Exam 9: Aristotle Tragedy

According to Bergson, "To produce the whole of its effect, then, the comical demands something like a momentary anesthesia of the heart. Its appeal is to ego worship, pure and simple."

According to Aristotle, "A beginning is that which does not itself follow anything by ________________, but after which something naturally is or comes to be. An end, on the contrary, is that which itself naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity, or as a rule, but has nothing following it."

Bergson says, "Several have defined man as 'an animal which laughs.' They might equally well have defined him as an animal which is laughed at; for if any other animal, or some lifeless object, produces the same effect, it is always because of some resemblance to man, of the stamp he gives it or the use he puts it to." Do you agree with Bergson? Explain your answer.

Bergson makes it clear that laughter must be a sort of social gesture.

Aristotle says, "Unity of plot does not, as some persons think, consist in the unity of the hero. For infinitely various are the incidents in one man's life which cannot be reduced to unity; and so, too, there are many actions of one man out of which we cannot make one action."

According to Aristotle, poetry is "a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the __________, history the __________."

Aristotle says, "It is, moreover, evident from what has been said, that it is not the function of the poet to relate what has happened, but what may happen, what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity." Explain why Aristotle thinks this is important to tragedy.

Explain what Santayana means when he says, "Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable: what it is or what it means can never be said." Do you think that beauty can be described? Explain your answer.

Bergson says, "Several have defined man as 'an animal which laughs.' They might equally well have defined him as an animal which is time trapped; for if any other animal, or some lifeless object, produces the same effect, it is always because of some resemblance to man, of the stamp he gives it or the use he puts it to."

According to Santayana, "Beauty therefore seems to be the clearest manifestation of ___________, and the best evidence of its possibility."

Bergson says, "Society will therefore be suspicious of all inelasticity of character, of mind and even of body, because it is the possible sign of a slumbering activity as well as of an activity with separatist tendencies, that inclines to swerve from the common center round which society gravitates: in short, because it is the sign of an eccentricity."

According to Santayana, "Feelings are recognized by their fleeting existence, and when we try to recall an emotion, we must do so by recalling the circumstances in which it occurred."

Explain what Thomasson means when she says, "In cases like these, then, what we have is new ontological kinds of art created, but not new ontological kinds of thing simpliciter [in or by itself] being created. Instead, a familiar kind of entity (a computer game or program) is introduced as art."

Explain what Santayana means when he says, "Beauty therefore seems to be the clearest manifestation of perfection, and the best evidence of its possibility." Do you agree with Santayana? Explain your answer

Aristotle says, "Tragedy is the imitation of an action; and an action implies personal agents, who necessarily possess certain distinctive qualities; for it is by these that we qualify actions themselves, and these, ______________________, are the two natural causes from which actions spring, and on actions again all success or failure depends."

The following defines what term? "A term that comes with some basic rules of use of two kinds; first, basic application conditions, laying out conceptually relevant conditions in which 'painting' may be successfully applied (thus yielding existence conditions for paintings), and second, basic co-application conditions that give rules for determining when the term may be re-applied to one and the same thing (yielding identity conditions for paintings)."

Thomasson tells us that "It seems that the generic term 'art' or 'work of art' is like 'gift' in this regard: 'work of art' appears not to be _____________________, since it is applied indifferently to physical individuals, processes, performances, abstract works of music, and so on."

Aristotle says, "tragedy is an imitation not only of a complete action, but of events inspiring fear or pity."

Aristotle says, "Tragedy is the imitation of an action; and an action implies personal agents, who necessarily possess certain distinctive qualities; for it is by these that we qualify actions themselves, and these, courage and foresight, are the two natural causes from which actions spring, and on actions again all success or failure depends."

Schopenhauer says, "Thus all the other arts hold up to the questioner a perceptible image, and say, 'Look here, this is life.' Their answer, however correct it may be, will yet always afford merely a temporary, not a complete and final, satisfaction. For they always give merely a fragment, an example instead of the rule, not the whole, which can only be given in the universality of the conception."