Brady, Chapter 6: Imagination (=im), Emotion and Knowledge

HOW IMP IS IM TO AES APP OF ENV?

Im not a nec condition of aes exp (contrary to Kant's view)

Aes objects may not evoke im and we may simply rely on perception

Imagination in aes of exp of nature can

Open up aes horizon and deepens the aes response
Help us reach beyond stereotyped modes of env. app.
Come afresh to familiar envs and locate undiscovered qualities
Help overcome aes boredom

Im encourages a more intimate engagement with nature
Im is an important part of Brady's integrated aes

WHAT IS IM?

Imagination is a distinctive mental power that is not just used in aesthetics, but in many other contexts
Im not just bringing to mind mental pictures
Im used when

We envisage possibilities
Bring to mind a person/thing absent from perception
Attempt to identify with another person's feelings

Two types of im
Sensory im

Makes exp of objects coherent by bridging the gap between concepts and sense perception

Brings together past and present perceptions of same object

Imaging role in connection to memory and recollection

Creative im

Entertain poss, be inventive, solve problems in science, moral and artistic situations
Create fantastic scenarios as in make-believe and daydreams
Reach beyond given to bring elements of exp together in novel ways
Bring the not-present together with the present
EXAMPLES

Imaginatively transform ourselves into trees swaying in wind
Imagine a better alternative to a harmful practice
Envisage life on a planet w/o atmosphere as on earth

Im can be serious or trivial
Serious uses include

Artistic creativity
Technical invention
Imaginative leaps underlying scientific discovery involves im
Put onself in another's situation to better determine what to do

Trivial uses include

Imagining oneself on desert island instead of in the office grading papers

For appro uses of im need to

Distinguish imaginative from the imaginary
Distinguish relevant/irrelevant
Find right balance serious and trivial uses

Some playful (non serious) uses of im a good

Realize im not free to do whatever it pleases

Relation im and belief/kn/rationality
Im reaches beyond beliefs and kn, but is not unrelated to them
Im depends on beliefs about the world

Putting oneself in someone else's shoes begins with bel about the person's situation
Imagination is contrasted with what is the case, so when we imagine a pink elephant we entertain the belief that p while also having the believe that not p
Having a false bel (accepting it as true) is not same as entertaining false belief through im

Brady agrees with Scruton that im is a rational activity
Im at the extreme loses contact with beliefs

Obsessive fans believe that a rock star is singing about them
Delusions can result, but are rare

When reading a novel, seeing a film have aes distance; im allows us to engage fictional events but don't bel they are real

Brady opposes negative view of im as

Unruly, irrational power that creates fictions and misleading reps of reality rather than truth
Reduces to fancy, fantasy, daydreams
Something that must be kept in check by reason

Brady does keep it in check and does talk about it as a rational capacity

MODES OF IMAGINATION: METAPHORICAL, EXPLORATORY, PROJECTIVE, AMPLIATIVE, REVELATORY

METAPHORICAL IM

Underlies metaphors ("drowning in money")
Im brings together two dif things in novel ways
Aes object or aspect fused with some image that is not of that object

Carlson's ex: Shiprock is a free-form gothic cathedral

Work with qualities of one thing and compare it with another to illustrate resemblances
Jagged forms are reminiscent of pointy parts of towers of Gothic cathedrals
Not arbitrary: they do resemble one another and sheer scale of Ship Rock is like the scale of a great cathedral dwarfing buildings
Im description accentuates and draws attention to perceptual qualities of object (pick out pointedness more clearly)

Metaphorical descriptions in aes responses help us make sense of what we see
Direct app, and by offering images of other things for comparison, refine and enrich our apprehension of aes qualities

EXPLORATORY IM
Closely tied to perception
Perception mainly grasps object and cordons it off in perceptual field
Im brings meaning to bear on perceptual qualities and this helps to discover aes qualities
Tree bark/old man example

See deep clefts in thick ridges of bark of tree
Images of mountains and valleys come to mind
Think of age of the tree given thickness of the ridges

Is she aware of thought's role here?

Image comes to mind of a seasoned old man with deep wrinkles from age
Response is aes judgment of tree as stalwart
Respect it as I might a wise old sage
Interpretation of locust tree tied to its nonaes qualities-texture of bark-and associations spawned by perceptual qual

Im may seek unity in scene by filling in detail of what is not seen such as images of landscape beyond horizon

PROJECTIVE IM

Adding on to what is perceived

What is actually there is added to, replaced with or overlaid by a projected image

Deliberate seeing as, intentionally, not mistakenly see something as another thing

Projecting geometric patterns onto stars to unify them

Projecting ourselves into natural object:

Alpine flower example: In app alpine flower might imagine what it is like to live under such harsh conditions and this allows her to app the remarkable strength hidden so beautifully in the delicate flower

Result is also a more intimate aes exp.
Helps us explore nature's ways and its otherness
Other examples:
Im used to help decide which way we walk in the woods or up a mountain
Im used to ascend a craggy peak one could not really climb

AMPLIATIVE IM

Involves the inventive power of im, amplifies the perceptual given, and thus reaches beyond mere projection of images onto objects

Im in its most deep and active role
Need not make use of images

Clearly, imagination that does not involve images is a type of thought and so a focus on im of this sort involves thought content

Sea pebble: In contemplating smoothness of a sea peddle, I visualize the relentless surging of ocean as it shaped pebble into worn form

Imagine how it looked before became so smooth, and this contributes to my wonder and delight in the object.

This involves thought and at least common sense (and perhaps naturalists) sci knowledge

White mussel shell on gravel bar in Maine (Andrew Wyeth) is thrilling when think of (imagine) the gull that brought it there, the rain & sun that bleached it there

Again naturalist's kn is invoked

Imagining the cold icy feeling of glaciers that carved out the valley's form helps us app its shape

This involves naturalists kn; only dif is that she ties it to feeling.

Im helps us app the temporal qualities of natural objects/envs by allowing us to contrast its present appearance with past or future ones

REVELATORY IM

Where ampliative im leads to (discovery-old word) disclosure of an aes truth

Im gets at understanding, new ideas and meanings (truth, kn-old words) revelation (non rel) of world
Example: When im contemplation of the valley, glaciers and all reveals the tremendous power of the earth a new understanding emerges (kind of truth has emerged-old words) via distinctively aes exp
Not gained via "intellectual endeavor"; not sought out; part of aes experience and revelation does not disclose an "extra-aes truth"

So it still does disclose truth?

Idea, belief, or value is "crystallized" by aes exp

(Old language)

Aes versus non-aes truth depends on manner of revelation
Aes truth come from heightened aes exp; where perception and im engagement with nature lead to close attention

Innocence in lamb example (how imagination can reveal aes truths)

Quick glance at lamb reveals little except its sweetness
Fuller perception and im (old language: lead to truth about innocence) "brings about a stronger grasp of the nature of innocence"
Contemplating the fresh whiteness of lamb and its small fragile stature evokes images of purity and naivete
Dwelling aes and imaginatively on such natural things (old language: brings insight) may achieve new ways of seeing

Imaginative revelations need not be pleasant and positive

Can reveal horror and suffering of humanity and nature
Witnessing human evil, natural disasters, cats stalking and killing birds, strike imagination in ways that spread meaning more deeply
Make these exp more demanding and difficult to undergo.

BRADY'S RESPONSE TO OBJECTION IMAGINATION IS SUBJECTIVE/ARBITRARY
Objection: Imagination likely to cause incorrect/inappropriate responses by trivializing

Im leads to an exp that is too unpredictable, arbitrary and prone to fantasy to guide appro aes app of nature
Im involves subjective flights of fancy will leave aes object and its qualities behind

Brady agrees that imaginative response are not always appro and provides criteria to help dist appro from inappro im

Imagination is not reducible to fancy

Three resources for guiding imagination

Objects's qualities evoke, direct and guide our imaginings

E.g., deep ridges in tree bark with bel tree old, suggest old man with wrinkles on face

DI
Imagining well

IMAGINING WELL (versus imagining poorly)
Brady thinks imagination can be used well (a virtue) or poorly (a vice)

Im is a capacity developed through practice that becomes habitual
Keen and slack perception (only former enables discovery of aes value in dull landscape), so too imag can be used effectively or ineffectively
Imagine well involves using im skillfully, rationally, and appro according to context
Involves knowing when to clip the wings of imag
Identifies ways to keep imagination on track to prevent trivializing responses
Effective imag is exercised according to demands of aes object,

Object directed while also shaped to some degree by particularity of appreciator (168)

But given that the subjective side counts too in Brady's aesthetic, why can't the subject's interest also lead to appro exercise of imagination?

Im should follow "a rule of decorum" and not belittle the aes object

And should value the object for its own sake
IM must relate to aes object in ways that enhance app (168)
Ought to harness imagination's powers in ways that bring out nature's value

So imagination is only appro if it helps us reach a judgment of positive aes value for the aes qualities?

Need to dist relevant and irrelevant imaginings and more and less reasonable ones

Doesn't like the serious/trivial way of assessing imaginings because playful ones, can be just as good as serious ones

Rejects trivial imaginings
But playful (non serious ones) are perfectly reasonable and acceptable
Example: Mountain as a giants head or a sublime solid granite rock equally legitimate aes responses.
- Boy who sees a hill as a giant's head
- Ssees a huge looming hill shaped like a head with abumpy bit that suggests a nose, so imagines a giant's head
- More playful than geologists response, brings attention to great scale of the hill and its distinctive shape
- Boy doesn't run away frightened, as doesn't think it really is a giant's head
- Geologist talks about the rock type and sees the aes qualities of solid bulk and sublimity

Such discriminations aren't easy or clear cut, but practice can lead to skill of keeping imaginings on track
Defense of imagination must be largely done on a case-by-case method.

Inappropriate when:

Im involves shallow, naive, trivializing, sentimental responses that impoverish rather than enrich app

E.g., Imaging lamb dressed up in baby clothes might underline aes truth of innocence, but it is sentimental and shallow and fails to direct app appro

Im that indulge percipient in personal fantasy and self indulgence

Ruled out by DI

Imag used to manipulates aes object for own pleasure-seeking ends

Avoid imagination lead to aes app that instrumentalizes nature

Fantasizing about # of see shells I might collect if waves not so big
Violates DI, as instrumental and self-interested

Distracts attention from aes object
Im that distort and disrespect nature
Im that transforms nature into what it is not and we fail to respect it

Some worries/questions

How fit with tree as old man example?
Is it okay to transform nature into what it is not if this leads us to respect it?
Does transforming nature into what it is not mean we are believing false things about it?
What if I imagine contemplate the U-shaped valley as being carved out by a river (instead of a glacier), is this inapp? Does this transform nature into what it is not? Note that here I have a false belief.
Paul Bunyon example: What if my app of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota is enhanced and made vivid by imagining Paul Bunyon's blue ox Babe walking over the landscape punching holes that are later filled up by water

Appro use of im or not? Only inappro if I bel it true? Appro whether I bel it is true or not since it enhances and makes more vivid my aes app Minnesota's 10,000 lakes?

Irrelevant imaginings (e.g., financial difficulties of cliff jumper)

Cliff example

Awe struck by dramatic sheer drop to sea of English high cliff
Feeling heightened by kn that this is a favorite suicide spot

Notice this is kn, but cultural kn related to natural object

Imagining feeling of jumping off cliff and fear of someone standing there accentuates the sublimity of the place and is a virtuous imagining
Irrelevant to aes app of cliff if one imagined

financial difficulties that might serve as motive to jump
the gruesome fallen body at bottom and specific wounds
Here imaginings become distanced from qualities of the cliff

Seeing river as a bookmark example

No relationship here between perceptual qualities that lets one image illuminate the other

Well, they both are linear

Rivers are never straight as are the sides of a bookmark, usually rippled from wind and current.

BRADY'S RESPONSES TO CRITICS

Marcia Eaton thinks that im needs to be guided by knowledge of the aes object and its context and claims one should find out as much as possible about these

Brady responds that requiring that aes app learn as much as possible to have "correct" app, is an unreasonable expectation
Kn is not necessary, other things can guide imagination
But Eaton might say it is necessary for the best sorts of uses of imagination and for the best types of aes app

Robert Fudge's upside down ice cream cone example

Claims Brady's view would have to countenance imagining the mountain as an upside down ice cream cone, or projecting such a cone onto the mountain

The mountain is snow covered two thirds of the way up with a brown/grey rocky pointed top

Ice cream is cold as is the snow on the mountain

Brady's response:

Connection is too tenuous to be relevant

Not sufficient resemblance to invoke this imagining

Doubt this image is shareable

It is irrelevant, but trivial, not shareable and just the result of a whim.

Is it clear Fudge's example is any different in these respects from Brady's tree is like an old man?

Fudge's example is belittling, and Brady's is not; but why can't aes imaginings belittle?
How im is not just intellectual thought
Fudge thinks im thinks in facts (165)
Brady thinks this reduces im to intellectual thought
Im is not feeding in knowledge into aes exp
Im opens up new aes qualities or deepens our engagement with them
Im is related to thought, but makes a creative break from facts and kn given in exp and makes novel connections
It is a transformative power in relation to given exp.
Im engages in entertaining beliefs and propositions, not in ascertaining facts

COMMUNICABILITY OF IM

Im can be warranted through the communicability of the aes situation

Just as we can discover more aes value by sharing aes exp,

So if we bel our aes judge communicable, we discard im des that can't be reasonably shared by others experiencing the same object

Likes Carlson's idea that aes judgments and uses of im should be "culturally embedded" so they are more generally available

Carlson thinks "Shiprock" as a name is culturally embedded, but free from Gothic Cathedral is not; nor is idea of Shiprock as a "blue thumb"

Brady thinks both "Shiprock" (image of ship moving on ocean) and gothic cathedral towering over surroundings are "sorts of comparisons that are part of our common understanding, not highly individualistic associations"

Brady thinks (with Carlson) that ship rock is a "blue thumb" is so specific as to be of little interest or importance

Highly individualistic descriptions will have little role in appro aes app as they are unlikely to be easily shared or accessible to others.

Unlike Carlson, Brady also approves of the im metaphor involved in calling "table mesa" as the ultimate aircraft carrier

It suggests flatness, massive bulk

LIST OF EXAMPLES (Repeated from above) OF HOW BRADY THINKS IMAGINATION WORKS IN AES APP NATURE

Tree example: see deep clefts in thick ridges of back of tree

Images of mountains and valleys come to min
Think of age of the tree given thickness of the ridges

Is she aware of thought's role then?

Images of seasoned old man comes to mind deep wrinkles from age
Response is aes judgment of tree as stalwart
Respect it as wise old sage
Interpretation of locust tree tied to its nonaes qualities-texture of bark-and associations spawned by perceptual qual

Projecting geometric patterns onto stars
Projecting ourselves into natural object:

Alpine flower example: in app alpine flower might imagine what it is like to live under such harsh conditions and this allows her to app the remarkable strength hidden so beautifully in the delicate flower

Sea pebble: in contemplating smoothness of a sea peddle, I visualize the relentless surging of ocean as it shaped pebble

This involves thought and at least common sense sci knowledge

Imagine how looked before smooth

White mussel shell on gravel bar in Maine is thrilling think of the gull that brought it here, the rain, sun that bleached it there

Again sci kn

Imagining the cold icy feeling of glaciers that carved out the valley's form

This involves sci kn; only dif is that she wants to tie it to feeling.

Innocence in lamb example (how imagination can reveal aes truths)

Quick glance at lamb reveals little except its sweetness
Fuller perception and im lead to truth about innocence
Fresh whiteness of lam and its small fragile stature evokes images of purity and naivete
Dwelling on such natural things brings insight

BRADY ON EMOTION AND EXPRESSIVE QUALITIES IN NATURE APPRECIATION

These are the "affective" component of Brady's integrated aesthetic
Although one can exp emotions and expressive qual at same time there are differences between them

Feeling emotion in response to nature:

Ex: Feel exhilarated when taking a morning walk through forest

Finding expressive qualities in our exp of nature (not feeling any particular emotion)

Finding a landscape as bleak and forbidding

EMOTIONS AND THE ENV
Emotion is valuable in aes app, but is often caricatured as too subjective and arbitrary

Need to show how emotion will not lead to wayward or distorting responses

She thinks Carroll's theory of objective emotion (based on beliefs and imaginings) has explained and justified emotional responses to nature

So here she does this only for expressive qualities

EXPRESSIVE QUALITIES

Using emotion terms to describe nature

FAILED WAYS OF EXPLAINING HOW ENVS AND ENV. OBJECTS CAN BE EXPRESSIVE
Literal: Nature does not literally have these emotional qualities:

The loch (A lake; a bay or arm of the sea) and dark images of surrounding hills can't literally be sombre (dark, gloomy, sad) as it can't have an emotional state

Artist communication: Nature doesn't have there qualities in way art has them: as communicated by the artist (as nature has no artist)
Causes emotion: Attribution of expressive qualities are ways of saying the thing causes one to feel an emotion

The loch is sombre (means the lock makes me feel sombre)
Problems:

it may make someone feel content, calm, relaxed and satisfied not sombre
Also we could judge it sombre without actually feeling anything at all

BRADY THINKS THAT RESEMBLANCE AND EMBODIMENT EXPLAIN EXPRESSIVE QUALITIES IN NATURE
Resemblance view of expressive qualities: The object resembles humans (and their behavior) with that emotion

Examples
The cheerful brook moves much as a cheerful person might; it babbles, plays, pauses awhile, rushes on, darts has a quick light movement
The moaning wind sounds like a person moaning or sighing
Gnarled branches of barren trees are anguished as call to mind the twisted appearance of human suffering

Van Gogh's Sorrow

Weeping willow is sad looking because recognize in it the posture of someone feeling down
Furious storm reminds us of the behavior of a furious person

Resemblance goes both ways: Friend is furious because she "storms" around the house
Resemblance account is not dependent on subjective experience of appreciator, but on perception of non-aes qualities and characteristic human behavior

An objective account of expressive qualities

Resemblance/similarity theories by themselves can't account for all expressive qualities of nature

Not all expressive qual in nature simply mirror human emotions

Some expressive quality attribution are not traceable to similar emotional expression in behaviors

For nature might have expressive qualities and cause emotions in us that the human sphere alone can't produce
Nature has an otherness, so we should not just look for the expression of human emotions in nature.

E.g., wonder and sublimity of nature (expressive qualities) unique and not a function of being similar to human behavior

Sometimes nature will influence our moods and determine them, so that we reflect nature's qualities rather than the other way around
Is this due to similarity or causal effect separate from similarity?

Embodiment account of expressive qualities in nature (an alternative to resemblance account)

A view that allows for individual or cultural experience to play a role

Some expressive qualities are due to associations (e.g., sense of place associations) that might have nothing to do with resemblances between the place and human behavior
An old disused quarry may appear ugly to some, but to those that worked there and lived off of the quarry, it may express hard work and the hard lives of the community-it has a cultural significance

Here it is not the non-aes qualities of land that bring to mind the feelings of pride associated with the quarry

How this association works: Call it the "embodiment account"

Fusion between objects sensuous surface and associated facts (sci, historical, or whatever)

Fierceness of a battle is reflected in disfigured landscape with poor vegetation

Environments embody history, emotions, memories
Carlson: for an object to express a quality is more than that the object suggests the quality, but the quality must be associated with object itself; object must embody that which it expresses

Expression is not typically due to the unique associations resulting from an individual's personal history

The Welsh quarry is expressive of pride: for a community of individuals the landscape is fused with memories and associations of their working lives on that landscape.

Conventional associations can create embodiment: for Japanese Cherry blossoms when falling associated with sorrow because they epitomize the transience of beauty

KNOWLEDGE IN THE INTEGRATED AES

Sci knowledge is no more appropriate to feed into aes app than religious or mythological narratives. 183
Common sense beliefs are more likely to have a role in aes app (than is sci kn)
Brady says that common sense kn (unlike sci kn) fails to be accompanied by any explanation of why the facts are as alleged
For Hepburn, the though-content is aes app is dist from cog component as it is a reflective backdrop that fuses with other elements of app
The thought and kn element of Brady's integrated aes is a reflective component that ranges from thoughts and beliefs in background, to actively fed-in thoughts and beliefs, constituted by a range of knowledges, including common sense, folk and other cultural knowledges, including sci knowledge

Integrated aes involves perception, imagination, emotions and thought