Plotinus and the Artistic Imagination

In the thought of Plotinus, the imagination is responsible for the apprehension of the activity of Intellect. If creativity in the arts involves an exercise of the imagination, the image-making power that links sense perception to noetic thought and the nous poietikos, the poetic or creative intellect, then the arts exercise the apprehension of intellectual activity. According to John Dillon in “Plotinus and the Transcendental Imagination,” Plotinus’ conception of the imagination led to the formulation of the imagination as a basis of artistic creativity. In Plotinus, imagination operates on several different levels: it produces images in sense perception, it synthesizes images in dianoetic thought, and it produces images in correspondence with the articulation through logos of noetic thought. The imagination is what connects the intelligible in intellect and the form in sense perception. Plotinus imagines an art which is a product of noetic thought as made possible by the imagination. The primary principle of beauty is Intellect, from which all images should be taken, as facilitated by imagination. Forms of art, like the forms of nature, are the product of Intellect. The production of a work of art is an intellectual or spiritual exercise of the imagination that allows apprehension of Intellect and noesis in nous poietikos. All art is metaphysical, and is an expression of intelligible form in imagination, an expression of an intellectual idea that can be differentiated from sensible form in intellectual apprehension. There are many ways in which the tenets of the thought of Plotinus become currents of art and aesthetic theory as it develops to the present day

The Role of the Unconscious in the Perception of Risks

Dr. Fritzsche argues that our world is too rational and that the psychology of the unconscious, as developed by Jung, can be key to understanding responses to hazards and to resolving conflicts that arise in the political management of risks

The Possession of Thomas Darling: Adumbrations of a Jungian Psychohistory

Applying Jungian psychology to this microhistorical instance, I try to understand the potential, psychological significance of Darling?s possession experience. Using the frontispiece ? ?The Witch of Endor? ? to Glanvill?s 1682 text as a springboard, I attempt to locate the contribution of a Jungian approach by critically comparing it with historical perspectives on possession. I argue that Darling?s possession may be understood as a compensation to his devout Puritan upbringing and that recurring themes of symbolic rebirth ? evidenced by the constellation of the dual mother archetype ? suggest that the ordeal was a manifestation of a process of psychological maturation Jung called individuation. I argue that a Jungian interpretation of the individual, possession experience does not contradict certain historical assertions but, inn many ways, supports them. The witch symbol ? one representing transition and liminality ? elucidates the Puritan position during Elizabethan England, where possession was used as a political statement to assert religious identity in the face of persecution

Helmholtz’s Physiological Psychology

Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) established results both controversial and enduring: analysis of mixed colors and of combination tones, arguments against nativism, and the analysis of sensation and perception using the techniques of natural science. The paper focuses on Helmholtz’s account of sensation, perception, and representation via “physiological psychology”. Helmholtz emphasized that external stimuli of sensations are causes, and sensations are their effects, and he had a practical and naturalist orientation toward the analysis of phenomenal experience. However, he argued as well that sensation must be interpreted to yield representation, and that representation is geared toward objective representation (the central thesis of contemporary intentionalism). The interpretation of sensation is based on “facts” revealed in experiment, but extends to the analysis of the quantitative, causal relationships between stimuli and responses. A key question for Helmholtz’s theory is the extent to which mental operations are to be ascribed a role in interpreting sensation

Religious education and the unconscious: an investigation of children from seven to eleven years

This thesis examines recent research into the validity of Piaget's theories as to how children assimilate, think, and learn, and analyses in detail the research of Br. Ronald Goldman, who based his theories concerning Religious Education upon the psychology of Piaget. The thesis shows how, although having exerted influence over religious education in Britain for over twenty years, the theories of Dr. Goldman are unhelpful for effective teaching in the field of religious, education, as they fail to give recognition to the significance of environment and experience for a child's receptivity of teaching, concentrating as they do too* much upon chronological age. By the use of various enquiries, the current level of understanding of religion among children of Junior School age is investigated, and found to be lacking in any conceptual development from the Infant Stage. The problem, apparently, is that the children are not introduced to any other concepts of God than "Father", with the result that unhelpful anthropomorphic concepts form and receive reinforcement. The problem posed is how to make use of children's experiences in order to develop deeper thought concerning religious interpretations of life. Two basic types of experience are identified and examined, and related to the psychology of Dr. C. G. Jung: the personal experience and the collective experience. By practical classroom work, which is illustrated throughout, specific religious topics are investigated, drawing upon these two basic types of experience. It is shown that, contrary to Goldman's theory, junior children are capable of analysing quite sophisticated Biblical material, and further, show themselves capable of considerable thought about religious matters and symbolism: in general. The thesis concludes by listing various implications for the Primary School Curriculum. For religious education to be effective, it needs to have its foundations within both personal and collective experience. Thought needs to be drawn out from the children by the use of carefully planned schemes of work, and where possible the children should be given the opportunity of extending and deepening their thought by problem; solving activities related to the theme being followed. In contrast to Dr. Goldman's recommendations, the high potential of junior children for abstract thought and reasoning is illuminated throughout and illustrated, and the use of Biblical, and other religious writings and material is recommended for use in the classroom

Is music conscious? The argument from motion, and other considerations

Music is often described in anthropomorphic terms. This paper suggests that if we think about music in certain ways we could think of it as conscious. Motional characteristics give music the impression of being alive, but musical motion is conventionally taken as metaphorical. The first part of this paper argues that metaphor may not be the exclusive means of understanding musical motion – there could also be literal ways. Discussing kinds of consciousness, particularly “access consciousness” (Block 1995), the second part proposes ways in which music could (hypothetically) be conscious. The conclusion states that a greater understanding of the interactions of “phenomenal consciousness” and “access consciousness” is important in conceptualizing non-human consciousnesses, such as music might be conceived to be

The multisensory body revealed through its cast shadows

One key issue when conceiving the body as a multisensory object is how the cognitive system integrates visible instances of the self and other bodies with one\u2019s own somatosensory processing, to achieve self-recognition and body ownership. Recent research has strongly suggested that shadows cast by our own body have a special status for cognitive processing, directing attention to the body in a fast and highly specific manner. The aim of the present article is to review the most recent scientific contributions addressing how body shadows affect both sensory/perceptual and attentional processes. The review examines three main points: (1) body shadows as a special window to investigate the construction of multisensory body perception; (2) experimental paradigms and related findings; (3) open questions and future trajectories. The reviewed literature suggests that shadows cast by one\u2019s own body promote binding between personal and extrapersonal space and elicit automatic orienting of attention toward the bodypart casting the shadow. Future research should address whether the effects exerted by body shadows are similar to those observed when observers are exposed to other visual instances of their body. The results will further clarify the processes underlying the merging of vision and somatosensation when creating body representations

Setting Things Before the Mind

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Brass Art: A house within a house within a house within a house

Performances from Brass Art (Lewis, Mojsiewicz, Pettican), captured at the Freud Museum, London, using Kinect laser scanning and Processing, reveal an intimate response to spaces and technologies. ‘A house within a house within a house within a house’ links historical and cultural representations of the double, the unconscious and the uncanny to this artistic practice. The new moving-image and sonic works form part of a larger project to inhabit the writing rooms of influential authors, entitled ‘Shadow Worlds | Writers’ Rooms’

EDUCATION AS MYTHIC IMAGE

Mythopoetry, the imagistic voice of the muses which manifests in myth and natural poetry, has been invoked as an impression of ideal curriculum with which to cherish intimate, vital experience (and to oppose its exile from educational life). In this statement, I intend to see through the pleasant surface of the label, mythopoetry, to see what image may lie just out of sight, beyond the "inspired writing" that mythopoetry implies. Beyond words themselves, meaning is found in sound and in expressive representation. “Music, when soft voices die, / Vibrates in the memory” (Shelley