and Culture is very interested in experimental approaches to understanding the arts, literature, and the humanities, including philosophy. I am hoping we can get some experimental philosophers to publish here. Naturally, experimentalists in the study of the arts and literature are also more than welcome.

Direct and Overall Liberty

2008-09-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a working paper on freedom.

Secrets of Storytelling

2008-09-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here's an excellent article on the biological and psychological-neurological elements of storytelling.

The Symphony of Personal and Social Life

2008-09-15T18:48:00.001-07:00

Please leave comments and questions about Maria Alejandra Vanney's "The Symphony of Personal and Social Life" here.

Sentimental Deception

2008-09-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

Please leave comments and questions about Gerald Schwartz's "Sentimental Deception" here.

Patronage

2008-09-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting article at The American Thinker about why artists hate conservatives. There is a lot there with which I concur. But there is something else that I think contributes quite a bit -- something which The Emerson Institute is designed to rectify. That thing is patronage. Artists look at the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities that think the government is who supports the arts. However, these two support not artists, but other bureaucracies. Primarily due to several scandals. Which shows up the problem with using public funds to support the arts: you either cannot support anything interesting or challenging, or you make the public angry. What do you think politicians are going to choose? In the meantime, artists are fooled into thinking that the government, and not the free market, is where they are getting support.

It would be nice if the EIFC could in essence replace the NEA and NEH, funding the arts and humanities with private funds. As we do get funds, we would love to set up artists, poets, etc. with a place in the Dallas area to do their work for a year or so. We would, in essence, bring back the old style of patronage, but give it a contemporary twist. Many are not comfortable choosing artists to patronize, not thinking they are qualified, as though their artistic tastes are not valid. I happen to disagree with that, but I understand how they feel. We at EIFC, however, are qualified to make such choices, and we hope that we can convince people to trust us with their money to support the arts and humanities. Many artists, philosophers, etc. in the past were supported by patrons -- the practice produced a great deal of great works. We would like to bring back that tradition.

King Tut Letter

2008-07-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

Read my letter to the editor on the King Tut Exhibit controversy at the Dallas Museum of Art.

A Few Articles on Music

2008-07-17T08:59:00.001-07:00

Here are two interesting articles about music and contemporary music. The first deals with the influence of music on infants. There we learn it's not so much the Mozart Effect as the Wide Variety of Music Effect -- that the important thing is to have complex and simple music across the spectrum. The article ends with Steven Pinker dismissing the value of having your children listen to music by referencing Judith Rich Harris's idea that parents have no effect on their children's personalities or tastes -- which if true, I would be a huge fan of 80's hair metal and/or country music and not The Beatles. Teens and people in their 20's may stray away from their parents in rebellion, but in the end, older adults come around to become who their parents were trying to raise.

The second article deals with the fact that nobody really likes new classical music. Though people like Schoenberg have been around for 70 years now, they're still not actually popular. This is certainly enough time for people to have been raised on the music, yet still it's not considered popular. Babies don't like it, and don't seem to get used to it. In fact, it seems that there is a range within which we appreciate music, and much new classical music is outside that range. So why the "popularity" of new classical among critics and art elites? Precisely because the average person can't stand it, they love it. They don't actually love it, of course, but they insist they do, and that it makes them better people to love it, precisely because no real human being can stand it. It's a way to maintain their elite status, by insisting that bad music is good.

THe Burden of the Humanities

2008-07-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

I highly recommend this essay by Wilfred McClay, The Burden of the Humanities. Understand this article, and you will understand the need for The Emerson Institute.

Turner's Poems

2008-06-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

Please leave comments and questions about Fred Turner's poems here.

Freedom Evolves

2008-06-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

Please leave comments and questions about Troy Camplin's essay Freedom Evolves here.

The New Classicism and Culture

2008-06-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

For those who want to know about the kind of classicism EIFC is about, read this article by Frederick Turner: The New Classicism and Culture. You should also read Turner and Poppel's The Neural Lyre about why poetry necessarily is rhythmic/patterned and has line lengths.

The Motives That Ought to Encourage Us to the Sciences

2008-06-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

Everyone should read The Motives That Ought to Encourage Us to the Sciences from The New Atlantis. It is the beginning of an idea that should be investigated further. Especially the barely-touched-on ideas in the arts.

Charles Jencks

2008-06-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

Charles Jencks is an architect who is beginning to do work based on fractals, complexity, and self-organization. Here is a short interview with him.

His earthworks are amazing.

Tax Song

2008-06-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

Tax Song

Emerson Institute Interview

2008-06-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

You can now access the interview I gave to Grizzlygroundswell.

Frederick Turner Videos

2008-06-15T13:27:00.001-07:00

Frederick Turner is not just an incredible poet, but also a brilliant interdisciplinary thinker. If you enjoyed his poetry, check out these appearances available on YouTube:

You can also see him speak, with others, here at The Motive for Metaphor.

Kinderarchy

2008-06-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

Everyone should read this essay: Kinderarchy. We desperately need a more adult culture.

Online Radio Interview for The Emerson Institute

2008-06-05T05:51:00.001-07:00

I will be on a blog talk radio show Monday to talk about The Emerson Institute. More information at Grizzly Groundswell. Hope everyone comes by and listens!

Biophilic Work Places

2008-05-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

Edward O. Wilson wrote an entire book on a phenomenon he called Biophilia. The biophilia hypothesis states that humans, having evolved in natural surroundings, have a psychological need for more natural surroundings. Plants and animals make us happy. Well, it seems that plants do in fact go a long away toward making us happy with our jobs, as Clara Moskowitz observes. One of the unfortunate ideas to come out of Modernism was anti-nature architecture, resulting in offices without windows and barren public housing structures whose primary function seemed to be the dehumanization of anyone living there. Turns out that humans need natural light, and we need to see plants. And it seems that plants even win out over natural light: 69% of those who had plants but no windows said they were satisfied with their jobs, while only 60% of those with windows but no plants said they were satisfied, which is practically the same as those without either windows or plants: 58% of those people were satisfied (it's best to have both: 82% satisfaction). My guess is that having animals around would also benefit people. Perhaps they should next study the effects of having fish and/or birds in the office (I'm guessing dogs and cats might be a bit much). If employers want more productive employees (and we know happy employees are more productive than unhappy ones), they need to take such ideas as biophilia seriously.

Those who build apartment complexes, whether for public housing or not, also need to keep in mind the fact that humans evolved on the African savannas. Large grassy areas with the occasional tree and some flowers can make all the difference in the world when it comes to your residents taking care of the place.

We also need to have our architecture reflect our biophilic needs. Those needs extend too to a need for a basic level of complexity in our surroundings. Nature has a 1.2-1.6 (when analyzed on a 2-D plane) fractal dimension (a range investigated by Jackson Pollock in his drip paintings). We have a lot of information about what makes humans comfortable with their surroundings. Isn't it time we took that information into consideration in our architecture and interior design?

On Literature and Health

2008-05-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

Is it possible for literature to help make us healthy? Such an idea has fell into disfavor, with postmodernists in particular pointing to the Nazis as art-lovers, suggesting that art does not necessarily make us good people. Fair enough. If we look at all art as a group, it is hard to come to the conclusion that art per se results in any sort of moral improvement. But does that mean there is no such thing as a form or style or content of art or an art which could result in moral improvement?

In "Narrative Construction and Health," Kitty Klein says that if "highly negative experiences are difficult to assimilate into one's understanding of oneself and the world," it is because we don't have a sufficient knowledge base (memories of previous events) "to understand and interpret the stressful event" (Narrative Theory and the Cognitive Sciences, ed. David Herman, 63. Stanford, CA: CSLI Pub.), then perhaps we should help people develop such a knowledge base. Before such an event, and certainly after one, works of literature which deal with the same traumatic situations should be assigned. The reader assimilates works of literature into their own knowledge base -- including the emotions expressed. As a consequence, those who have read the right kinds of literature (fiction, memoirs, etc.) with the right kind of guidance should be more prepared to deal with traumatic events. By allowing us to have a context for stressful situations, we will be able to assimilate our feelings and memories better, preventing them from becoming intrusive. After a stressful event, writing a story about it also helps (as it did Goethe as he wrote "The Sorrows of Young Werther"). Writing a story contextualizes the event, which gives it meaning and, when fictionalized, a story can put distance between you and the event. It is often the absence of meaning which makes an event cause a person to dwell on a situation, trying to place the event into some sort of context. By giving the event meaning, through some sort of narrative, the person is able to assimilate the event psychologically and emotionally. By writing a fictionalized account, with the event happening to someone else, one is able to see that it's not really a unique event, that it could happen to someone else. By writing such a sympathetic story, we are able to have someone who can suffer with us -- misery loves company because at least we know we're not alone. Further, a story changes a particular event into a universal/conceptual event -- which brings us back to the argument that it allows us to be able to assimilate the event into the world, to see that it's a part of existence, not just for us, but for others as well.

Klein observes that expressive writing (which focuses on thoughts and feelings) of several stories (3-4) about a problem until a coherent story was developed (one could imagine that revision would also help) not only produces psychological health in all but those who experienced the most severely disruptive traumas, but also improved physical health (lower blood pressure, improved immune systems, arthritis relief, etc.) (66-71) by 23%. The soul and the body are one, the former emergent from the latter, but in turn influential on the body too. If we improve our souls, our bodies will improve as well.

So it seems likely that literature can improve our health. The evidence is in for writing, as noted above. A more difficult study, but one which I think would be worth while to pursue, would be to see if there is a relationship between the kinds of literature read and an individual's ability to deal with traumatic events. If one's inability to deal with a psychologically traumatic event is related to lack of experience, literature can, through the fact that humans are sympathetic and do feel the pain of others, as brain research has shown, give us the experiences we need to deal with traumatic events in a more healthy way -- before the fact, rather than after it.

A Few Articles on Not Having a Classical Education

2008-05-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Over at The New Criterion, Victor Davis Hanson has an excellent article on the value of a classical education titled The New Learning That Failed. Certainly the postmodern approach is a dismal failure -- if the goal is to create and graduate educated people. If the goal is to prepare people for dictatorship, then the universities have been doing a fantastic job. Of course, nobody knows this because they haven't been reading the classics, which warn us about these sorts of things, as I subtly point out in an article I wrote for The Prometheus Institute.

Reading Habits

2008-05-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

I have gotten into the habit of reading several books at the same time. Most people read one book at a time, but when you do that, you sometimes find yourself in the situation of not being in the mood to read that book, and so you read fewer things over time. But if you read several books in several genres, you'll find yourself reading much more, since there's a better chance of your wanting to read something you're reading. I typically read something creative (poetry, fiction, plays), something philosophical, and something scientific so that no matter what my mood, I'm ready to read it. Further, moving back and forth among books and genres allows me to see connections I would have otherwise missed. Thus, this approach to reading also allows for more complex thinking and understanding. Give it a try and see what happens.

So, what am I reading now?

"The No Plays of Japan" -- Arthur Waley, tr.

"The Aeneid" by Virgil -- Robert Fagles, tr.

"Emerson's Essays"

"Briefings on Existence" by Alain Badiou -- Norman Madarasz, tr.

"Narrative Theory and the Cognitive Sciences" == David Herman, ed.

"The Nurture Assumption" by Judith Rich Harris

2008-05-11T15:20:00.002-07:00

Welcome to the blog of The Emerson Institute for Freedom and Culture. Here you will find occasional postings, random thoughts, and updates. I am Troy Camplin, Ph.D., director of EIFC, Inc. The EIFC is a free market think tank whose primary mission will be to promote cultural and societal change through the arts and humanities. While other think tanks seek to change the minds of elected officials, EIFC will seek to influence the culture at large through the promotion of pro-liberty, pro-values, meaningful works in the arts and humanities. If liberty is to survive, it must have support from the people and the culture. If we have a culture which promotes freedom, truth, beauty, meaning, value, and virtue, we will have people who will support freedom, truth, beauty, meaning, value, and virtue in their lives as a whole, including in their politics. We believe the best way to rejuvenate the culture is through a form of natural classicism, which recognizes that the world is complex, self-organizing, creative, and free. Further, we will seek to educate the public about the importance of the arts and humanities to their lives and to the culture at large. Any real and lasting societal change must start in the culture -- in the arts and humanities. If the people are to believe in freedom, truth, beauty, meaning, value, and virtue, then our arts and humanities must create or reconstruct freedom, truth, beauty, meaning, value, and virtue. in works which address themselves to the average person and not just the specialist. In other words, we must support works that provide a counterpoint to those postmodern works which promote an overly simple, irrational, unbeautiful, anti-value, anti-meaning, immoral worldview that undermines rather than reinforces the creative freedom inherent in the world. Through journals and newsletters, articles and books, scholarly panels, media appearances, special projects, and this blog, EIFC will strive to reflect the reality of the world as a complex, creative, beautiful, value-laden, meaningful and, thus, conducive to freedom.