An Examination of the Traits of Philosophical Discourse by John Locke

It is generally considered that modern thought in the United Kingdom developed primarily in the 17th and the 18th centuries. John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume contributed to the foundation of English empiricism which led to more practical modern thought, affecting economics, science, and moral values in general. Their ideas also served to establish individualism in England, where the concept of individuality and freedom as a civil right developed significantly earlier in comparison to other European countries. The 17th century was the age when the Thirty War had ended, and though human reason was regarded as important, metaphysical ideas were still main-stream in Western philosophy due to the well-established religious traditions on the continent. Although concepts of religious faith and Deity were highly important in metaphysical discourse, John Locke specifically denied “innate principles” in the human mind, putting higher importance on human experience than anything else. He rejected innate ideas on universality, Deity, morals or conscience, and instead tried to clarify certainty and clearness of human intellect, reason or the understanding through an individual’s education, discipline, learning and reflection which could be nurtured by experiences as a human. Historically, it was Great Britain that had grown and developed economic, political and technical power in the modern era of Europe prior to other European countries. It is certain that Locke’s ideas influenced the way of thinking for an individual in his age and for England. This essay aims to examine the characteristics of John Locke’s philosophical discourse and compare his thoughts with the discourse of other philosophers

Considerations on Jean Fautrier’s Paintings and their Literary Context

In the 20th century, paintings were created as a result of essentially free and subjective activities of individuals. During the transition to modernism, numerous works emerged, painted on the basis of greater subjectivity and more innovative ideas for art. These ideas resulted in a more uniquely subjective and abstracted creativity. In the case of Jean Fautrier, although his early works were based on realism, he also transformed and altered his style of expression, and finally adopted a method of ‘impasto.’After World War Two, a more eccentric abstraction, painting without any form or style, emerged. The resulting works were the products of more arbitrary and independent intentions of painters as individuals. At the same time, it is certainly true that modern art after the 1950s has been criticized in many respects. As abstract modern art diverged from tradition and from the conservative creativity of western painting, art without form became a target for traditional criticism. Jean Fautrier’s sequence of works, Otage, was an early example of what Michel Tapié named Art Informel. The motif is clearly the threat of violence by Nazism and the victims of that violence; Fautrier’s expression is quite impressive and understandable as a product of historical disaster. Inhuman cruelty, deformed in the medium of thick oil painting, claimed a literary context which is inherent in the paintings. However, the essence of the works is possible only when expression is consistent with the literary context. Extreme deformation by Fautrier is clearly a product of the literary predicament which he experienced during the war. Fautrier’s trial is regarded as pre-Art Informel, inherited in the trend of abstractionism. Such an idea for abstractionism, different from that of W. Kandinsky or P. Klee, transformed traditional ideas of art into a more indecipherable form and deformed the individual’s concept. This study intends to examine the essence of Fautrier’s works and clarify the literary context behind his art, from the basis of criticism of modern art

Consideration on Expression in Paul Klee’s Primitivism : Form and Line in His Drawing of Fish

Among his numerous works, Paul Klee depicted various kinds of animals, in particular birds and fish. While animals have historically been a motif in a large number of Western paintings, depiction of them as a main motif is quite rare.In the age of the Renaissance, Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel depicted fish which were symbolically relevant to Christianity and Christian culture. In the 20th century, Giorgio de Chirico also used fish as a religious symbol. Although Franz Mark introduced mammals in the main motif, Klee depicted birds and fish with unique and humorous forms and lines. Klee, knowing the aesthetic beauty, mysticism, and vital strength which are essentially inherent in fish and birds, wished to express these in purer and more primitive forms and lines.Fish in particular seldom become a central motif of painting. What Klee derived from fish is the simple forms and lines by which mammals may never be adequately expressed. Klee found essential beauty and freedom in the life of fish and in their swimming in aquatic nature. Furthermore, he found that drawing fish with simpler and more primitive forms and lines concurred with his ideas on art. The essence of fish, their vividness, agility, vigor, and energy as wildlife are expressed in their pure form. What Klee pursued through drawing fish is this pureness and beauty of life. On the other hand, Klee never failed to inspire a sense of humour and cynical insight into his symbolic expression of fish. Primitivism and symbolism are mingled sufficiently to realize his unique art. Paul Klee elaborately utilized symbolism and the style of primitivism, making fish a main motif in Western art in the 20th century

N-quantum approach to quantum field theory at finite T and μ\mu: the NJL model

We extend the N-quantum approach to quantum field theory to finite temperature ($T$) and chemical potential ($\mu$) and apply it to the NJL model. In this approach the Heisenberg fields are expressed using the Haag expansion while temperature and chemical potential are introduced simultaneously through a generalized Bogoliubov transformation. Known mean field results are recovered using only the first term in the Haag expansion. In addition, we find that at finite T and in the broken symmetry phase of the model the mean field approximation can not diagonalize the Hamiltonian. Inclusion of scalar and axial vector diquark channels in the SU(2)$_{rm f}$ $otimes$ SU(3)$_{\rm c}$ version of the model can lead to a lowering of the vacuum energy density. We discuss how to go beyond the mean field approximation by including higher order terms in the Haag expansion.Comment: 14 pages including 2 eps figures. Modified sentences on the lowering of the vacuum energy densit

The Essence of the Art of Franz Marc

Franz Marc painted mainly animals in an original and characteristic style. His focus on animals is attributed to his pure spirit as an artist who felt a special affiliation with animals. Marc changed his style, forms and colors as he developed his ideas on art, influenced by van Gogh, Cézanne, and Matisse, and by the artistic trends of Fauvism and Cubism. Marc created remarkably sophisticated animal paintings in the early 20th century. Over the course of the alteration of his style, Marc’s affection for and identification with animals never changed. Marc lived during the turbulent and dramatic international changes that led to World War Ⅰ. Although Marc hoped that Europe would be purified and then reincarnated by that war, his hope was not realistic. Just before his death, one of his last abstract works suggests his concept of his value to the world. Marc’s ideas about art and the world were admirably pure, and his true affection for animals was the basis of his art, which contributed to his peculiar optimism. Franz Marc’s death marked the end of his creations, but he will be remembered as the first painter to convey pure affection for animals in the history of Western art

Negative Cynicism as Universality Inherent in Kafka’s Modern Literary Ideas

There is a common, literal essence between Kafka and Beckett. Although they lived in different ages, the creativity found in their novels is based in absurdity and a peculiar form of imagination. Kafka, a German-Jew, lived in Prague which at that time was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and wrote his works in German. Beckett, an Irishman living in Paris, wrote his works in French, later translating them into English. As a member of the German-Jewish minority in Prague, Kafka was in a complicated position among the Czech majority. Beckett on the other hand was a spontaneous exile in Europe, separated from his literary and religious bearings. Absurdity in the works of Kafka, as Albert Camus suggested, consists of tragedy in everyday life and the absurd logic found in the social system. That of Beckett revolves around the comedy of everyday life and the absurd destruction of description by meaningless words or language. Kafka depicted the inconsistency latent in humans. Beckett tried to express the impossibility of expression through language. Both forms of absurdity are derived from profound insights into the 20th century’s society. Cynical negativism is the common literary idea for the two authors and is perfectly reflected in their works. Negative and indeed cruel cynicism as well as comical factors are an inevitable necessity for their literary works as a part of general literature in the 20th century, because there seemed to be no longer credible humanism in public consciousness in the post-war era. Absurdity in modern literature paradoxically reflects merciless modern society and human cruelty in cynical tragedy and comedy. The purpose of this essay is to re-recognize both authors’ peculiar and common literary ideas of absurdity and cynicism, to also explore their differences and to examine their implication for describing humanism in the 20th literatur