David,
You might be interested in reading a recent essay by David Novitz, called
"The Anaesthetics of Emotion", in _Emotion and the Arts_, Mette Hjort and
Sue Lavers, eds. (Oxford University Press, 1997). One of the questions he
tries to answer is how works of art can challenge some of our most deeply
held values without (or often without; works of art do on occasion raise
our ire) much in the way of resistance from those of us who engage them
(indeed, we often seem to *praise* these very works...).
Best,
Jeff
At 01:55 PM 4/19/99 +0100, you wrote:
>While exploring the PhilosophyNews website I came across an article by
>John Leo: "We Need New, Undamaged Colleges"
>(<http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=041599&ID=s561838&cat=>),
>in which the author laments the dangerous effects of deconstruction and
feminism on the
>youth of America. Leo writes: "Because of deconstruction and the broader
postmodern
>movement, everything can be toppled. This is exactly what the West-bashing
multiculturalists
>and male-bashing campus feminists wanted to hear." He goes on to decribe
his experiences
>while touring various colleges with his daughter: "The college tour is
obviously awkward for
>parents who realize that the modern American university is rooted in a new
value system
>quite antagonistic to their own. 'We are like a warrior caste that sends
its children away to be
>raised by pacifist monks,' says Norman Podhoretz, the critic and editor".
>
>In an odd way this seems to echo attitudes about popular cinema: why
>should we pay hard-earned money to watch films that disagree with the
>way in which we earned that money in the place?
>
>David Sorfa
>------------------------------------------------
>Communications and Image Studies/Film Studies
>School of Drama, Film and Visual Arts
>Rutherford College
>University of Kent at Canterbury
>CT2 7NX
>United Kingdom
>
>http://www.geocities.com/athens/9604
>
>silence - exile - cunning
>
>
>
Jeffrey T. Dean
Department of Philosophy
University of Wisconsin, Madison
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