Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences

Examples of Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences in the following topics:

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  • He asserted that the stage of human development associated with what he called "savages" was the best or optimal in human development, between the less-than-optimal extreme of brute animals on the one hand and the extreme of decadent civilization on the other.
  • In his Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences (1750), Rousseau argued, in opposition to the dominant stand of Enlightenment thinkers, that the arts and sciences corrupt human morality.
  • Rousseau claimed that the state of nature was a primitive condition without law or morality, which human beings left for the benefits and necessity of cooperation.
  • Rousseau's philosophy of education, elaborated in his 1762 treatise Emile, or On Education, concerns itself with developing the students' character and moral sense, so that they may learn to practice self-mastery and remain virtuous even in the unnatural and imperfect society in which they will have to live.
  • Although many of Rousseau's ideas foreshadowed modern ones in many ways, in one way they do not: Rousseau was a believer in the moral superiority of the patriarchal family on the antique Roman model.

• Postcolonial Discourse

  • Postcolonial discourse is an academic discipline that analyzes the cultural legacies of colonialism and of imperialism.
  • As critical theory, post-colonialism presents, explains, and illustrates the ideology of neo-colonialism, and draws examples from numerous other fields — for instance history, political science, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, religion, linguistics, and feminism.
  • Postcolonial discourse also influences and is influenced by the arts, such as cinema, literature, and media.
  • It was believed among white colonists that imperial stewardship of "less civilized" areas of the world would help lead to intellectual and moral reform of the peoples within these areas (largely people of color), and contribute to natural harmony among the human races of the world.
  • Postcolonial literature is a body of literary writing that responds to the intellectual discourse of European colonization in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific, and other post-colonial areas throughout the globe.

• Non-Democratic Governments: Authoritarianism, Totalitarianism, and Dictatorship

  • The concept became prominent in Western anti-communist political discourse during the Cold War era in order to highlight perceived similarities between Nazi Germany and other fascist regimes on the one hand, and Soviet communism on the other.
  • However, a totalitarian regime attempts to control virtually all aspects of the social life, including economy, education, art, science, private life, and morals of citizens.
  • The concept became prominent in Western anti-communist political discourse during the Cold War era in order to highlight perceived similarities between Nazi Germany and other fascist regimes on the one hand, and Soviet communism on the other.
  • Political scientists Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski were primarily responsible for expanding the usage of the term in university social science and professional research, reformulating it as a paradigm for the Soviet Union as well as fascist regimes.
  • The wave of military dictatorships in Latin America in the second half of the twentieth century left a particular mark on Latin American culture.

• Enlightenment Ideals

  • Furthermore, the sciences and academic disciplines (including social sciences and the humanities) as we know them today, based on empirical methods, also go back to the Age of Enlightenment.
  • If taken back to the mid-17th century, the Enlightenment would trace its origins to Descartes' Discourse on Method, published in 1637.
  • In Russia, the government began to actively encourage the proliferation of arts and sciences in the mid-18th century.
  • Science came to play a leading role in Enlightenment discourse and thought.
  • The most well-known of these works is Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.

• Sociology and Other Social Sciences

  • Psychology studies the human mind and micro-level (or individual) behavior; sociology examines human society; political science studies the governing of groups and countries; communication studies the flow of discourse via various media; economics concerns itself with the production and allocation of wealth in society; and social work is the application of social scientific knowledge in society.
  • In ancient philosophy, there was no difference between the liberal arts of mathematics and the study of history, poetry or politics.
  • Only with the development of mathematical proof did there gradually arise a perceived difference between scientific disciplines and the humanities or liberal arts.
  • Durkheim's sociological theories and James' work on experimental psychology had an enormous impact on those who followed.
  • With the rise of the idea of quantitative measurement in the physical sciences (see, for example Lord Rutherford's famous maxim that any knowledge that one cannot measure numerically "is a poor sort of knowledge"), the stage was set for the division of the study of humanity into the humanities and the social sciences.

• Thinking Politically

  • Politics is the art or science of influencing people on a civic or individual level when there are more than two people involved.
  • Politics is the art or science of influencing people on a civic or individual level when there are more than two people involved.
  • Modern political discourse focuses on democracy and the relationship between people and politics.
  • Political science, the study of politics, examines the acquisition and application of power.
  • Discuss the aim and purpose of the discipline of political science

• Ashoka's Conversion

  • The edict goes on to address the even greater degree of sorrow and regret resulting from Ashoka's understanding that the friends and families of deceased would suffer greatly too.
  • Mauryan India also enjoyed an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of the sciences and of knowledge.
  • In his edicts, Ashoka expresses support for all the major religions of his time: Buddhism, Brahmanism, Jainism, and Ajivikaism, and his edicts addressed to the population at large (there are some addressed specifically to Buddhists; this is not the case for the other religions) generally focus on moral themes members of all the religions would accept.
  • He also used the word "dhamma" to refer to qualities of the heart that underlie moral action; this was an exclusively Buddhist use of the word.
  • Finally, he promotes ideals that correspond to the first three steps of the Buddha's graduated discourse.

• The Popularization of Science

  • Volumes tended to focus more strongly on secular affairs, particularly science and technology, rather than matters of theology.
  • The most well-known of these works is Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopaedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts.
  • The tree reflected the marked division between the arts and sciences, which was largely a result of the rise of empiricism.
  • An increasingly literate population seeking knowledge and education in both the arts and the sciences drove the expansion of print culture and the dissemination of scientific learning.
  • Portrait of M. and Mme Lavoisier, by Jacques-Louis David, 1788, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• Deirdre McCloskey

  • "Modernism views science as axiomatic and mathematical and takes the realm of science to be separate from the realm of form, value, beauty, goodness, and all unmeasurable quantity" (McCloskey, 1985, p 6).
  • Rhetoric, which includes the use of fact, logic, metaphor and story, provides the criterion and framework that guides the development of science.
  • the "art of discovering warrantable beliefs and improving those beliefs in shared discourse. "
  • "Like other arts and sciences, that is, economics uses the whole rhetorical tetrad: fact, logic, metaphor, and story.
  • The allegedly scientific half of the tetrad, the fact and logic, falls short of an adequate economic science, or even a science of rocks or stars.

• The Song Dynasty

  • Technology, science, philosophy, mathematics, and engineering flourished over the course of the Song.
  • The visual arts during the Song Dynasty were heightened by new developments such as advances in landscape and portrait painting, and the elite engaged in the arts as accepted pastimes of the cultured scholar-official, including painting, composing poetry, and writing calligraphy.
  • Emperor Huizong was a renowned artist as well as a patron of the arts.
  • In philosophy, Chinese Buddhism had waned in influence, but it retained its hold on the arts and on the charities of monasteries.
  • Discuss the significance of Neo-Confucianism and literature on the art of the Song dynasty.