Classifying Art in Nature

A response to Tania's question: In regards to art, how does one classify nature, clearly nature is functional, and as far as intention one may need to first consider a divine force in order to follow the question out a bit further, but if one were than where would it fit?

Some non-human sentient beings intentionally create architectural structures, others intentionally create (or recreate) music (performed solo, in duets, or in a chorus), some perform elaborate dances, some purposefully seek out specific objects that they then intentionally arrange in a unique pattern (“found art”), some adapt human-made instruments to create visual or musical arrangements. Given these facts, we should consider these types of non-human creations from an artistic point of view.

I believe beings with certain capacities far superior to human beings exist, however, I do not think that would necessarily make them divine beings. I do believe these meta-human beings intentionally create and express themselves in what human beings would consider artistic modes.

My Questions: Why do you think most human beings are so reluctant to consider the intentional artistic expression of mammals and birds as art?

Self-consciousness and Others

I believe the understanding in class is that, thus far, we have been discussing art philosophy from the anthropocentric perspective (a perspective I find incomplete in certain ways). After reading "Personhood and the Paradoxes and Challenges of Cultural Progress" I found myself wondering why many philosophical discourses continue to omit the potentially valuable inclusion of sentient non-human others. I assume there is a logical explanation for this purposeful omission, but I believe this omission interferes with our personal exploration and understanding of our world, with attending negative consequences for society.

Yake's discussion of Hegel's insight "we are what we can become as we see ourselves reflected in the eyes of those who look on us," was prefaced with the statement that "the flow and growth of personhood via self-consciousness is primarily the consequent of human interaction..." In today's disjointed society, with its incohesive families, estranged by divorce, physical, generational, and moral distances, more human beings find solace, companionship, and community in the company of non-human beings.

I am aware of how much I have grown (and seek to continue this self- and other-consciousness) from seeing myself reflected in the eyes of other (not human) beings. I believe that self- and other-consciousness would lead to moral considerations of others, creating a system of compassionate ethics that would encompass all sentient life forms.

My Question:
Can a self- and other-consciousness ethic be implemented in art?