Almost all of us would agree that the experience of art is deeply rewarding. Why this is the case remains a puzzle; nor does it explain why many of us find works of art much more important than other sources of pleasure. Art and Knowledge argues that the experience of art is so rewarding because it can be an important source of knowledge about ourselves and our relation to each other and to the world. The view that art is a source of knowledge can be traced as far back as Aristotle and Horace. Artists as various as Tasso, Sidney, Henry James and Mendelssohn have believed that art contributes to knowledge. As attractive as this view may be, it has never been satisfactorily defended, either by artists or philosophers. Art and Knowledge reflects on the essence of art and argues that it ought to provide insight as well as pleasure. It argues that all the arts, including music, are importantly representational. This kind of representation is fundamentally different from that found in the sciences, but it can provide insights as important and profound as available from the sciences. Once we recognise that works of art can contribute to knowledge we can avoid thorough relativism about aesthetic value and we can be in a position to evaluate the avant-garde art of the past 100 years. Art and Knowledge is an exceptionally clear and interesting, as well as controversial, exploration of what art is and why it is valuable. It will be of interest to all philosophers of art, artists and art critics.

This book argues that a special value of art is the way in which it uses conscious experience -- the exemplars of aesthetic experience -- to autonomously reconfigure how we conceive of our world and ourselves, ourselves in our world and our world in ourselves. Exemplar representation ties art and science, mind and body, self and world together in a dynamic loop reconfiguring them all as it reconfigures itself.

An expert in art therapy offers this “wonderful” guide “for anyone, artistic or not, who is interested in using art to know more about himself or herself” (Library Journal) Making art—giving form to the images that arise in our mind's eye, our dreams, and our everyday lives—is a form of spiritual practice through which knowledge of ourselves can ripen into wisdom. This book offers encouragement for everyone to explore art-making in this spirit of self-discovery—plus practical instructions on material, methods, and activities, such as ways to: • Discover a personal myth or story • Recognize patterns and themes in one's life • Identify and release painful memories • Combine journaling and image making • Practice the ancient skill of active imagination • Connect with others through sharing one's art works Interwoven with this guidance is the intimate story of the author's own journey as a student, art therapist, teacher, wife, mother, and artist—and, most of all, as a woman who discovered a profound and healing connection with her soul through making art.

How the tools of STS can be used to understand art and science and the practices of these knowledge-making communities. In Art, Science, and the Politics of Knowledge, Hannah Star Rogers suggests that art and science are not as different from each other as we might assume. She shows how the tools of science and technology studies (STS) can be applied to artistic practice, offering new ways of thinking about people and objects that have largely fallen outside the scope of STS research. Arguing that the categories of art and science are labels with specific powers to order social worlds—and that art and science are best understood as networks that produce knowledge—Rogers shows, through a series of cases, the similarities and overlapping practices of these knowledge communities. The cases, which range from nineteenth-century artisans to contemporary bioartists, illustrate how art can provide the basis for a new subdiscipline called art, science, and technology studies (ASTS), offering hybrid tools for investigating art–science collaborations. Rogers’s subjects include the work of father and son glassblowers, the Blaschkas, whose glass models, produced in the nineteenth century for use in biological classification, are now displayed as works of art; the physics photographs of documentary photographer Berenice Abbott; and a bioart lab that produces work functioning as both artwork and scientific output. Finally, Rogers, an STS scholar and contemporary art–science curator, draws on her own work to consider the concept of curation as a form of critical analysis.

In Knowledge, Art, and Power: An Outline of a Theory of Experience John Ryder presents an original theory of experience rooted in the American pragmatic naturalist philosophical tradition. The operative assumption of the book is that a clearer understanding of experience provides a richer conception of human being. Beginning with the Deweyan idea of experience as the mutually constitutive engagement of an individual with her environing conditions, the theory posits that there are three general dimensions that condition all of our experience - cognitive (knowledge), aesthetic (art), and political (power). All other constituents and forms of experience, such as language, emotions, ethics, religion, and others, are conditioned by these three general threads that define the fabric of experience and of human life.

The fully updated edition of DK's bestselling Knowledge Encyclopedia Change the way you see the world with a groundbreaking visual approach to the wonders of our planet. This fully updated third edition of Knowledge Encyclopedia will continue to fascinate young readers with its microscopic detail and amazing facts on a huge range of topics. You'll find yourself totally absorbed in complex subjects, made clear through engaging explanations, intricate illustrations, stunning photographs, and awe-inspiring 3D images. Explore the universe, from the inside of an atom to black holes, then discover the explosive science behind a fireworks display. Look at what makes the human brain so special and find out how the body's cells make energy. Journey through history from the earliest life forms right up to our world today. From Viking raiders and Samurai warriors to robotics and chemical reactions, amazing animals, the human body, the marvels of history, and more are visualized in incredible detail, inside and out, providing a mind-blowing introduction to every aspect of human knowledge.

The contributors to this volume examine the historical and philosophical issues concerning the role that scientific illustration plays in the creation of scientific knowledge.