Humans perceive and interpret the world in many ways. Humans think of things rationally, irrationally, consciously, subconsciously, emotionally, intuitively, directly, indirectly, aesthetically, figuratively, literally, 'from the head and from the heart'-- in a varying combination of these and more all at once. A human can think rationally one moment and be emotionally swept up by a song on the radio the next. Math professors fall head over heels in love and abstract painters calculate their taxes. A great movie is sometimes enjoyed on the intellectual and visceral levels.
A human's best possible exploration, understanding, and expression of the universe use all the levels. An interpretation of the universe through only mathematics or only music is inherently limited. Many things in the world cannot be explained with mathematics-- love and beauty for examples--, just as mathematics cannot be explained with love and beauty. An explanation using just one level is flawed.
This post touches on two standard and distinct ways humans try to explain and study the complex world: the rational/factual essay and art. One is based on reason and logic. The other has its meaning in the irrational (art). Each is a worthwhile method of communication yet is limited and different in what it can express.
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Rational explanation
Humans often find it important to explore subjects and ideas logically and with unbiased facts. A rational fact-based essay uses reason and, well, logic. It tries to remove emotion, whims, logical fallacies, subjectivity and, except when clearly identified as such, the author's opinion. The language of a logical essay or book itself is expected to be free of logical fallacies and linguistic muddiness.
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Logical essay
In proofing the logical essay, the writer and reviewer make sure that statements are consistent. As statements are built upon statements, even small logical fallacies can undercut the entire essay.
The following are examples of checking the logic of statements.
Statement #1: "Jenny has only one brother. Thus, her brother has only one sibling."
Analysis of statement #1: Incorrect, should be rewritten. If Jenny has a sister, then the second statement would be untrue, as John would then have more than one sibling. While John may indeed only have one sibling, the first sentence does not prove the second.
Statement #2: "Jenny's favorite type of fruit over all other fruit is the orange. Thus, the banana is not her favorite fruit."
Analysis of #2: The statement is logically correct.
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Art
Opposed to the logical essay, the essential meaning of art is based in irrationality. While a work of art has an underlying and often even logic-related structure, the essential meaning is irrational-- sublimeness, profound beauty, aesthetic taste, emotional response. Art produces a profound psychological, sometimes visceral effect on the audience and it is here where the meaning exists.
This irrational meaning is illustrated by the wordless music you love. There is nothing logical or rational in the sounds or the emotional reaction you get from them. The aesthetic experiences exist beyond reason.
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Art
Artists intentionally subvert logic, reason, objectivity and reality to produce the desired psychological effect in the audience.
Many paintings intentionally distort reality. Look at paintings by Picasso, Dali, Cezanne, Jackson Pollock and Renoir. Even the 'realistic' paintings of the 1300s have impossible dimensions, odd-looking humans and made up visual stories. Classic movies and novels have unreal plots, characters, timing and effects. Some are fairy tales and some are science fiction.
To produce the desired emotions in the audience most movies have music soundtracks. In real life, many of the scenes portrayed would have no full symphonic accompaniment. Washington crossing the Delaware, man lost alone in the middle of the desert, Humphrey Bogart walking a deserted street. Most movie music is a calculated distortion of reality for psychological purposes.
Isn’t there something bizarre about musical accompaniment for a National Geographic documentary about insects? What does synthesizer or orchestral arrangement have to do with ants? The answer is it has nothing to do with ants, and everything to do with the audience's psychology.
Art is so different than the real world that its truth is derived from lies. Shakespeare's Hamlet is made up. Of Mice and Men is a figment of John Steinbeck's imagination. Picasso once said, “Art is a lie that tells the truth.”
An irreconcilable conflict exists between art and the rational essay. One requires rationality and the other involves irrationality. Each subverts the other.
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Logic
An inherent problem with the rational factual essay is that, despite the author's intentions, it can never be free of the things the author wishes it to be free of-- subjectiveness, irrationalness and arbitrariness.
The author has personal taste about writing style, structure, pacing and overall presentation. A writer can't write or think without using a plethora of conceits, some chosen, some nonconscious, some inborn. A writer can't visualize things in his mind without biases, personal and cultural ways of grouping, labeling and conceptualizing. Writers take into consideration the conceits of the audience, as the point of the essay is to communicate.
Even the seemingly perfectly logical equation 1 + 1 = 2 demonstrates human taste in the spacing, balance, linearity, colors. Many would rewrite “1 +oNE = 2” as “1 + 1 = 2.” The equations mean the same thing, so the reason for the change is aesthetic.
Pure mathematicians will be the first to tell you that math can be beautiful and ugly, and that their research is influenced by aesthetics. In practice, human logic and philosophy have their own art.
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Facts versus aesthetics in a biography
The subject of the biographical movie or book is or was flesh and blood, a life filled with measurable facts, dates, times, durations, amounts, heights, geography, quotes, test scores, employment records, mailing addresses. Yet a strict recitation of facts will not wholly represent the person and her life, much less engage the audience. A person is much more than facts and dates. Character, personality, aesthetic vision (perhaps the subject was a great artist), beliefs, faiths, mental conflicts, contradictions, urges, dreams, fears, subjective experiences, nonconscious, desires.
A famous composer might say, "If you want to know who I am, listen to my music. That's all you need." A woman might say, "If you want to know about me, forget about my high school transcript and the conversations I have with my boss. Watch my favorite movie. If you don't get the movie, you'll never understand me." Her favorite movie probably was made by someone she never met, perhaps who died before she was born, the movie isn't about her, perhaps takes place in a country or even planet she's never been too and may not have a single character that resembles or acts like her or even speaks her language.
Even when distorting facts and logic and time, a biography that is a work of art can, at least in a way, be a better representation of the subject, his deeper personality and vision. This type of biography is an aesthetic or psychological representation of the person, as a Cezanne painting is a figurative representation of a landscape. Cezanne didn’t intend or expect for the viewer to take the painting literally.
The essential problem in the biography is that to create this psychological representation, one must distort the literal truth. And to tell the literal truth, one destroys this aesthetic truth. The biographer needs the two to exist together, but they cannot.
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This conflict is an example that shows how there are things beyond our intelligence and consciousness, and that we are trying to understand them too limited of tools. We are looking at something from different narrow views, with the views giving different, conflicting ideas.
There is also the unanswerable question of whether the conflict is an indication that the unified truth is beyond our understanding or if there is no single truth. Humans have a bias towards wanting a unified truth-- a single model or theory to explain everything--, but perhaps there are multiple truths. Perhaps there are many different truths, some or all that conflict with each other. Perhaps there is no meaning(s) or truth(s), and, like 'art,' those terms are merely human conceptions-- and that's why humans can't find “truth” and “meaning.”
No matter how hard you think, you won't be able to answer these questions. They are beyond the limits of our minds.
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