Intro to Humanities II Mar 4

Today we looked at the theory of the semiotic. C. S. Peirce, William James, and John Dewey were basically reviewed in order to discuss pragmatism. Since the origin of pragmatism was Peirce's theory of meaning - "the meaning of a word is its use in the language" we looked at art from the literary perspective of how a work fits into the story it tells. Van Eyck's "Arnolfini's Wedding" was a starting point for a discussion about how we "record" weddings today. From this painting to photographs to DVD recordings of our weddings - to YouTube videos of "wedding dance". From this we went on to Baroque music and asked if the Alleluia chorus of Messiah could be as powerful a piece to someone who did not know the story it is part of? Or further to someone who both knows and believes the story? This was the quiz question.