Day 532: And Spencer's theory of art
Aug. 31st, 2021 11:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeToday I finished reading the 1971 Daniel Berlyne book, Aesthetics and Psychobiology, which includes his many thoughts on works of art as stimuli. Since I didn't read much of the first 100 pages, I can't count it as a "Book Completed," but I can still quote the bits that amuse me. And here, on p.280, is what he had to say about Herbert Spencer, famous for his invention of "social darwinism."
I was short on sleep so didn't do much else besides finishing this book. Oh, let's see - also, J. and I went on a walk and ended up sitting and chatting a while with T, and later her husband J. They recently returned from dropping off their younger son for his freshman year at the University of New Mexico. I spoke on the phone with the guy I want to hire to haul away the blackberry vines, but he's recovering from COVID so it will be another week before he can come. I bought some groceries and made spaghetti.
Meanwhile, D&S went to the mall and watched Free Guy. It was probably the first time any of us had been in a theater since before the pandemic, when J. and I saw Weathering With You. Fortunately, Tuesdays aren't a popular movie theater time, and there were only about 8 in the audience.
Spencer (1870) offered the same explanation for art as he did for play, namely that it is a collection of devices for getting rid of accumulated energy. He actually invoked a neurophysiological hypothesis to the effect that, when a nerve center has been unused for some time, it will take on a 'state of excessive readiness to decompose and discharge.'"Fortunately, Berlyne doesn't take this seriously.
I was short on sleep so didn't do much else besides finishing this book. Oh, let's see - also, J. and I went on a walk and ended up sitting and chatting a while with T, and later her husband J. They recently returned from dropping off their younger son for his freshman year at the University of New Mexico. I spoke on the phone with the guy I want to hire to haul away the blackberry vines, but he's recovering from COVID so it will be another week before he can come. I bought some groceries and made spaghetti.
Meanwhile, D&S went to the mall and watched Free Guy. It was probably the first time any of us had been in a theater since before the pandemic, when J. and I saw Weathering With You. Fortunately, Tuesdays aren't a popular movie theater time, and there were only about 8 in the audience.