Nelson Goodman and the Case for a Kalological Aesthetics

Nelson Goodman and the Case for a Kalological Aesthetics

Nikolaos Gkogkas

Foreword by

T. j. Diffey

Palgravemacmillan

* © Nikolaos Gkogkas 2008 Foreword © T. j . Diffey 2008

Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008 978-0-230-57355-0

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gkogkas, Nikolaos, 1973-Nelson Goodman and the case for a kalological aesthetics I

Nikolaos Gkogkas; foreword by T. j. Diffey. p. em.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Goodman, Nelson- Aesthetics. 2. Aesthetics, Modern - 20th century. 3. Art - Philosophy. I. Title.

BH221 .US4G66 2008 111 ' .85092-dc22 2008016156

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08

Tran !erred to D igital Printing 20 11

DOI 10.1057/9780230286252

3a I1BoHY

For Ivana

Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil.

Beauty is e ternity gazing at itself i ll a mirror. But you are eternity ana you are tile mirror.

(G ibran, 1992, p. 97)

Contents

Foreword by T. f. Diffey

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Questions in Aesthetics 1.1 KalologicaJ aesthetics 1.2 Goodma n's symbology

1.2 .1 Languages 1.2.2 Systems 1.2.3 Symbols 1.2.4 An aesthetic theory of symbols

1.3 Meanings 1.4 Aesthetic and non-aesthetic, I: exemplification 1.5 Notat iona lity 1.6 Authentic a rt, autographic art

1.6.1 Perceiving histo ry 1.6.2 The redundant a llographic

1.7 Pictures are imitated 1.7.1 T he inadequacy of fidelity 1.7.2 The inadequacy of synta x 1.7.3 A different likeness

1.8 Sounds are traced 1.9 Texts are performed

1.10 Aesthetic and non-aesthetic, II: the symptom(s) orthe aesthetic

1.11 Time, style and identity 1.11.1 Practice 1.11.2 Style as history 1.11.3 Identit y in multiplicity

1.12 Aesthetic and non-aesthetic, 11[ : a matter of understanding l.lZ.1 Pleasure and utility

vii

xii

x iii

1 I 4 6 7

8 13 17 21 28 32 34 36 40 43 47 53 55 61

68 7S 78 81 83

85 88

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viii COli tents

2 Aesthetics and Understanding 2.1 Logic as reference 2.2 The 'grue' colours of platonism 2.3 Pragmatic but irreal constructions 2.4 Making worlds 2.S Rightness is larger than truth

3 Aesthetics and Kalology 3.1 The way to bare being 3.2 Kalology as a metaphysical aesthetics of presence 3.3 A grand theory? 3.4 Answers and questions

3.4.1 Overview 3.4.2 Tradition and practice

Appendix 1: Nelson Goodman Works List

Appendix 2: Nelson Goodman Reprints List

Nores

References

Index

91 91 92

100 105 110

114 114

118 123 125 125 134

139

142

154

1S6

161

Foreword

Nikolaos Gkogkas has a thorough knowledge of Goodman's philosophy to share with the readers of this book. He offers us an understanding of Goodman's philosophy in genera l and of Goodman's philosophy of art in particular. A guide and indeed a teacher is needed to understand Goodman's philosophy, since that philosophy is not of the kind where knowledge of the language it is written in and native wit are sufficient to ca rry one through.

There are two strikingly different species of philosophy. The first is contiguous with common sense and general knowledge, and proceeds by intelligent reflec tion upon what we already know and think. This philosophy is not to be despised and indeed is to be honoured and prized. It clarifies OUT thinking and deepens our understanding by set­ting our habitual thinking in a new light, the light of self-knowledge_ When properly done this philosophy puts confusion and perplexity to flight. But other than in these respects, which are indubitably import­ant, it teaches us nothing fundamentally new, nothing we could not have essentially known without the aid of philosophy. This is where the second species of philosophy comes in.

This species of philosophy works methodically and moreover is thor­oughly self-conscious and deliberative about its methods. This sort of philosophy, whatever the differences between its individual practition­ers, and they can be considerable, proceeds by a rigorously methodical application of first principles. Neither the principles nor the method are what we can already know and understand independently of and before we take up the study of philosophy. This philosophy is not a reflection or extension of common sense but is often contrary to it. It sets conven­tional wisdom aside in the pursuit of a determined understanding of the matter in hand.

Goodman's philosophy belongs to the second species. As in the case of the natural sciences, most of what this philosophy has to teach does not repeat and cou ld not have been anticipated by common sense. It is not surprising therefore that the literature of aesthetics is full of criti­cisms of Goodman's theses on the grounds that these so obviously offend common sense. Indeed Goodman's philosophy of art has earned a certain notoriety for findings that are contrary to 'what we know'. The most famous example of this perhaps is Goodman's claim that if even

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x Foreword

only one wrong note occurs in what we take to be the performance of a certain musical work then that work has not been performed.

It is not only that this species of philosophy is like the natural sciences in its not being beholden to common sense or conventional opinion. It is more that there is continu ity if not quite an identity between this sort of philosophy and the sciences. These features certainly characterize Goodman's philosophy.

Good man, as Nikolaos Gkogkas shows, has made a Sign ificant contri· bution not only to the philosophy of art but to other branches of phi l· osophy too. But there has been something of a polarization between 'mainst ream' aestheticians, who see Goodman's account of art as idio· syncratic, not to say wrongheaded, and other aestheticians, who think that Goodman has something indispensable to teach us. There is also a further division between philosophers of art who value Goodman'S cont ribution to their fi eld and the followers and supporters of his other contributions to philosophy, part icu larly the philosophy of science. These ph ilosophers cannot understand why such a deep philosopher of science as Goodman assuredly is should see art and aesthetics not only as essential to his philosophical enterprise but as a necessary constitu· ent of its unity. It is Gkogkas's achievement, though not his primary objective, to show how unconvincing these polarizations around Goodman's work are. For one thing, Goodman's holistic approach to philosophy reveals just how philosophically trivial and indeed down· right misleading these branch names, philosophy of art, philosophy of science, and so on, are. But perhaps provisionally we need to retain them, providing we do not take them too seriously, while we go about the business of seeking to understand Goodman.

$0 with considerable skill Gkogkas shows us why anyone interested in aesthetics and/or the phi losophy of art must come to terms with Goodman's work and take it seriously. That uncertainty - whether to speak of aesthetics and/or the philosophy of art often found in the pro· fessional fi eld today- is itself interesting; and what Goodman has to say may itself shed some light on the confusion . Gkogkas shows the import· ance of Goodman'S thought for aesthetics by demonstrating that it offers nothing less than a shift of paradigm. This sh ift explains why the response to Goodman has been so ba(f1ed in some quarters. For it demands no less than a reconception of the field, including that we relinqUish attachment to aesthetics as a distinct field to be cultivated independently of the broader field of philosophy itself.

At the present time aesthetics is flourishing and yet, with one or two honourable exceptions, there is woefully litt le curiosity about what it is

Foreword I(i

in or about art that calls for, or makes necessary o r appropriate, the philosophy of art. Goodman has an answer to the quest ion, what is it about art that calls forth philosophy? He was a powerful philosopher who also had a deep first-hand engagement with and knowledge of the arts, particu la rly painting. In his Languages of Art he fused the two. Gkogkas is an impressive guide to understanding that achievement and more generally to s howing us how in the philosophy of art it is philosophy we are pursuing.

T . J. DIFFEY

EmerihlS Reader in Philosophy University ofSllssex (UK)

November 2oo7

Acknowledgements

Research for this pro ject was conducted with the support of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and the Panayotis and Effie Michelis Foundation (Athens, Greece). Tha nks are due to Michael J. McGhee, Jonardon Ganeri, Karl N. Simms (Liverpool), Martin Seel (Giessen) and Georgia Aposlolopou lou (Ioannina) who brought their expertise to the rescue whenever I needed it. Regarding kalology itself as a term, Peter Allan Hansen (Oxford) and the Oxford English Dictionary Information Service readily provided essential information .

My si ncere thanks go to all of the above. as well as to Palgrave Macmillan for housing this project in the form of the present book, and to T. j. Diffey for his Foreword and his kind help throughout.

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Abbreviations

(For a (III/list of Nelson Goodman's works please see Appendix 1.)

FFF Fact, Fiction, and Forecast (1983a)

LA Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols (1976) MM Of Mind and Other Matters (1984a) PP Problems and Projects (1972a) RP Reconceptions in Philosopliyand Other Arts and Sciences (w ith C. Z.

Elgin, 1988) SA The Structure of Appearance (1977a) SQ A SWdy orQualities (1990) WW Ways of World making (1978a)

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