Mdc

Front 1

Socratic Method

Back 1

from the ancient Greeks, asking leading
questions in discourse

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Plato’s Forms

Back 2

the attempt made in ancient Greece at creating a
hierarchy of the world and experience. The true, objective, good (universal) things are at the top of this.

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Images

Back 3

this is the lowest order of things according to Plato’s
theory of the forms

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Plato’s Allegory of the cave

Back 4

explores the notion of belief, illusion, knowledge and Truth. Shadows play a role in the illustration of our ability, or inability to be freed from illusion through wisdom and reason.

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The Industrial Revolution

Back 5

the time period of radical increase in speed, mobility, consumption and population causing most notably an increase in manufacturing. Circa 1760 to 1840
Division of labor and the plea for dealing with social oppression of the working class, mass production, lower quality are some of the key topics Marx and Engels wanted to address in the Communist Manifesto.

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Proletariat

Back 6

the working class

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Bourgeois

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the upper class or non-working class

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Exchange Value

Back 8

money or capital relation instead of need or direct
trade relation

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The Culture Industry

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mass production to control or create a lack of engagement or participation. The standardization of culture through or for capita

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Frankfurt School

Back 10

group of intellectuals in Germany, notably
featuring Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin, who dealt with social development, beyond Marx and the actualization of the problems of capitalism. They explored many aspects of culture and society including aesthetics’, politics, reproduction and the problems of both capitalism and socialism

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Walter Benjamin

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German critic and philosopher – a founding
member of the Frankfurt School

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The Aura

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the unique experience that is created when in front of an original object

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Ritual

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Historical or Traditional purpose of an idea

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Political

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interpretation, use and positioning around an idea (ideally progressive)

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Exhibition Value

Back 15

the value of something that is shown, shared
and interpreted

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Cult Value

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the value of something because it is deemed significant through history, exclusivity, ritual and tradition

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Superstructure

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the higher functions of a society that is built on
the base, or sub-structure. Some elements of this are religion, education and media.

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Reproduction

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movement away from the art object as cult value or ritualistic
(changed the way we look at and experience art.)

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Film/ Video

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a way of combining signs in both space and time into one experience – closest to reality for Benjamin as compared to painting

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Copy

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a reproduction of the original – this depletes the aura of the original according to Benjamin

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Douglas Davis

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American artist, critic and educator – created one of the earliest art pieces for the internet

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Repetitive Copy

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for Davis this is what causes the depletion of the aura
– the copy that is not interpreted, shared or unique in any way

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Unique Copy

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for Davis, the copy which is shared, interpreted and
revised in some way due to first hand experience, interaction and translation

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Post-Industrial

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less goods and manufacturing is required and is
replaced by the service sector of the economy – we make fewer and fewer things

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Representation

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(According to Stuart Hall) is language used to say
something that correlates to a sign, image ect, real or imagined between members of a culture

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Langue

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overall system (rules) of language (e.g. all chess moves)

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Parole

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a specific use of language (e.g. a specific chess move
within the rules or "langue" of chess)

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Synchronic Linguistics study

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the study of our current use of language within a system

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Diachronic Linguistics study

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the study of language in its historical evolution

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Mental Representation

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thoughts that correlate to representation in the world

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Culture of meanings

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meaning gathered from individual interpretations
based on a “shared conceptual map”; this map is expressed within shared language

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Linguistic Signs

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written or spoken representations of a concept or
thought of an object in the world– grounded by a temporal sequence (time)

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Visual Signs

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visual representations of a concept or thought of an object in the world – grounded by space and not time (can occur simultaneously in time and space)

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Syntagmatic or Syntagm

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the horizontal ordering of signs in a sentence. e.g. man bites dog vs. dog bites man (meaning shifts)

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Saussure’s Paradigms

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The lists of signs (could be imagined vertically over a syntagm) that can be interchanged with other signs (cat licks baby, instead of dog bites man)

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Charles Peirce

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American Philosopher dealing with visual signs, the
development of indexical and iconic signs

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Indexical Signs

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a sign that is causal and not arbitrary – smoke to fire

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Iconic Signs

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a sign that correlates to a referent - the signified and
signifier are seemingly interchangeable – a photo of someone

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Symbolic Signs

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the correlation to a word and a mental concept of the
thing - there is no direct representation of the world – arbitrary - i.e. red = danger

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Code

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is the correlation between concept and language, a social convention developed over time and learned within culture – sets of signs

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Roland Barthes

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French theorist combined the use of semiotics with a
cultural component that included the creation of social myth

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Myth

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used by Barthes, the social combination of description and meaning to structure a message (ex. an ad for something that connects
other meanings together to create a mythic meaning)

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Denotation

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used by Barthes as a term that means to label or describe a sign (red sports car)

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Connotation

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used by Barthes as a term to describe the meaning of a
sign within a social context (red sports car can connote: fast, mid-life crisis, expensive)

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Barthes Metaphor

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used to create myth by making one signified
thing seem similar to another (e.g. “eat the road”)

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Barthes Metonymy

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used to create myth by replacing one signified thing
with another (e.g. tarmac compared to a road)

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Cultural or Linguistic Relativism

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slippage or variance (change) between codes, culturally

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Commodity Sign

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a sign or the meaning filled object or image as
consumed good or product that is easily and readily available (such as the red sports car)

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Signifier

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the form of a sign

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Signified

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the meaning or concept of a sign

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Referent

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The actual things which signs refer

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Objet Petit a

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The unattainable ideal object (what we strive for aka
desire)

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Jouissance

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intense pleasure related to the acquisition of the real,
that is unattainable

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The electronic field of ease (Davis)

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a subjective and easily accessible use of the virtual to generate a new original and connection to a larger social context (the internet is an example of this)

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The field of information

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all at once and immediate access to content

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Media (McLuhan)

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an extension our bodies that expands our speed and
capacity for communication

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Mechanical age

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the age in our social and cultural development that in
some ways started the industrial revolution – the use of machines and mass production to create goods

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Electric Age

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the age in our social and cultural development that used electricity and electric as ways of sharing information to extend our capacity for communication – the use of TV is a significant component

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Technics (Mumford)

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the theory around the process of technology within culture and society - the cultural and social elements that surround advancement

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Communication Medium

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anything that enhances or increases human capacity for interaction and dissemination of information

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Grammar (McLuhan)

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The "language" or way of accessing, understanding and then using a medium

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Poly-Technic Society

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a society with multiple means of communication and media in an electric or digital age.

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Jean Baudrillard

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French critic and theorist – basic premise is around the replacement of the real with signs of the real

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Reality Principle

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representation that the sign and the real are equivalent – the notion that there is a reality to hold on to socially

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Truth Principle

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notion of objective truth that we (or those in control) wish to perpetuate and maintain

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Simulate

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Copied or consumed with no objective truth or
authenticity – we are unaware the copy is actually copy

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Dissimulate

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Copied with an awareness that you are making or consuming a copy – similar to feign

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Referential Fallacy: the assumption that

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a) it is a necessary condition of a sign that the signifier has a referent (in
particular, a material object in the world) or

b) that the meaning of a sign lies purely in its referent.

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The adjustment of reality is lead by ____________, not ____________. according to Benjamin

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Thought
Aesthetics

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For Saussure Language is _________, ___________, & ___________.

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arbitrary, conventional (learned, not innate) & constituative (creative of reality, language is what makes us)

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According to McLuhan ____________ is the “content’ of speech

The message of any medium or technology is the change of ______ or ____ or _______ that it introduces into human affairs.

Moving information is the ______ of media

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thought

scale or pace or pattern

driver

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Hall's Theories of Meaning
1. Reflective
2. Intentional
3. Constructional

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1. Reflective
already exists in the world simply self referential
(meaning is)

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Hall's Theories of Meaning
1. Reflective
2. Intentional
3. Constructional

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2. Intentional
expression of what someone wants to say (communication of personal meaning)

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Hall's Theories of Meaning
1. Reflective
2. Intentional
3. Constructional

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3. Constructional
meaning through language

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3 stages of acquiring language – Lacan:
1. Oneness Stage
2. The Mirror Stage
3. The Acquisition Stage

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1. Oneness Stage
the ideal and most basic stage that we are in at birth (there is only “I” in this stage)

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3 stages of acquiring language – Lacan:
1. Oneness Stage
2. The Mirror Stage
3. The Acquisition Stage

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2. The Mirror Stage
the creation of the dichotomy of the self –object to subject - internal v external self – image v real, perception me and other relationship (does everyone see me the way I see myself?), then

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3 stages of acquiring language – Lacan:
1. Oneness Stage
2. The Mirror Stage
3. The Acquisition Stage

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3. The Acquisition Stage
the development of language to attempt to re-attain the oneness stage

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Baudrillard Stages of Simulation-
1. First Order- Images

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Images- representations of a thing that try to
correlate to the real world - an attempt at the true reflection of the real - still illusion, but a benevolent one - reflection of the real

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Baudrillard Stages of Simulation-
2. Second order- Idea; (Imagined)

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Ideal (imagined) - a created notion that uses
the first order to create a biased reflection of reality that is not true. Uses reality to create something else - a false reflection of the real

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Baudrillard Stages of Simulation-
3. Third order- Simulacrum

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Simulacrum - when the ideal is used to arbitrarily construct a false representation of the real not
correlating in truth - a false representation of the real

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Baudrillard Stages of Simulation-
4. Fourth order - Hyperreal or pure simulation -

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the unaware consumption and acceptance of the false representation, signs of signs - the reflection of a false representation