A&O 2026 SPRING SEMINAR CALENDAR

 

ART & ORGANISM


2027 UTK SPRING CALENDAR


 

    
January 19, 2027A&O (1) CANONICAL CONTENT meets PERSONAL MEANING

CONNECTIONS!  made at many levels within and between us, create MEANING which is much DEEPER than WORDS
 ● Check-in (who we are and our interests; 2-3 minutes at most) ● the IDEA of CONNECTIONS  ● the PROBLEM with WORDS  ● PSYCHO-SEMANTIC WORD MAPS  ● Check-out (what ideas stood out for you?)  
January 26, 2027A&O (2)ART and SCIENCE can tell us satisfying STORIES , best when we utilize multiple perspectives: DEEP ETHOLOGY,  where we deal with real animals (not ideals) in the real world  and  EXISTENTIAL PHENOMENOLOGY real people in the real world● Check-in (who we are and our interests; 2-3 minutes at most; comment on what stood out from last week) ● Continue with DEEP ETHOLOGY and the aspects of ART. Check-out (things that stood out this week, by e-mail from your diary notes, taken during class). 
February 2, 2027A&O (3)GOOD STORIES utilize Bayesian Reasoning to approximate the truth … read A&O notes (including excerpts from Michael Titelbaum’s (2024) essay from PSYCHE on “How to Think like a Bayesian” ) But then, How do we know what to believe? see COHERENCE and CORRESPONDENCE  traits influence–and are influenced by–other traits (including between llevels of organization) –how does that work? Human development, cultural transmission, “learning to learn” …  Bias, congenital and acquired

IDEA: Patterns of influence between traits described involve PLEIOTROPY and POLYGENIC traits. 
February 9, 2027A&O (4)● discussion about behavior of your choice followed by comments on its DEEP ethologyDEVELOPMENTBIAS, and learning,  ● congenital and acquired bias: how WEIRD we are; The “body bias”–Meaning and the Body  LEVELS of ORGANIZATION are becoming more prominant as a scaffold for new ideas, particularly with respect to  EMERGENCE of unexpected traits
February 16, 2027A&O (5)EVOLUTION  how can we infer the evolution of MIND? that is, COGNITIVE COMPETENCIES [read about the evolution of consciousness from neurology perspective] We survive and thrive when our BIOLOGICAL NEEDS are more-or-less met:  READ A&O page on NEEDSFitness;  Adaptation;   Ritualization of traits (e.g., from autonomic reflexes to courtship) 
February 23, 2027A&O (6)COMMUNICATIONS ;  TRANSLATION  How can I get away with saying “all life is translation”?   Looking more closely at RESONANCE  look back on EVOLUTION at HOMOLOGY & ANALOGY
March 2, 2027
A&O (7)PHYSIOLOGY:  open with Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke of Insight Begin thinking discursively but surrounding the implicit core theme: galaxy that was thouht to be a star … tight-rope between levels of orgnization, between past & future, real & ideal, memory & imaginagtion (filling in related to prediction?)  ECOTONES?    for A&O tonight, include what is UNDER the bell curve.   Meaning in Life?  SONDER
March 9, 2027SPRING BREAK  
March  16, 2027A&O (8) Check in: compare frisson to sanglot. : ADAPTEDNESS represents the ability to cope with stressors – circumstances that challenge an organism’s ability to meet its needs.  BUT COPING WITH STRESSORS is also the disposition that advances us. 

Take a long, thoughtful look at the STRESS RESPONSE CURVE: https://neilgreenberg.com/ao-figure-stress-response-curve/ and see where you are on that curve at this moment. How does cognitive dissonance fit in to help explain state of mind? filling-in?
 
MARCH 23, 2027A&O (9)continue in-class progress report on project  
MARCH 30, 2027A&O (10) present your own or curated ART WORK (any medium) that bears on term topic 
April 6, 2027A&O (11) Distinguished visitor, Prof BEAUVAIS LYONS (or next week) 
 
April 13, 2027
April 20, 2027
APRIL 23, 2027
A&O (12)
A&O (13)
A&O (14)
 FINAL PRESENTATIONS; RESEARCH Wrap-Ups 
  May 4, 2027LAST CLASSMore on Integrative Psychosemantic Mind-Map and free-association art formsDEADLINE for Semester Report: (paper  or Artwork+artist’s statement) is May 14 (during the registrar’s scheduled final exam time)   
FINAL EXAM and seminar social — DATE to be DETERMINED during exam week (May 11-18)off campus pot-luck, Final Exam, and au revoir! social.“Be well, do good work, and keep in touch”

au revoir!  adieuadios
arrivedercisayonara

 “FINAL EXAM” exact time and place to be determined.
At the time of the “final,” please be prepared to create mind-maps.

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