From: David Harding (davidharding@optusnet.com.au)
Date: Tue Oct 28 2003 - 23:14:01 GMT
On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 02:41 am, Platt Holden wrote:
> Hi All:
>
> Interesting column by George Will about a new book by Virginia Postrel
> entitled, "The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value is
> Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness."
>
> Will begins by noting, "Creative thinkers do not merely answer
> questions that interest others, they answer question that others have
> not realized were interesting, or even are questions. For example:
> Starbucks' coffee is not that much better than everyone else's coffee,
> so what is Starbucks really selling?
>
> The answer, according to Postrel, is a rising appreciation of what she
> calls the "aesthetic imperative" in this expressive age.
>
> From just the brief description above, two ideas jump out -- "substance
> of style" and "aesthetic imperative" -- immediately connecting in my
> mind to "quality as real as rocks" and "the aesthetic nature of the
> conceptually unknown."
I don't think that quality is 'style' or even 'substance of style'. Pirsig
talks at lengths in ZMM about classical ugliness with 'romantic aesthetic
style' as that which is patched on to give something the Appearance of
quality.
>
> Lest you think I'm stretching to make a point, consider this passage
> verbatim from Postrel's book:
>
> "Aesthetics shows rather than tells, delights rather than instructs.
> The effects are immediate, perceptual and emotional. They are not
> cognitive, although we many analyze them after the fact."
>
> Will adds, "Aesthetics, Postrel stresses, is not irrational or anti-
> rational, it is pre-rational or non-rational."
>
> Where have you read similar words before?
>
All of these are synonyms for Romantic Quality, however my guess would be once
this "Style" is analysed it would be nothing but a meaningless mumbo jumbo.
Like the 'fake fireplaces' and 'hedges which only draw attention to what is
not there' in ZMM.
> According to Postrel, in all areas of life and living Americans are
> consuming design and designing themselves. If she's half right, the
> lure of Quality is making itself felt more and more strongly, as
> Pirsig's cosmic evolutionary morality predicts.
>
> As for Starbucks, "People are eager to pay Starbucks for more than mere
> coffee--for a sensory environment that pleases more than just their
> palates."
>
> Looks to me like the MOQ is making inroads into the collective American
> psyche despite the cold shoulder it has gotten so far from the static-
> bound intelligentsia. :-)
>
> Platt
>
To me, it looks like Style is making inroads into the American psyche, which
sadly isn't new or Dynamic, it only Appears new..
Regards,
David Harding
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