What does art have to do with logic? Our interpretation and judgement of art implies more emotion
than logic. But we still can say that there is logic in it because there is artistic process. But reason is
present in art as architecture and painting. Architecture is the type of art that is most influenced by
reason. Architecture is essentially a form of sculpture which need the use of mathematics and
reason. Sculpture also needs mathematics and reason, but architecture is essentially a form of
sculpture, one with the added necessity of practicality. Buildings must be able to be used
practically, not just to be admired as a pretty thing, but used, as a hotel, or office building or home.
Another examples when you do designing of vehicles like cars, airplanes and
Trains, you need to have imagination but as well reason to deal with aerodynamics to save
fuel and increase speed.
Without the power of reason in architecture, most buildings would be too aesthetically pleasing for
their own good, and would not be able to be used. Even if the building was not supposed to be
used, without reason the artist's (architect's) vision could not be successfully transferred from his
imagination to paper to wood and concrete. Without the logical patterns and relationships the
building would be impossible to build, and hence would be entirely useless. This is the same reason
that sculpture needs reason. Without it, the sculpture would likely be unable to support itself.
Imagination plays a role in History as a means with which one can understand the events which
transpire around a particular event or situation. Reason plays a role in establishing what the event or
situation is. Like telling a story, history requires a certain degree of creative imagination when
interpreting the evidence, making it relevant and more human. Our knowledge of political
relationships and motives behind important events in history are the interpretations of historians to
explain the factual evidence. Trusting solely on imagination may seem to be a very unreliable
method of drawing history. Limit must be set on the creative license of a historian and what he can
recreate using his imagination, otherwise written history could become fiction, giving power to
historians to create 'truth'. Colin Powell told the UN on February 5th, 2003, that Iraq had weapons of
mass destruction, basing his claim on the past documents and inquiries only to later admit that they
"appeared not to be...that solid". Demonstrating the danger of relying on interpretations enhanced by
imagination that are not backed by sufficient records. The creative imagination has a place in the
study of history, but it must be balanced with scientific reasoning and analysis of the factual
evidence. A historian can recreate the atmosphere of a war, bringing the emotions to life, but cannot
abuse his position by creating a reality that is pure speculation or has very little founding in fact. But it’s
hard to say that there is imagination on history because the historians are only able to use what they
had discovered. By using only reason, history is reduced to numbers and graphs, it loses its human side
and neglects the emotion and social aspect, therefore only telling part of the story. The good historian
will use both a scientific method to approach evidence which is the reason parts and will also use his
creative imagination to form hypotheses and stories to interpret the facts, and this way will reach the
conclusion that is closest to the truth. For examples, Shakespeare, historians will look into data to
search about his pieces, how many he did and such but they will also use as well imagination because
they are thinking about if he maybe didn’t wrote all his pieces that people could did it for him because
how he could wrote all this in a short time or even how he could have such good vocabulary if he was a
son of a peasant, maybe they said that he went to a school with intensive literature course, but they
also said that they are not sure about that. There are even myth about him that he didn’t exist or he
used another name. So this is where imagination come in history for hypotheses to make it more
close to the truth, what happens.
The knowledge issues here are, how does reason and imagination and the use of the two effect how
we think? I think that when in History someone tell us a story that is based on reason such as
searching data by historians, what we read in newspaper or history book, people think that it is true,
because when we think about imagination in history, is like something created, invented that
cannot be true, in Art, we think imagination because it’s all created and imagine in our head and it’s
often not true, surrealism or fantastic. So reason it’s more something that can conclude to the truth
and imagination is something that doesn’t really search the truth but showing what we think. But
when you mix the two of them even if they are opposite, they can fit together because you can have
hypothesis like when historians think that it could be true and we think that it is possible so we use
reason and imagination as well. In Art I think it affect our thinking as well because when you mix
imagination and reason together , there is a meaning behind the piece of artwork, and it make
people think about it, and that what artist want too. For example, Picasso and his work “Guernica”,
There is a hole process in this painting because it’s means something and that where we use reason
in Art it’s to understand what the painting is about.
Reason and imagination are two entirely different things, but they are not separate. In human
science like history, reason is prevalent but imagination is also there. In the Arts, imagination is the
more dominant of the two, but reason still has an important role. In the Natural Sciences, reason
and imagination play varied roles, sometimes one is more prominent, and sometimes the other is.
They always affect each other.
Word Count: 1322
Sources:
The TOK Retreat Workbook
