Monday, May 4, 2009

6&7

I found parts of chapter 6 to be kind of perplexing. I liked the idea that more people were not able to be considered academics, but that seem contradictory to notion of the need of credibility offered on page 219. Though I also thought the entire idea of credibility was almost contradictory to the concept of marvels and wonders. Perhaps this was due to the advances in technology of the time. The authors mentioned new forms of technology, including the printing press, and it seems these have impacted the society, which of course, is true, and this may be one of the first instances in this book where we see advances such as these playing a part in historical changes, which brings me to think abotu current society/technology and the impact that advances have on our ideas of credibility and "marvels." Technology and other advances have led us to become a society more focused on credibility than marvels - let's discuss that.

"It was the mutual imitation of art and nature that was wondrous, not th eobjects in themselves" (287).
This idea continues throughout the paragraph on pg 287, and I think this section captures much of chapter 7. The idea that taking nature and making it "more interesting" was quite a topic for this time, was it messing with something that shouldn't be played with? Or was it an amazing way to channel creativity? Personally I think it's fun and agree with the sense of imitation/mutation being captivating, and seems "wonderful" versus mundane being exciting, though I woudln't discount somethign natual as not being art. I'm pretty sure there's room for "normal" or natural and strange/unnatural.

1 comment:

  1. I too was most intrigued by this portion in light of our past conversations regarding what a college education should be, what an intellectual is, how a college curriculum should be structured, and what skills sets should a college graduate have. In response to your comment "Though I also thought the entire idea of credibility was almost contradictory to the concept of marvels and wonders."; I think the whole point of this chapter was that marvels and wonders were evolving to the point that academics were looking further into them and trying to explain the wonders. I think this is a profound advancement and it supports the nature desire humans have to be curious and try to find answers. The process of finding answers instead of just labeling them 'wonders & marvels' has helped advance our understanding, knowledge and technology which has improve life for humans hugely. Academics are now taking the time to find answers for the unknown and this is something that is so profound and should continued in academia today.

    You also mention that technology has led our society to value credibility more. While this may have been true, I see our society changing in that aspect with the advent of the internet. With the decrease in newspapers, television and main stream media, people are increasingly using the internet, blogs, political pundits, comedic/satirical news shows, twitter, and the rest of the internet to get their news and information. As this technology increases, I think society is less focused on credibility for their information and education. Do you agree that this is happening? Is this a good effect of the increase of technology? Is their anybody that we can really believe? With such an abundance of information out their, how are we able to believe anything?

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