The End of Art: A Philosophical Defense

This essay constructs philosophical defenses against criticisms of my theory of the end of art. These have to do with the definition of art; the concept of artistic quality; the role of aesthetics; the relationship between philosophy and art; how to answer the question “But is it art?”; the difference between the end of art and “the death of painting”; historical imagination and the future; the method of using indiscernible counterparts, like Warhol's Brillo Box and the Brillo cartons it resembles; the logic of imitation—and the differences between Hegel's views on the end of art and mine. These defenses amplify and fortify the thesis of the end of art as set forth in my After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and the Pale of History (1997).     

The End of Asceticism

Abstract

In this article the author explores the process by which asceticism lost its central place in (Protestant) Christian tradition in early modernity by comparing the ascetic teaching of fifteenth-century Carthusian writer Nikolaus Kempf with the views of Martin Luther and Immanuel Kant. The article identifies a number of philosophical and theological changes that took place that made it impossible for modern thinkers to understand asceticism in its traditional sense, and instead led to interpretations of asceticism as “works righteousness” and superstition. These changes included a new emphasis on the freedom of the individual, which corresponded to a mistrust of moral authority, a new understanding of morality that de-emphasized moral education, and a new understanding of knowledge that disconnected knowledge and virtue.     

人间春色

如果有人间,世界上最美丽的风景是什么？那么,我的答案一定是人间春色。每一个季节都有美丽的风景,但是春光无敌,无论什么季节的风景,都抵不上春天的风景。因为春天不仅美丽。更有万物萌动,生机盎然。     

走到世界的尽头 乌斯怀亚

<正>我能想到的最浪漫的事,就是牵着你的手,一起走到世界的尽头。这个"世界的尽头",就是阿根廷乌斯怀亚,有人类居住的最南端的城市,出了乌斯怀亚港口1000海里,就是渺无人烟的茫茫冰河南极洲。皑皑雪山下"美丽的海湾"乌斯怀亚,位于南半球的顶端火地岛南海岸,走到这里,就走到了世界的尽头——出港口,过德雷克海峡,就是无人居住的冰封南极极地。这里依山傍水,小镇的建筑色彩绚丽,山顶常年积雪,山下的森林却郁郁葱葱,风光旖旎