Allegheny College issued the following announcement.
Lecture: Putting the Art before the Horse
Wednesday, November 4 at 7:00pm
Virtual Event
Karl W. Weiss ’87 Faculty Lecture Series
Irem Kurtsal
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Allegheny College
Rational deliberation doesn’t always govern judgment and action; it gives in to emotions or desires, which is how we binge-watch sitcom reruns instead of doing the things we value more. Plato offered a two-horse chariot metaphor for this conflict, in which reason holds the reins and should control the emotions and the unruly desires. Using contemporary research into human nature, philosopher of cognitive science Tamar Szabó Gendler extends Plato’s metaphor with a third horse that can frustrate the charioteer: unendorsed associations — automatic representations out of touch with our avowed beliefs.
Dr. Kurtsal will use Tamar Szabó Gendler’s model to explain folk suspicions or disdain towards contemporary artworks. We stare at the material medium of a contemporary artwork, and we fail to see the entity the artist wants us to see. We only see the materials of the artwork since our habituated seeing says there can only be one thing in one place at one time. This expectation is false on the ontological theory known as ‘Plenitude.’ Dr. Kurtsal will close with a prediction: Exposure to the theory of Plenitude, or exposure to examples of more than one thing coexisting in the same place at the same time should lead to richer engagement with contemporary artworks.
Original source can be found here.
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