scholarly journals André Bazin's Film Theory: Art, Science, Religion

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-207
Author(s):  
Angela Dalle Vacche
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Party ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Film Theory ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
French Film ◽  
Élan Vital ◽  
Human Spirituality ◽  
Rule Out

Always keen on the spectators’ freedom of interpretation, André Bazin’s film theory not only asks the famous question “What is cinema?,” but it also explores what is a human. By underlining the importance of personalist ethics, Angela Dalle Vacche is the first film specialist to identify Bazin’s “anti-anthropocentric” ambition of the cinema in favor of a more compassionate society. Influenced by the personalist philosophy of his mentor, Emmanuel Mounier, Bazin argued that the cinema is a mind-machine that interrogates its audiences on how humankind can engage in an egalitarian fashion towards other humans. According to Bazin, cinema’s ethical interrogation places human spirituality or empathy on top of creativity and logic. Notwithstanding Bazin’s emphasis on ethics, his film theory is rich with metaphors from art and science. The French film critic’s metaphorical writing lyrically frames encounters between literary texts and filmmaking styles, while it illuminates the analogy between the élan vital of biology and cinema’s lifelike ontology. A brilliant analyst of many kinds of films from Europe, Asia, and Latin America, ranging from fiction to documentary, from animation to the avant-garde, Bazin felt that the abstractions of editing were as important as the camera’s fluidity of motion. Furthermore, he disliked films based on a thesis or on an a priori stance that would rule out the risks and surprises of life in motion. Neither a mystic nor an animist, Bazin was a dissident Catholic and a cultural activist without  membership of a specific political party. Eager to dialogue with all kinds of communities, Bazin always disliked institutionalized religions based on dogmas.  

Nesting Expectations: What Can the Mexican and Argentinean Cash Transfers Tell Us about the Development of Development?

1969 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Andrés Dapuez
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Transfer Programs

Latin American cash transfer programs have been implemented aiming at particular anticipatory scenarios. Given that the fulfillment of cash transfer objectives can be calculated neither empirically nor rationally a priori, I analyse these programs in this article using the concept of an “imaginary future.” I posit that cash transfer implementers in Latin America have entertained three main fictional expectations: social pacification in the short term, market inclusion in the long term, and the construction of a more distributive society in the very long term. I classify and date these developing expectations into three waves of conditional cash transfers implementation.

scholarly journals Laying ghosts to rest

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donnchadh O’Conaill
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
A Priori ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Rule Out

AbstractOne of the most widely-discussed arguments against physcialism appeals to the conceivability of zombies, being which are physically or functionally identical to humans but which have no conscious experiences. Philip Goff (Philos Phenomenol Res 81(1): 119–139, 2010; Consci Cognit 21(2): 742–746, 2012a; in Sprevak M, Kallestrup J (eds) New waves in philosophy of mind. Palgrave, 2014) has recently presented a number of different anti-physicalist arguments appealing to the conceivability of ghosts, entities whose nature is exhausted by their being conscious. If ghosts are conceivable, this would rule out a priori physicalism. If the conceivability of ghosts entails that they are metaphysically possible, then this forms the basis for arguments against a posteriori physicalism. Drawing on work on conceivability by Peter Kung (Philos Phenomenol Res 81(3):620–663, 2010, Noûs 50(1): 90–120, 2016) and my own discussion of arguments which appeal to the conceivability of zombies (O’Conaill in Mihretu P Guta (ed) Consciousness and the ontology of properties. Routledge, New York, 2019), I shall argue that ghosts are conceivable, but that what allows us to conceive of them (our ability to make certain stipulations about the scenarios we conceive) undermines the belief that conceivability is a reliable guide to possibility. While this does not undermine Goff’s argument against a priori phyiscalism, it suggests that a posteriori physicalists need not be haunted by ghosts.

scholarly journals The Eye, the Brain, the Screen – What Neuroscience Can Teach Film Theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Paul Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Film Theory ◽  
Mirror Neuron ◽  
The Other ◽  
Perceptual Processing ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Cross Model ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
The Brain

“I don’t believe that linguistics and psychoanalysis offer a great deal to the cinema. On the contrary, the biology of the brain – molecular biology – does.” Gilles DeleuzeModels of the brain are inextricably linked to the surrounding cultural episteme: whether it is viewed as a complex clockwork device, a computer, a self-regulating network or even a cinema screen, our understanding of neurophysiology has always relied on discourses and images taken from other fields. In turn, however, our knowledge of cerebral processes (such as sight for instance) has always, inevitably, affected the way that we approach artworks, literary texts and cultural artefacts.Based on this, this paper looks at how recent neuroscientific research on vision and cognition can help us better understand the processes inherent in film theory. Focussing mainly on the recently discovered concept of the mirror neuron but also citing synaesthesia and limbic perceptual processing, I suggest that neuroscience can provide us with a fertile new ground for thinking about areas such as spectatorship and the facilitation of emotional affect, it can also offer us alternatives to monolithic ideas like the Gaze and the patriarchal nature of visual pleasure.Prompted perhaps by a shift in scopic thinking, some recent neuroscientific research has even mirrored film and cultural theory by foregrounding notions such embodiment, cross-model perception and mimesis, adding to the dialogic relationship that exists between these two disciplines. This paper then is not only concerned with how different fields communicate but with how each can provide models, metaphors and frameworks for the other.

scholarly journals The specifics of the creative representation of classical and modern texts in the direction of A. Prikhodko

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iryna Ivashchenko ◽  
Viktoriya Strelchuk
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Theatrical Space ◽  
Literary Source ◽  
Factors Of Influence ◽  
Structural Methods ◽  
Stage Composition

The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of the interpretive theater direction of A. Prikhodka in the context of experiments with the representation of classical and modern texts. Methodology. Comparative and structural methods have been applied in order to reveal the versatility of the director's intention; the method of hermeneutic and the semiotic method, which contributed to the opportunity to explore the specifics of the director's representation; the hermeneutic method is dominant in the process of evaluating performances since it contributes to the perception of the production as an artistic whole, provided that the functionality of its individual components is understood; the method of semiotic analysis of postmodern stage works, etc. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that the specificity of the representation of classical and modern texts in the work of theatrical director A. Prikhodka is considered in the context of the trends of this process in the modern theatrical space on the basis of comprehensive art history, theater, and cultural analysis. The theoretical views of A. Prikhodka are analyzed, the factors of influence on the production process and its specifics are revealed; an attempt is made to consider the phenomenon of the representation of literary texts from the perspective of postmodern trends in the development of modern Ukrainian theater. Conclusions. The work of A. Prikhodka is characterized by the reworking of the literary source of the production at the text level, including, among other things, a significant substantive reworking - highlighting plot lines, building plot lines, a successive reworking of prose characters into dramatic ones, the emergence of new, non-fictional characters, etc. - turning into a unique a literary script for the author's embodiment of a stage composition with the help of specific means of director's expressiveness of postmodern, realistic and avant-garde theater. The study revealed that the creative representations of classical and modern tests by A. Prikhodka reveal the hidden potential of the literary source, giving it a new philosophical and worldview understanding. The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of the interpretive theater direction of A. Prikhodka in the context of experiments with the representation of classical and modern texts. Methodology. Comparative and structural methods have been applied in order to reveal the versatility of the director's intention; the method of hermeneutic and the semiotic method, which contributed to the opportunity to explore the specifics of the director's representation; the hermeneutic method is dominant in the process of evaluating performances since it contributes to the perception of the production as an artistic whole, provided that the functionality of its individual components is understood; the method of semiotic analysis of postmodern stage works, etc. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that the specificity of the representation of classical and modern texts in the work of theatrical director A. Prikhodka is considered in the context of the trends of this process in the modern theatrical space on the basis of comprehensive art history, theater, and cultural analysis. The theoretical views of A. Prikhodka are analyzed, the factors of influence on the production process and its specifics are revealed; an attempt is made to consider the phenomenon of the representation of literary texts from the perspective of postmodern trends in the development of modern Ukrainian theater. Conclusions. The work of A. Prikhodka is characterized by the reworking of the literary source of the production at the text level, including, among other things, a significant substantive reworking - highlighting plot lines, building plot lines, a successive reworking of prose characters into dramatic ones, the emergence of new, non-fictional characters, etc. - turning into a unique a literary script for the author's embodiment of a stage composition with the help of specific means of director's expressiveness of postmodern, realistic and avant-garde theater. The study revealed that the creative representations of classical and modern tests by A. Prikhodka reveal the hidden potential of the literary source, giving it a new philosophical and worldview understanding.

Party Members and Activists in Latin America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Meléndez ◽  
Sebastián Umpierrez de Reguero
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Party Membership ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Party Members

Despite existing literature that often conflates the terms party membership and party activism, the first is a formal ascription with a given party organization, while the second entails a set of practices, whether sporadic, informal, or devoted, that (a group of) individuals perform to support a political party either during an electoral campaign or more permanently, independently of being enrolled in the party or not. Party members and activists can be analyzed from both the normative model of democracy and the inner functioning of political parties. Focusing on Latin America, party membership and party activism are related to various types of party organizations, social cleavages, and party identification. Individuals join, and/or work for, parties to gain tangible benefits, information, social advantages, and influence, as well as mental satisfaction, without which they could lose financial resources, time, and alternative opportunities. Moreover, prior contributions on party membership and activism based on Latin American countries has emphasized the functions party supporters have as connectors between the citizenry and the party organizations. In this regard, scholars conceive members’ participation not only as a mechanism for party rootedness (“vertical” function), but also as a connection between social and partisan arenas (“horizontal” function). In the region, the research area of party membership and activism portrays virtues and limitations in methodological terms both at the aggregate and the individual level. As a future research agenda, party membership and activism in Latin America should be further studied using comparative strategies, avoiding the pitfalls of public opinion research, not to mention making additional efforts to keep the two terms conceptually distinct. Also, party members and activists can be explored in transnational perspective, joining forces with the blooming literature of political party abroad.

Perceptual Entitlement and Skepticism

2020 ◽  
pp. 143-150
Author(s):  
Anthony Brueckner ◽  
Jon Altschul
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Epistemic Status ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Radical Scepticism ◽  
Rule Out

What are the implications for perceptual anti-individualism for radical scepticism about perceptual entitlement? Previous ambitious arguments are criticized: one can only know a posteriori the extent of perceptual entitlement. But one can know a priori that one is not the only sentient being to have ever existed. Brueckner presented a reconstruction of an argument thought to be discernible in Burge’s “Perceptual Entitlement.” It was supposed to be an a priori argument for the existence of perceptual entitlement. Though it was not touted as such, the argument would be a kind of a priori anti-skeptical argument. For if it could be demonstrated a priori that we have entitlement to hold our perceptual beliefs, then this would answer a skeptic who claimed that our perceptual beliefs have no positive epistemic status, given our inability to rule out his skeptical counterpossibilities in a manner that itself possesses positive epistemic status.

Paz, Juan Carlos (1897–1972)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violeta Nigro-Giunta
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Chamber Music ◽  
Contemporary Music ◽  
New Music ◽  
Film Scores ◽  
Twelve Tone ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Press ◽  
Traditional Institutions

Juan Carlos Paz (1897–1972) was an Argentine composer, critic, writer, and self-described "compositional guide" who played a key role in twentieth-century Argentine contemporary music. Known for his rebellious attitude towards traditional institutions and academia, and as an advocate of avant-garde music throughout his life, Paz was a pioneer in the use of the twelve-tone technique in Latin America. Paz founded such groups as Grupo Renovación [Renovation Group] and Asociación Nueva Música [New Music Association], both devoted to promoting and performing new music. Paz wrote music for solo instruments, chamber music, orchestra, and theatre, as well as film scores. He published three important books dedicated to new music and three volumes containing his memoirs, and collaborated intensively with the press and magazines (Crítica, Reconquista, Acción de Arte, La Protesta, La Campana de Palo, Argentina Libre, among others).

André Bazin's Film Theory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Dalle Vacche
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Film Theory ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethical Awareness ◽  
Classical Geometry ◽  
Static Object ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference

The best way to understand Bazin’s film theory is to pay attention to art, science, and religion, since spectatorship depends on perception, cognition, and hallucination. By arguing that this dissident Catholic’s worldview is anti-anthropocentric, Angela Dalle Vacche concludes that cinema recapitulates the history of evolution and technology inside our consciousness, so that we may better understand how we overlap with, but also differ from, animals, plants, objects, and machines. Whereas in “Art,” the author explains the difference between painting as a static object and the moving image as an event unfolding in time, in “Science,” she discusses Bazin’s dislike of classical geometry and Platonic algebra, his fascination with biology and modern calculus to underline his holistic Darwinism, and his anti-Euclidean mathematics of motion and contingency. Comparable to a religious practice, Bazin’s cinema is the only collective ritual of the twentieth century capable of fostering an emotional community by calling on critical self-interrogation and ethical awareness. Especially keen on Italian neorealism, Bazin argues that this sensibility thrives on beings and things displacing themselves in such a way as to turn the Other into a Neighbor. Bazin’s film theory acknowledges the equalizing impact of the camera lens, which is analogous to, but also different from, the human eye. In the cinema, two different kinds of eyes coexist: one is mechanical and objective, the other is human and subjective. By refusing to reshape the world according to an a priori thesis, Bazin’s idea of an anti-anthropocentric cinema seeks surprise, dialogue, risk, and experiment.

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