Similarly, I can enjoy the sensory stimulus I derive from a creative work and still genuinely hold the belief that the one who created it is a rotten stain on the fabric of society.
The idea that enjoying things means endorsing the moral conduct of the person who created them is asinine, insofar as individuals have no power over the immediate visceral reaction they have to the creation.
The greater debate underlying my argument is far more broad and complex than what I have covered here. We might ask ourselves whether we, as consumers of creative content, have the power to reclaim works made under the guidance of morally vapid values by means of interpretation and analysis, ignoring whatever harmful thing it was that the creator intended to convey and disperse through their chosen creative medium.
One might argue that once a creator invites the public to scrutinize their creation, they no longer hold authority over its meaning. One might also argue that, at least for certain creative works, there is no sense in interpretation or analysis at all; a song is just a collection of sounds, a book is just a long string of words and so on.
Although I do believe that there is great value in the interpretation of creative works insofar as they provide us an additional channel for communication, can manipulate our emotions, act as stimuli for the production of further creative works and add a unique depth and richness to life and its supposed meaning, I also believe that the aforementioned argument holds water.
Despite how thinking deeply about creative works can lend a sense of significance to human existence and bring us happiness or purpose, they are ultimately just assortments of their constituent elements. This is not to say that being made of reflectively arbitrary letters, sound waves and so on undermines the significance of creativity — I believe that wherever we can find joy, we should do so.
I only mean to suggest that the simple act of experiencing that joy as a response to a creation does not say anything at all about how one feels about its creator. Peyton Britt is a senior philosophy major with a double minor in English and political science. This is her third and final semester serving as the Campus' This article Every time I have turned on Hulu for the past week or so, I have seen the commercial yes, commercials, for I am a broke college student for Old Navy In a societ Intimacy is a word that means so many different things to so many different people.
One of the first explorations we undertake as we come of age is tr Cancel reply. Your email address will not be published. Close Menu. Submit Search. Opinion Creations and their creators: the fundamental division Peyton Britt , Opinion editor October 22, Plus-sized inclusivity Every time I have turned on Hulu for the past week or so, I have seen the commercial yes, commercials, for I am a broke college student for Old Navy Who stands to gain from self-blame? Support sapphic smut Intimacy is a word that means so many different things to so many different people.
The Campus. About The Campus Staff Advertisements. Share on Facebook. Share on Twitter. Share via Email. Search Submit Search. Activate Search. Scroll to Top. Creations and their creators: the fundamental division. Close Modal Window. Please write down the maximum amount of money that you would be willing to pay to take your origami creation home with you.
It turned out that the builders were willing to pay five times more for their handmade creations than the buyers were. Imagine that you are one of these origami builders. Or do you mistakenly think that everyone shares your appreciation? Before answering this question, consider toddlers. As children grow older, they outgrow that kind of bias.
But do we ever get rid of it completely? Our builders not only overvalued their own creations, they also believed other people would love their origami art as much as they did. In the impossible version of this experiment, we made the origami-folding task more complex by eliminating some of the most crucial details of the instructions.
Standard instructions for origami include arrows and arcs that tell the user what and where to fold, as well as a legend that tells the user how to interpret these arrows and arcs.
As a consequence, buyers were willing to pay less for the origami, but the builders valued their creations even more than when they had been given clear instructions because they put extra effort into making them. Just as my working hard on the IKEA chest of drawers increased my affection for it, our origami experiments showed that the more effort people expend, the more they seem to care about their creations.
The finding that these needs played such large roles in our lab experiments suggests to me that the same thing happens in real-world work environments, but in spades.
But what about the stuff we personalize as consumers? If you buy a pair of shoes online from Nike, for example, you can customize the colors of the shoes, laces and linings. Initially, this desire to customize seems to be about preferences — we choose red over purple because we like red more. But the reality is that customization has additional benefits. By choosing red, we make the product a little more our own. The more effort we put into the design, the more likely we are to enjoy the end product.
The same basic lessons of meaningful engagement also apply to many other aspects of our lives. If we have the money, we hire people to clean our houses, take care of our yards, or set up our wi-fi systems to avoid being bothered by these common chores. Could it be that we end up accomplishing more but at the cost of becoming more alienated from our work, the food we eat, our gardens, our homes, and even our social lives?
The lesson here is that a little sweat equity pays us back in meaning — and that is a high return. Dan Ariely is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight, and cofounder of BEworks.
Matt R. About the author Dan Ariely is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight, and cofounder of BEworks. TED Talk of the Day. Al Gore How to make radical climate action the new normal.
0コメント