Environmental Ethics: Art in Ecotopia

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Art in Ecotopia

Hello! For my Blog report I have decided to discuss with the class "art" in a society similar to Callenbach's Ecotopia.

First I would like to start by talking about Plato's "attack on art." In the Republic, Plato attacks art but it truly seems to be misinterpreted and what he really is attacking fake art, precisely art that takes the form of amusement or entertainment. He is not attacking true art at all but just this fake art. If one recognizes this it is easy to see why Plato would attack entertainment and entertainers. To be amused or entertained allows the entertainer to create a feeling inside his audience and then the audience discharges the feeling. However being amused has no use in practical life. One would like to be entertained simply for the sake of being entertained. Therefor it has no true value in itself. This amusement is not even true art because it is just skillfully constructed and not a true expression of emotion or imagination.

Soon people cannot feel any emotion from ordinary life because they are so addicted the being amused, and the amusement is all fake. This causes people in a society (like ours) to put a massive emphasis on entertainment. Our entertainment industry is massive and still growing rapidly, while entertainment itself seems to get more insane in order to entertain the people that have become numb from the endless amusement.

So even in Callenbach's Ecotopia he still has a lot of entertainment. And even though it seems like the Ecotopia is a great stable place, it could be possible for it to spiral out of control and lead to another society like ours that is built upon consuming and being entertained at all times. Even the chapter dedicated to music and art in the book is short and does not describe with much detail what kind of art is produced. Maybe since Ecotopia isn't real it would be impossible to even try to imagine this kind of art?
And I'm talking about true art that is from the expression of emotion and imagination.
Basically entertainment is not useful at all, so is it still necessary to have so much of it in the new world of Ecotopia? Instead of entertainment like the "war games" we would need more true art.

So my questions for the class to be discussed is,
"Would Callenbach's Ecotopia produce more art that is not just for "amusement"?"
"What kind of art do you think an "Ecotopia' like society would create?"
"Would is be a good idea to have very little amusement and entertainment in this new society, focusing the entertainment part on true art or philosophical discussion or something that is useful for the society."

Feel free to discuss .. thanks for reading!! =^..^=

1 comment:

PhilDecember 5, 2012 at 11:04 AM
Very interesting, David. But I worry whenever distinctions are bandied between real or true and "fake" art, or High and Low, etc. How do we draw them without begging questions or flirting with an oppressive conformist elitism? How do we acknowledge the art of the "folk"? There does seem to me a risk of encouraging an ecotopian version of PC that might really be stifling and anti-democratic. That wouldn't have worried Plato, presumably, since he trusted his Guardian Phil-Kings to get these distinctinos right. But shouldn't we be wary?
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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Art in Ecotopia

1 comment:

Peripatetics