Curated playlist
Concepts in aesthetics
- ArtUntil the 17th century, the word art meant any skill at all. Cooking and farming counted, as in ancient Greek techne.
- DesignA parent planning a route and an engineer drafting a bridge are both designing.
- FashionEuropeans once claimed that China and Persia had no fashion at all. Ming China's fast-changing styles say otherwise.
- Conceptual artMarcel Duchamp signed a urinal R. Mutt and submitted it to an art show in 1917. The New York exhibition rejected it.
- TimePhysicists define time as what a clock reads. They chose it because other definitions tend to go in circles.
- EntertainmentAn audience is what turns private recreation into entertainment. Without one, there is nothing to hold mutually.
- Authenticity (philosophy)Sartre said jazz is authentic, while Adorno said it is fake. Their clash shows how far the idea of authenticity reaches.
- GazeA child at a mirror first learns others can see them. Lacan tied that moment to language and culture.
- ÜbermenschIn Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the Übermensch is a goal for humanity, not an existing person.
- Avant-gardeAvant-garde began as a French army term for scouts sent ahead of the main force. Later it described artists.
- Cultural appropriationThe mayor of Kyoto wrote Kim Kardashian an open letter about her "Kimono" shapewear line.