User:Stevenarntson/Freshman Seminar/Misology

Today in class I'll lecture on the broad subject of "taste" in aesthetics, and talk about two related terms: "Misology" and "Negative Capability."

Misology
This isn't a term much used in English, but I find it in my translation of the Phaedo. Here is a very loose modernization:

Socrates
 * But first, let us be careful.

Phaedo
 * Of what?

Socrates
 * Lest we become misologists, for nothing worse can happen to a person. As there are misanthropists (people haters), so there are misologists--idea haters. Both spring from the same cause, which is ignorance of the world.  Misanthropy arises out of the confidence of inexperience;--you trust someone because they seem trustworthy, but then they betray you. Then you trust someone else, and they betray you, too. Finally, you end up hating everyone, thinking that people as a whole are untrustworthy. You've probably seen this happen?

Phaedo
 * I have.

Socrates
 * It's unfortunate, because that person is inexperienced. If they took the time to meet a few more people, it would have become apparent that the world is filled with all kinds--some evil, some good, and most somewhere in the middle.

Phaedo
 * What do you mean?

Socrates
 * As with large and small things, most fall inbetween: great and tiny, swift and slow, fair and foul: in all cases, there are only a few extremes, and many in the middle.  Did you never observe this?

Phaedo
 * Yes, I have.

Socrates
 * Yes, and how melancholy, if there is indeed such a thing as truth or certainty or possibility of knowledge. Perhaps a person discovers some argument that seems true at first, but then seems false, and again, and again--perhaps they then decide that there's no such thing as truth, and close themselves off forever to the possibility of finding it.

Phaedo
 * Yes, that's very melancholy.

Socrates
 * Let us beware of it. Let us not believe that there is no such thing as truth. Rather say that we have not yet attained perfection ourselves, and so we must struggle towards it. And we must not be partisan in our approach. Some people take a side just because they think they can win; some people become good arguers just because they enjoy victory; and others are trying desperately to convince themselves of something. Therefore I ask this of you: take care for the truth, but not for Socrates. Agree with me if I seem to speak the truth; if not, then resist me fully, that I not deceive us both.

Negative Capability
Negative capability is a term coined by the poet John Keats in a letter he wrote to his brother. It is his attempt to explain to himself what it takes to be a great artist. Since he wrote it, many have expanded upon and appreciated its simplicity and power.

...several things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously - I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.

Ellsworth Kelly
In class I'll tell a somewhat lengthy story about my own experience of thinking about aesthetics, which involves some details about the life and work of the painter Ellsworth Kelly. We'll look at some images in class, and have a discussion:


 * Blue, Green, Red II
 * Red Yellow Blue
 * Spectrum V
 * Blue Green Black Red
 * Kelly