KAZIMAR MALEVICH
One of the Suprematists, a primarily Russian
early 20th century art movement which politicized ways of making art.
The Suprematists dealt with ideal mathematical, industrial forms,
exploring the ideal basic elements that go into making images (supreme
elements i.e., "Suprematism"):
- from this springs modular design
in books, posters, and architecture.
- ornamentation was extra, not
needed.
Malevich took abstraction to the highest extreme with his Black
Square, literally a black square on a white background.
Malevich in Russia (after the Revolution):
1) abstraction
prominent.
2) Malevich sees beginnings of Construcivism.
3)
Constructivism - "Machine age" art, 3-D in nature, uses materials and
methods of industry (steel, plastics, etc.)
~~~~~~~~~~
![]() KARL MARX
With Friedrich Engels (see Das Kapital), Marx
concentrated on political economy and economic relations between
classes of people.
Marx developed Hegel's
dialectic, (thesis/antithesis/ synthesis, a.k.a. base-superstructure)
theories to set the economic framework as the base, with the
(hegemonic-style) culture of the ruling classes as the superstructure.
This famous Hegelian
dialectic was a Socratic-influenced principle that every idea
contains internal contradictions (the thesis and antithesis) that must
struggle to create a new idea (or synthesis). Marx most often
emphasized such Hegelian, classical, and German humanist motifs and
concerns. However, he rejected the focus on Hegel's abstract
Idea and turned instead to dialectical materialism, based on
now-familiar notions of historical and economic determinism. Marx's
theory held that the overthrow of the oppressors in this system was
inevitable.
Marx's base-superstructure theory (economic base provided for
cultural superstructure) was in turn later elaborated by subsequrent
theorists such as Antonio
Gramsci (originator of hegemony theory).
He was also a powerful influence on the Frankfurt
school; in fact, Òthe pioneering efforts in the 1930s of Benjamin
and Adorno
and also of Brecht
to develop a dialectical relation between cultural consumption and
production had been suggested by MarxÓ (Lunn, Marxism and
Modernism, p. 12).
"Under capitalist conditions, according to Marx, art has become, to
an important degree, a form of alienated labor through its near
reduction to commodity status in the marketplace" (Lunn, p. 15). Thus
the romantic mystification of art has been replaced by commodity
fetishism (later developed by Lukacs
into the concept of reification).
Marx and John Stuart Mill
Mill and Marx are regarded as
the great ideological rivals of the mid-19th century. Mill, the great
individualist, nevertheless believed in society as much as Marx, but
he conceived of it somewhat differently. Mill's construction for
society was pluralistic, composed of many parts, while Marx's view of
societal organization was more holistic, conceived of as an integrated
whole. Both, in their own ways, contributed to the intellectual
environment that spawned 20th-century socialism, social democracy, and
social responsibility; but Marx's insistence that nothing short of
revolution could overcome the forces of capitalism places him further
from the heart of modern social democracy, which emphasizes
evolutionary development and change within, broadly speaking, the
status quo.
~~~~~~~~~~
![]() MARSHALL McLUHAN
Canadian scholar and media critic who studied under Harold
Innis. McLuhan believed that the main thrust for societal change in
human society was development in communication forms. As new forms of
communication became dominant, society changed to accommodate these
developments. Thus the nature of cultures changed dramatically with the
development of writing.
The Medium is the Message. McLuhan was very
optimistic about the change from a print to an electronic culture;
hence his famous dictum, "The Medium is the Message," which suggests
that the nature of the communications medium has a direct impact on
how society and its members think and operate, outlines why. Television,
for example, does not simply present a picture of the world to its
audiences -- it fundamentally alters the way people think about the
world. Its role in determining what audiences see and how they make
sense of what they see is central.
The Global Village. McLuhan also famously pronounced in the
1960s that the world had become a "global village" - thus drawing
attention to the developing trend of globalization.
Why did he say this? Well, he posited that communications media and
technology had become in effect an extension of our bodies and our
senses. This is pretty significant. Just as a prosthesis is a
mechanical extension of a body, so the communication network is an
extension of the nervous system. Now that the electronic communication
has spread around the world, so has our neural network. "Television
has become our eyes, the telephone our mouths and ears; our brains are
the interchange for a nervous system that stretches across the whole
world" (Woolley, 125).
In recent years McLuhan has been heavily criticized and castigated
by many in the field, particularly for his later writings, which are
regarded by many as "off the wall." He and Innis both have been damned
by many as simple technological determinists (or at any rate,
media determinists). However, there is also much in their work that
was a valid continuation of the work of the Frankfurt
School. Further, there was much that was prescient in McLuhan's
earlier work, and which still remains relevant, especially to students
of critical theory, global communications, and the developing role of
the Internet.
~~~~~~~~~~
JOHN MILTON
Milton's contribution to the American belief system is fundamental
not only because of his optimism, but also for his belief in rational,
open debate, summed up most eloquently in his masterpiece, Areopagitica. This work, first printed in 1644 and
heavily quoted and lauded by revolutionary-inclined Americans over a
century later, remains one of the greatest essays in defense of
reason, rationality, and open-mindedness in the the English language.
Taken in tandem with his epic poem, Paradise Lost, its
effect on the American polity has been incalculable. Even though
Milton himself could never overcome his personal prejudices against
Roman Catholics, his words retain powerful resonances among all those
who reject censorship in favor of an "open marketplace of ideas," a
phrase never used by Milton (it was coined by U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Olover Wendell Holmes) but later indelibly linked to his
ideas.
Milton's Areopagitica was presented to the English
Parliament, which was at the time under the control of Cromwell's
forces during the time of the English Civil War -- a time when lots of
ideas were being challenged. He gave the following reasons in support
of his argument for a repeal of restrictive English licensing
laws:
a.) It was necessary to permit freedom of expression, which is
of benefit to society.
b.) It was necessary to help printers make
more money to support themselves.
Milton thus provided a philospohical foundation that has supported
and been supported by journalists since before the founding of the
Republic: the search for truth and virtue. According to Milton, the
truth would always emerge triumphant under what became known as
"the self-righting principle." If there is one
single philosophical justification anywhere for free and open
expression, this is it.
CT. Author Index Mm
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