Explore themes of Art Seeking Understanding:

Aesthetic Cognitivism

Cover image for Art Seeking Understanding I: Foundations

Art delights us, but how so, and why? Can art be modes of discovery and creation that enhance understanding? Explore art’s relationship with cognitive science,...

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Art Seeking Understanding I: Foundations

Episode 01

Season 20

26:47

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Creativity generates art. How can art discern or inform the nature of creativity? Conversely, how can discerning or informing art elucidate the creative process?

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Art and the Creative Process

Topic Series

7 videos

41:10

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Aesthetic Cognitivism is a theory about the arts as sources of understanding. What are the kinds of methods or experiments or ways of thinking that can advance how art might...

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Aesthetic Cognitivism IV: Research and Methodology

Topic Series

11 videos

1:22:10

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Aesthetic Cognitivism is a theory about the arts as sources of understanding. What are the scholarly or scientific fields that form its foundation? Explore art’s...

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Aesthetic Cognitivism II: Intellectual Foundations

Topic Series

11 videos

1:19:04

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Aesthetic Cognitivism is a theory about the arts as sources of understanding. What are its potential conclusions and consequences? Will art become a subset of science? Or can...

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Aesthetic Cognitivism III: Meaning and Implications

Topic Series

8 videos

52:12

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Aesthetic Cognitivism is a theory about the value of the arts as sources of understanding — the arts as more than sources of delight, amusement, pleasure, or emotional...

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Aesthetic Cognitivism I: Overview and Concepts

Topic Series

7 videos

51:24

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Art and Philosophy

Cover image for Can Art and Knowledge Enhance Each Other?

Can art go beyond the pleasures of experience to convey knowledge or even understanding? If so, what could be the kinds of knowledge or understanding made manifest by art?...

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Can Art and Knowledge Enhance Each Other?

Episode 07

Season 20

26:47

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Can art inform topics in philosophy of religion? Can the existence and varieties of art address or affect theological questions about God, faith, belief, worship?

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Can Art Engage Philosophy of Religion?

Episode 05

Season 20

26:47

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Cover image for What is Philosophy of Art?

What is the nature of art? What makes something “art”, and why should we value it? What are aesthetics and art theory? Can philosophy of art enhance appreciation...

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What is Philosophy of Art?

Episode 02

Season 20

26:47

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Cover image for Can Art Clarify The Mind-Body Problem?

What’s the relationship between the mental activity of our minds and the physical actions of our brain? It’s called The Mind-Body Problem. To many, it’s a perennial...

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Can Art Clarify The Mind-Body Problem?

Episode 04

Season 20

26:47

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Can art go beyond the pleasures of experience to convey knowledge or even understanding? If so, what could be the kinds of knowledge or understanding made manifest by art?...

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Art and Epistemology

Topic Series

9 videos

1:01:48

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Can art inform topics in philosophy of religion? Can the existence and varieties of art address or affect theological questions about God, faith, belief, worship?

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Art and the Philosophy of Religion

Topic Series

7 videos

55:17

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Neuroscience/Cognitive Science of Art

Cover image for Can the Brain Explain Art?

What is happening in our brains when we perceive and appreciate the arts? What are the neural substrates of artistic sensations, feelings and emotions? How do diverse arts...

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Can the Brain Explain Art?

Episode 03

Season 20

26:47

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Cover image for Aesthetics: Physics and Neuroscience

How can aesthetics be explained by the brain and its underlying biological, chemical, and physical processes? Neuroscience is explaining ever more about art, but will...

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Aesthetics: Physics and Neuroscience

Topic Series

9 videos

1:04:53

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What is happening in our brains when we perceive and appreciate the arts? What are the neural substrates of artistic sensations, feelings and emotions? How do diverse arts...

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Neuroaesthetics: How the Brain Explains Art

Topic Series

8 videos

51:44

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What can we learn about art by studying perception, cognition, emotion? And what can we learn about perception, cognition, emotion by studying art?

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How Does Art Affect Perception, Cognition, Emotion?

Topic Series

6 videos

42:24

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Neuroscience/Cognitive Science of Music

Cover image for Can Music Probe Mentality? (Part 2)

What can music reveal about how the mind works? How does cognitive science study the human capacity for, and experience of, music? How to tease apart the elements of music:...

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Can Music Probe Mentality? (Part 2)

Topic Series

7 videos

1:04

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Cover image for Can Music Probe Mentality?

What can music reveal about how the mind works? How does cognitive science study the human capacity for, and experience of, music? How to tease apart the elements of music:...

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Can Music Probe Mentality?

Topic Series

7 videos

1:15:43

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Cover image for How Do Brains Make Music? (Part 1)

How can the three pounds of wet tissue inside our skulls create and appreciate the grandeur and psychic power of music? Musical feel, beauty and emotion seem so radically...

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How Do Brains Make Music? (Part 1)

Topic Series

6 videos

50:59

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Cover image for How Do Brains Make Music? (Part 2)

How can the three pounds of wet tissue inside our skulls create and appreciate the grandeur and psychic power of music? Musical feel, beauty and emotion seem so radically...

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How Do Brains Make Music? (Part 2)

Topic Series

5 videos

39:32

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Art and God

Cover image for Can Art Reveal God’s Traits?

If God is the creator of human beings and art reflects human sentience, then can examining the arts discern reflections of God? Can one infer from various aspects of art...

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Can Art Reveal God’s Traits?

Episode 06

Season 20

26:47

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If God is the Creator of human beings and art is a feature of human sentience, then can examining the arts help discern characteristics of God? Can one infer from various...

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Can the Arts Reveal God's Traits?

Topic Series

10 videos

1:05:14

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Is it possible to infer something of the nonphysical, divine existence of God from the physical, human existence of art? Can one argue for God from art?

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Arguing God from the Arts?

Topic Series

8 videos

54:35

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Art and Religion

Art is deeply involved in the practice of religion, embedded in the rituals and liturgy of almost every religion. But how could the ubiquity of the arts in religion affect...

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Arts and Religious Reality

Topic Series

6 videos

47:26

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What is the relationship between experiencing art and experiencing God? Can the arts generate or trigger religious experience? If so, can it be validated?

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Arts and Religious Experience

Topic Series

9 videos

50:40

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Is there a relationship between diverse arts and belief in God? Can the arts express or encourage religious belief? If so, can it be validated?

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Arts and Religious Belief

Topic Series

9 videos

59:17

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Why are the arts so deeply embedded in religious settings and services? How do the arts work in religious spaces and activities? What are differences among the arts, say...

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Arts and Religious Practice (Liturgy)

Topic Series

7 videos

1:03:37

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Art and Culture

Cover image for Can Art Probe Creativity?

Creativity generates art. How to discern the creative process in order to inform the nature of art? Conversely, how to discern art in order to inform the nature of the...

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Can Art Probe Creativity?

Episode 09

Season 20

26:47

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Cover image for Did Art and Religion Co-Evolve?

Did art and religion co-evolve in parallel as archaeology and anthropology suggest, and if so, what would be the significance? What do art and religion have in common that...

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Did Art and Religion Co-Evolve?

Episode 08

Season 20

26:47

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How does human thinking and feeling affect human culture? How does collective society emerge from individual mentalities?

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Cognition and Culture (Part 2)

Topic Series

6 videos

42:31

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Cover image for Co-Evolution of Art and Religion

Did art and religion co-evolve in parallel as archeology and anthropology suggest, and if so, what would be the significance? What do art and religion have in common that...

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Co-Evolution of Art and Religion

Topic Series

5 videos

33:06

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How does human thinking and feeling affect human culture? How does collective society emerge from individual mentalities?

playlist

Cognition and Culture (Part 1)

Topic Series

6 videos

40:55

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Mind, Art, Transcendence

The three-way relationship among mind, art, and transcendence is shown to be specific and uniquely valuable; for example, how the mind appreciates art and what art does...

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Mind, Art, Transcendence: Reflections (Part 1)

Topic Series

6 videos

39:38

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Cover image for What Makes Music Transcendent?

How can music take us beyond ourselves, generating a sense of wonder and amazement, opening up new ways of knowing and revealing new kinds of understanding? Why do only...

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What Makes Music Transcendent?

Topic Series

7 videos

1:16:57

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Cover image for Can Art Affect Belief Systems? (Part 1)

Many belief systems, religions in particular, use art for promoting their messages and furthering their missions. What makes art so effective in building and solidifying...

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Can Art Affect Belief Systems? (Part 1)

Topic Series

39:00

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Cover image for Can Art Affect Belief Systems? (Part 2)

Many belief systems, religions in particular, use art for promoting their messages and furthering their missions. What makes art so effective in building and solidifying...

playlist

Can Art Affect Belief Systems? (Part 2)

Topic Series

7 videos

45:02

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Cover image for Toward a Cognitive Science of Aesthetics (Part 1)

Understanding the nature of aesthetics—the philosophical study of beauty and taste—requires careful experimentation and innovative ways to reveal essence and tease out...

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Toward a Cognitive Science of Aesthetics (Part 1)

Topic Series

7 videos

1:18:00

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Cover image for Can Art Affect Morality? (Part 2)

What’s the relationship between art and morality, if any? Can art impact morality, and if so, is art morally neutral in that art may be a force for either positive morality...

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Can Art Affect Morality? (Part 2)

Topic Series

9 videos

1:03:10

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Art Seeking Understanding Projects

Cover image for ASU Project Hypothesis & Theory: Progress & Challenges (Part I)

Art Seeking Understanding (ASU): Closer To Truth tracks on-going ASU projects seeking modes of discovery and ways to deepen understanding. We focus on each project’s...

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ASU Project Hypothesis & Theory: Progress & Challenges (Part I)

Topic Series

8 videos

1:44:20

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Cover image for ASU Project Hypothesis & Theory: Progress & Challenges (Part II)

Art Seeking Understanding (ASU): Closer To Truth tracks on-going ASU projects seeking modes of discovery and ways to deepen understanding. We focus on each project’s...

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ASU Project Hypothesis & Theory: Progress & Challenges (Part II)

Topic Series

1:14:51

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Cover image for ASU Project Design / Methods / Results: Progress & Challenges (Part II)

Art Seeking Understanding (ASU): Closer To Truth tracks on-going ASU projects seeking modes of discovery and ways to deepen understanding. We focus on each project’s...

playlist

ASU Project Design / Methods / Results: Progress & Challenges (Part II)

Topic Series

7 videos

59:30

Watch

Cover image for ASU Project Design / Methods / Results: Progress & Challenges (Part I)

Art Seeking Understanding (ASU): Closer To Truth tracks on-going ASU projects seeking modes of discovery and ways to deepen understanding. We focus on each project’s...

playlist

ASU Project Design / Methods / Results: Progress & Challenges (Part I)

Topic Series

7 videos

54:30

Watch

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Art Seeking Understanding

Explore themes of Art Seeking Understanding:

Art Seeking Understanding I: Foundations

Art and the Creative Process

Aesthetic Cognitivism IV: Research and Methodology

Aesthetic Cognitivism II: Intellectual Foundations

Aesthetic Cognitivism III: Meaning and Implications

Aesthetic Cognitivism I: Overview and Concepts

Can Art and Knowledge Enhance Each Other?

Can Art Engage Philosophy of Religion?

What is Philosophy of Art?

Can Art Clarify The Mind-Body Problem?

Art and Epistemology

Art and the Philosophy of Religion

Can the Brain Explain Art?

Aesthetics: Physics and Neuroscience

Neuroaesthetics: How the Brain Explains Art

How Does Art Affect Perception, Cognition, Emotion?

Can Music Probe Mentality? (Part 2)

Can Music Probe Mentality?

How Do Brains Make Music? (Part 1)

How Do Brains Make Music? (Part 2)

Can Art Reveal God’s Traits?

Can the Arts Reveal God's Traits?

Arguing God from the Arts?

Arts and Religious Reality

Arts and Religious Experience

Arts and Religious Belief

Arts and Religious Practice (Liturgy)

Can Art Probe Creativity?

Did Art and Religion Co-Evolve?

Cognition and Culture (Part 2)

Co-Evolution of Art and Religion

Cognition and Culture (Part 1)

Mind, Art, Transcendence: Reflections (Part 1)

What Makes Music Transcendent?

Can Art Affect Belief Systems? (Part 1)

Can Art Affect Belief Systems? (Part 2)

Toward a Cognitive Science of Aesthetics (Part 1)

Can Art Affect Morality? (Part 2)

ASU Project Hypothesis & Theory: Progress & Challenges (Part I)

ASU Project Hypothesis & Theory: Progress & Challenges (Part II)

ASU Project Design / Methods / Results: Progress & Challenges (Part II)

ASU Project Design / Methods / Results: Progress & Challenges (Part I)