ART & ORGANISM
A SEMINAR
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notes linked below are from last year’s seminar and indicate how discussions emerge and interconnect.
They represent examples of topics that may be covered as we proceed. The exact offerings are determined by
● the basic course objectives (integration of ways of knowing the world at multiple levels of organization);
● specific interests of seminar participants;
● Emerging research and scholarship in constituent fields;
● specific interests of guest experts that may visit to explore their interests in the light of A&O.
A&O Spring 2022
Classes Begin Monday, January 24
Spring Break Monday, March 14 – Friday, March 18
Spring Recess Friday, April 15
Classes End Tuesday, May 10
Exams Thursday, May 12 – Wednesday, May 18
Graduation Date Saturday, May 21
| dates
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orange links are LIVE from 2021 | topics drawn from following themes | likely activities |
| January 25 | A&O (1) | ● CONNECTIONS! Within and Between us ● The art and science of art and science– how they co-constitute our cognitive universe ● what do WORDS really MEAN? ● MEANINGS are DEEPER than WORDS | ● Check-in (who we are and our interests; 2-3 minutes at most) ● the IDEA of CONNECTIONS ● the PROBLEM with WORDS ● Check-out (what ideas stood out for you?) possibly by e-mail READ notes for meeting 1 |
| February 1 | A&O (2) | ● DEEP ETHOLOGY, real animals in the real world ● 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 8 | A&O (3) | ● How do we know what to believe: COHERENCE and CORRESPONDENCE.
Patterns of influence between traits: PLEIOTROPY and POLYGENIC. Balance ● Essential Tensions ● INDIVIDUATION and SOCIALIZATION● SENSATIONS, PERCEPTIONS, CONCEPTIONS |
traits influence–and are influenced by–other traits (including between levels of organization) –how does that work? Human development, cultural transmission, “learning to learn” … Bias, congenital and acquired |
| February 15 | A&O (4) | ● DEVELOPMENT, BIAS, and learning, ● congenital and acquired bias: how WEIRD we are; The “body bias”–Meaning and the Body Read: Chapter 1 from K Greenberg et al 2019. | Guest appearance by scholar of teaching-learning theory and practice, Professor Katherine Greenberg . |
| February 22 | A&O (5) | ● NEEDS● CHANGE: the maelstrom of perpetual disintegration and renewal;● key ideas that lead up to STRESS | consolidate DEVELOPMENT; and MIND MAPS What level of organization are YOU? |
| March 1 | A&O (6) | ● ART and SCIENCE and TRUTH;● when TRUTH is a LIE; ● is SAPIENCE and SENTIENCE: represented by math & art? see: A&O’s ART & MATHEMATICS notes, | POSSIBLE guest: ARTIST Beaivais Lyons may will join us to speak to art as a means of discovery |
| March 8 | A&O (7) | ● A Stroke of Insight … PLAUSIBLE STORIES,
● TRUTH and BELIEF (correspondence and coherence) ● KEY EVOLUTIONARY CONCEPTS; ● PERCEPTION: BRING EXAMPLES of ART representing an anchor for an aspect of your topic (could be a short narrative of a personal experience) |
“How do we know?” — Perception and stimuli;
“adaptation”, “fitness”, “selection pressure,” NEEDS & STRESS. |
| March 15
spring break |
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| March 22 | A&O (8) | ● Play and the development of creativity; ● COMMUNICATIONS internal and external | POSSIBLE guest appearance by ethologist, Gordon Burghardt speaking to “play, art, and creativity) (Dr B. is an internationally known expert on reptile behavior and the ethology of play) |
| March 29 | A&O (9) | ● A STROKE OF INSIGHT and key insights in physiology and consciousness;
● RITUALIZATION and key isights in EVOLUTION EVOLUTIONARY CONCEPTS; ● CAUSES and CONSEQUENCES, beginnings and endings. |
what can Jill Taylor’s story tell us about PERCEPTIONS and CONCEPTIONS ?
what can PAREIDOLIA tell us about PERCEPTIONS and BIAS ? (“filling-in”) what can RITUALIZATION tell us about BRICOLAGE and EVOLUTION ? |
| April 5 | A&O (10) | ● CONTINUING last week emphasizing BIAS, RITUALIZATION, and the connections between PAREIDOLIA and CONSCIOUSNESS … then asking if levels of organization represent layers of meaning | ART & ARTIFACT ,,, WHAT is inthe mind of the artist? does it matter? why do we want to know about our ancestors |
| April 12 | A&O (11) | ART and ARTIFACT: What can we know of the mind of the creative artist? does it matter? Last year’s notes | Possible guest appearance by anthropologist, Jan Simek , speaking to “art and artifact in paleolithic cultures.” (Dr S. is an internationally known expert on paleolithic European as well as American cave art) |
| April 19 | A&O (12) | Follow-up, follow-through. Loose ends about paleolithic art. STUDENT PRESENTATIONS | 3-5 presentations by seminar participants of their of project powerpoints – presented to solicit feedback for a better final project |
| April 26 | A&O (13) | STUDENT PRESENTATIONS | 8 presentations @ est 15min e |
| May 3 | A&O (14) | STUDENT PRESENTATIONS and DEBRIEFING: what has stood out? what has changed? | 8 presentations @ est 15min e
Last Meeting (classes end April 28); Final EXAM nexte week, Tuesday May 4 5:00 Semester Report (paper or Artwork+artist’s statement) DEADLINE Wednesday, May 5 |
| May 10 | A&O (15)
au revoir! adieu, adios, arrivederci, sayonara |
FINAL “EXAM”
“Be well, do good work, and keep in touch” |
be prepared to create a mind-map.
DEADLINE for Semester Report: (paper or Artwork+artist’s statement) |