Paper Drafts by Adam Blair
Merleau-Ponty argues that synesthesia is the rule and not the exception—our senses are always alr... more Merleau-Ponty argues that synesthesia is the rule and not the exception—our senses are always already in communication with one another and it is only in reflective, scientific thought that we cast them as separate and closed off from one another. In an attempt to think through the fundamental interconnectedness of the body, of the perceived world, and of the two as lived together, I here reflect upon my experience of translating a new music piece by Christopher Biggs, Displaced, into a " color map. " Using this reflection along with Merleau-Ponty's " Eye & Mind " and Phenomenology of Perception, I argue that prior to any sense-experience as such must be the simultaneous sensitivity and expressivity of a material body, open to its material world in a creative situation of becoming. This investigation will press upon the nature of listening and seeing, as we find these as situations of mutual activity/passivity on my part and on that of the world. Further, this investigation will lead us to discover that color and sound are not reducible to wavelengths nor to psychic phenomena, but are fundamentally relational qualities born of a material body encountering a meaningful, material world.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
In this short comparative essay, I will compare Hume and Plato on the question of: “To what exten... more In this short comparative essay, I will compare Hume and Plato on the question of: “To what extent is beauty a matter of sentiment?” We will see that for Hume—using primarily his essay “Of the Standard of Taste”—beauty is purely a matter of sentiment. For Plato—given the arguments presented in Diotima’s speech of the Symposium—true beauty is an eternal form, and, while Beauty’s independent existence means it is not sentimental, its relationship to the sentimental is a complex one. For both thinkers, appreciation of beauty is deepened and improved with exercise of the mind, as one moves from particular experiences of beauty to the general principles underlying the beautiful itself. However, we will find that the primary and fundamental difference between the two thinkers is in their characterization of beauty itself, which Hume characterizes as an immediate impression of the mind, while Plato places it with the eternal forms.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Using Merleau-Ponty's notion of "sense," in concert with Freud and other humor theorists, to unde... more Using Merleau-Ponty's notion of "sense," in concert with Freud and other humor theorists, to understand how it is that our body responds to something humorous without mediation.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This is a collection of quotations on various themes and metaphors which I have tracked throughou... more This is a collection of quotations on various themes and metaphors which I have tracked throughout À la recherche du temps perdu. The list is by no means exhaustive, and is still ongoing. Some quotes are several pages in length, while others are just a few words. Some numbered entries are mere observations which I've written, and some include an observation with a quote, while some are just page numbers. Sometimes there is merely a mention of one of the metaphors I am tracking, whereas other times there is a discussion that is significant to a metaphor without mentioning it explicitly. That is all to say, the guidelines for inclusion are fluid and informal. After the list of quotes, I have a collection of many times in which "air" occurs (such as in the case of " one has an air of contempt "), page numbers for where I have seen weather phenomena mentioned, and also where the sun and the moon are explicitly featured. The guide is arranged in the order of the novel, separated by volume. The key below refers to the letters following each quote, pointing to which themes/metaphors are pertinent there.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Class Presentations by Adam Blair
A short summary of “We Field-Women” from T.J. Clark's "Farewell to an Idea: Episodes from a Histo... more A short summary of “We Field-Women” from T.J. Clark's "Farewell to an Idea: Episodes from a History of Modernism"
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Paper Drafts by Adam Blair
Class Presentations by Adam Blair