Madame X by John Sargent

and superbananabomb shall attempt to revive this blog. even though we are thought to be killers, i think it does not mean that we are trying to kill the blog. anyway t-lympho is busy and deathnote is busy too and i am well, uh busy, so we shall not make any apologies. so yes.

Portrait of Madame X
John Singer Sargent
1884

the Madame X in question is actually Madame Gatreau, a lady with a high social standing and of considerable beauty.

when this portrait was first displayed in 1884, it immediately caused an uproar in the French society. the painting was termed as "salacious" and "scandalous" due to the sexual suggestiveness of the lady's pose. in fact, the Parisians termed it as a "monstrous painting".

however, at present, art academics comment that Portrait of Madame X is actually a spectacular painting that captures the essence of Mme Gautreau very strongly – her assertiveness, boldness of her beauty and manner, a “real woman”.

(an interesting nugget of information: the original painting actually had one of the dress straps off the shoulder! it was later adjusted after Sargent brought it back to his studio.)

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the above point is often used to argue for the position that objective knowledge of beauty is not possible. from the example, it seems as if "beauty" is largely dependent on the culture and maturity of the society.

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there is another distinction that supports the same point above:

- Madame X was a notorious beauty in Paris, and people travelled to attend social functions just to catch a glimpse of her.

- But when the painting was finally done, Parisians called the portrait a "monstrous painting".

beauty in real life or beauty in art? of course, one might argue that the Parisians were just commenting at the painting, and not the subject. however, one must know that Sargent was an accomplished artist who received favourable reviews by the critics for 7 years before this fateful painting.

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another point:

is there a difference between knowing that a person is a certain way, and immortalising it in a 7-foot tall painting?

in this case, it was a poorly-hidden fact that Madame Gatreau was a "sexy" (in modern day speak) woman, and she had never received flak for acting in this way. but why, when this essence of her was immortalised in a painting, the Parisians were unable to accept the painting as it was?

sources:

• http://jssgallery.org/Paintings/Madame_X.htm

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Phillips Curve

long time without an update, i wonder what we are busy with? :) anyway it is hard to maintain this blog when we know that they are hardly any readers. so minion-readers, publicise the blog with your fellow ki-mates. spread the love man. come to think of it, it is really a vicious cycle. never mind, i shall be more proactive now.

(oh and deathnote, you totally took t-lympho's first art entry!)


this is the phillip's curve, created by A.W. Phillips during the 1960s.

what?

• curve created from data gathered on the relationship between inflation and unemployment in UK between 1861 and 1967.
• curve shows an INVERSE relation between inflation and unemployment, i.e. as unemployment decreases, inflation increases (higher wages for all!).

but...

• governments understood the curve as there being a trade off between unemployment and inflation

so?

• governments allowed inflation rates to increase, hoping that unemployment rates would then decrease.

HOWEVER!

• the philips curve broke down.
• 1970s: many countries experienced increased inflation together with increased unemployment instead.

questions/usage

• correlation =/= cause (if two variables are correlated, it does not mean that they cause each other, i.e. fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc)
• in this phillips curve case, there could be 3 types of explanations for the correlation -
• 1. A cause B
• 2. B cause A
• 3. C cause A & B.
• definitely for use in social science.

sources

• wiki: phillips curve
• theory of knowledge by Richard van de Lagemaat

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Duchamp's Fountain

One of Duchamp’s most famous and controversial pieces
It is a model urinal bought from J.L. Mott Iron works. Duchamp turned it 90 degrees from it original position such that the side which is suppose to face the wall now functions as the base. It was signed R. Mutt 1917.

Duchamp was the director of the American society of Independent artists. He sent the fountain in under a fake name and the piece got rejected by the committee

However, an anonymous author defended the fountain as an art piece in The Blind Man (An art journal published by Duchamp). He equated his “art” with artwork of both the Virgin Mary, and Buddha. The shadows cast on the urinal gave the illusion of a veil on it, much like the Virgin would wear. Also, all three images have the same general outline shape.

see http://myweb.wit.edu/sheas/EP/Work/MarcelDuchampsFountain.pdf

Controversies. (Points to think about)

Duchamp never gave an explanation for the Fountain. Some said it was just to test the impartiality of the committee. According to the rules, the piece can be exhibited.

Authorship: It was not manufactured by the artist. It was a piece of plumbing taken from a company. Can it then be considered art?

Identity and nature of art (a.k.a. What is art?): When you put the urinal in the art museum, are you transforming it into an art piece or the museum into a lavatory?

Sources:
http://arthist.binghamton.edu/duchamp/fountain.html
http://www.artscienceresearchlab.org/articles/betacourt.htm

:Noted:

Georg Cantor: The Man who went Beyond Infinity

Georg Cantor (1845-1918)

Georg Cantor is a German mathematician whose work in set theory and transfinite numbers remains as one of the most important conributions to mathmatics. His theorem implies the existence of the "infinity of infinitied".

His work was not well received initially as it was counter-intuitive and question the authority of much of modern mathematics. His history-making paper was at first denied publication and when it was finally published, reception was by no means cordial.

His ideas encountered resistance from other leading mathematicians especially Leopold Kronecker who was once his mentor.

By 1900, his work had gained some respect in the mathematical community, however, it was still not universally accepted.

Sources:
Evolution of mathematical concepts, R.L. Wilder
The Story of Mathematics, Motz & Weaver
http://dissertations.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=ashonors

Point.

The traditional views of the mathematicians prevented them from acknowledging and accepting Cantor’s work. For a theorem to be considered as part of mathematical knowledge, it has to be first accepted. Is there then a social aspect in mathematics?

:Noted:

"N-ray" Phenomenon

i feel so uncreative about my titles -.-" but i figured it would make it easier to look for stuff here :)

N-ray Phenomenon

• "discovered" by French scientist, Prosper-René Blondlot, in 1903.
• subsequently found to be illusory.

what?

• changes in brightness of an electric spark in a spark gap placed in X-ray beam.
• Blondlot even managed to photograph the N-rays!
• many scientists even claimed to be able to detect rays from most substances (including the human body!)

but...

• no other researcher was able to reproduce Blondot's results.

worse still.

• when another physicist secretly changed the setup (removed essential prism from apparatus), experimenters still said that they observed N-rays.

so...

• N-rays was a purely subjective phenomenon
• cautions against the dangers of error due to experimenter bias. (patriotism)

questions/usage

• subjectivity in science
• certainty & accuracy in science
• is science any different from social sciences?

sources

• wiki: N-rays

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Please, Save Me from My Leg

Applied Ethics.

Background:

• Several thousand people worldwide suffer from an extremely rare psychiatric illness called body integrity identity disorder (BIID).
• The afflicted have an obsessive desire to be rid of a normal healthy limb, which they view as an alien appendage.
• BIID can be distressing and deadly, especially when patients decide to take matters into their own hands i.e. saw the offensive limb off, freeze it to death, or even conveniently place it in the way of an oncoming train.
  

Dilemma: Should surgeons grant BIID patients their wishes?

Yes

• To prevent BIID patients from injuring or killing themselves.

- Medical ethicists Tim Bayne of the University of Oxford
and Neil Levy of the University of Melbourne in Australia

No

• Amputation of healthy limbs violates the Hippocratic Oath (which instructs doctors to do no harm).
• BIID patients must be protected from their own desires for amputation, which are as delusional as the desires of anorexics for weight loss.
• Amputation is permanent while the desire for it may not be.
• Significant costs to society could be incurred if BIID amputees claim the right to medical rehabilitation and early retirement.

- Arthur Caplan, director of the Centre for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania

Thanks to: Mueller, S. (2007). “Amputee Envy”. Scientific American Mind 18:6. New York: Scientific American.

Finding the theory in reality: What metaethical theories do the respective stands represent?

Disclaimer: The above arguments are put forth solely by the respective persons to whom these arguments are attributed. By posting the above views, T-lymphocyte is by no means endorsing or criticising either stand. Please use at your own discretion.

One night I woke and found a leg
I thought it was a corpse
But when I threw it out of bed
I landed on the floor!

Abel's Mistake

Niels Hendrik Abel (1802-1829)

1823: At the age of 21, Abel published a paper where he gave the first general solution to fifth degree algebraic equations .

(Equations of type Ax⁵ + Bx⁴ + Cx³ + Dx² + Ex + F = 0)

A year later, Abel retracted the claim in a famous paper in which he proved that the general 5th degree equation cannot be solved in terms of algebraic radicals.

Source: The Story of Mathematics, Lloyd Motz & Jefferson Hane Weaver

Point.

Even in the realm of mathematics, certainty is not guaranteed. As hard as it is to believe, mathematicians are human. Thus, it is not unreasonable to believe that years from now, some of today's mathematics will be proven wrong or invalid.

More about Abel:

http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/men/abel.html

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Abel.html

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=700029

:Noted: