So… you’re in AEP. You’re sure of your own intelligence, dominance over the rest of society & ensured future success…
But, how much do you actually contribute to the world?
Why are you different? Will you have a resounding impact upon the schools of thought surrounding culture, science, philosophy, literature or art?
Let’s start with something simple… do you have ‘good’ ideas?
If not… do you know how to change this? Where to go, who to talk to, how to support your own sense of deluded grandeur?
ANIMATED VIDEO: How 'good' ideas happen.
During the Enlightenment, the salon in France was primarily, but not exclusively, the domain of women—mature, intelligent competent women—who clearly understood the importance of their rôle as salon hostesses. In small gatherings of men and women, the conversations at French salons were central in determining the course of the Enlightenment and in diffusing its effects throughout Europe.
During the Enlightenment, the salon evolved through three stages that reflected the primary focus of the participants: the literary salon began in the 1730s; the philosophical salon in the 1760s; the political salon in the 1780s. In the literary discussions of the later salons, the first glimmerings of the Romantic tradition emerged, but political and philosophical problems dominated, in an atmosphere of unfettered critical inquiry.
Some of the genius fostered in this atmosphere of creativity and inspiration is that of…
Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (8 December 1723 – 21 January 1789[1]) was a French-German author, philosopher, encyclopedist and a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He is best known for his atheism and for his voluminous writings against religion, the most famous of them being the System of Nature (1770). (N.B.)
His Parisian salons, which soon became an important meeting place for the contributors to the Encyclopédie. Meetings were held regularly twice a week, on Sundays and Thursdays, in d'Holbach's home in rue Royale, but Saint-Roche between approximately 1750 - 1780. Visitors to the salon were exclusively males, and the tone of discussion highbrow, often extending to topics more extensive than those of other salons.[4] This, along with the excellent food, expensive wine, and a library of over 3000 volumes, attracted many notable visitors. Among the regulars in attendance at the salon—the coterie holbachique—were the following: Diderot, Grimm, Condillac, Condorcet, D'Alembert, Marmontel, Turgot, La Condamine, Raynal, Helvétius, Galiani, Morellet, Naigeon and, for a time, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The salon was also visited by prominent British intellectuals, amongst them Adam Smith, David Hume, John Wilkes, Horace Walpole and Edward Gibbon.
Another ‘GENIUS’ who was a product of connectedness & inspiration was Voltaire; his satirical poems got him into trouble, so his father sent him to Paris to get away from England. In Paris, in a piece of his writings, he criticized the Church. Soon, he left over a quarrel on rights, since he was so opinionated. He then wasn't allowed in Paris, so he stayed on the border when he there met Rousseau, a philosopher. He stayed there, and European figures came to visit him, since he was known as a literary genius. When he finally was allowed in Paris, he returned and was known as a "hero". Since he was very witty and opinionated, this got him into trouble, especially with the Church, whom Voltaire didn't like anyway.
Voltaire had many disciples and imitators, but his only rival in
spreading the Enlightenment was a set of books - the famous French
Encyclopedie, edited by Denis Diderot (1713-1784). The Encyclopedie, the chief monument of the philosophes, declared the supremacy of the new science, denounced superstition, and expounded the merits of human freedom. Its pages contained critical articles, by tradesmen as well as scientists, on unfair taxes, the evils of the slave trade, and the cruelty of criminal laws.
And, yet another branch of ideas from the conversing of peers with like-minded disciplines;
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members.
The group aimed to revolutionize human experience, in its personal, cultural, social, and political aspects. They wanted to free people from false rationality, and restrictive customs and structures. Breton proclaimed that the true aim of Surrealism was "long live the social revolution, and it alone!" To this goal, at various times Surrealists aligned with communism and anarchism.
The movement in the mid-1920s was characterized by meetings in cafes where the Surrealists played collaborative drawing games, discussed the theories of Surrealism, and developed a variety of techniques such as automatic drawing. Breton initially doubted that visual arts could even be useful in the Surrealist movement since they appeared to be less malleable and open to chance and automatism.
Some of the most acclaimed philosophers, experimental intelligentia and talented artists joined the Surrealist movement in cafes and salons all across Paris; the group grew to include Paul Éluard, Benjamin Péret, René Crevel, Robert Desnos, Jacques Baron, Max Morise,[2] Pierre Naville, Roger Vitrac, Gala Éluard, Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Hans Arp, Georges Malkine, Michel Leiris, Georges Limbour, Antonin Artaud, Raymond Queneau, André Masson, Joan Miró, Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Prévert, and Yves Tanguy
And then…
Soon more visual artists became involved, including Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Francis Picabia, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí, Luis Buñuel, Alberto Giacometti, Valentine Hugo, Méret Oppenheim, Toyen, and later after the second war: Enrico Donati. Though Breton admired Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp and courted them to join the movement, they remained peripheral.[6] More writers also joined, including former Dadaist Tristan Tzara, René Char, and Georges Sadoul.
And...
in the science world… two scientists… in a pub… we have...
The Invention of the Genetic Code
So, are you another Dr. Yoshiro Nakamats, The Edison of Japan, OR are you a follower of the world-at-large? Accepting the decisions made for you with a sense of apathy and complacency?
In Google docs, a platform that allows many people to contribute, submit ideas, hold conversations and edit the holistic text… all at once, I want the class to hold a discussion on a prescribed idea; discuss the ramifications and possible solutions of the presented idea.
In today’s class, merely think upon all the information… mull it over and have a few ‘light-bulb-moments’ and then on Thursday, period 1 have the discussion. You may comment on the process, and the idea of… well, ideas, in the usual blog environment.
N.B.
The System of Nature or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World (Système de la Nature ou Des Loix du Monde Physique et du Monde Moral) is a work of philosophy by Paul Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789). It was originally published under the name of Jean-Baptiste de Mirabaud, a deceased member of the French Academy of Science. D'Holbach wrote and published this book – possibly with the assistance of Diderot – anonymously in 1770, describing the universe in terms of the principles of philosophical materialism: The mind is identified with brain, there is no "soul" without a living body, the world is governed by strict deterministic laws, free will is an illusion, there are no final causes, and whatever happens takes places because it inexorably must. Most notoriously, the work explicitly denies the existence of God, arguing that belief in a higher being is the product of fear, lack of understanding, and anthropomorphism.
