I’ve been thinking about something that seems a little strange.
Humans spend a lot of time making things that we don’t actually need. We paint pictures, build models, collect objects, write stories, or make small handmade items that serve no practical purpose.
Recently I started experimenting with resin crafts. At first, I thought the interesting part was just the final object — a small decoration, a shape, or a piece with colors trapped inside. But after doing it for a while, I realized the process itself was probably the more meaningful part.
There is something interesting about taking a simple material and slowly turning it into something unique. The material itself has no meaning, but through intention and creativity, we give it one.
This made me wonder: is creativity valuable because of the final product, or because of the experience of creating?
A handmade object may not be more useful than something mass-produced, but does the personal effort behind it give it a different kind of value?
I’m curious how philosophers here would look at this. Is creating something unnecessary actually a way of expressing something about ourselves?
Level 1) Worth exists fundamentally.on different levels. There are personal, group, social or national and so on and is both subjective and objective.
Level 2) Creativity itself can be subjective. Are you actually creating or rediscovering what already is there?
Level 3) You claim there is something interesting. I most likely wouldnt reach the same conclusion but respect your beliefs and those like you who share the passion. This is why I and I would guess many others are not apart of your collective/we and what makes us different.
Level 4) A model I present is a virtual one. If I were to spend time learning a skill in a virtual world that would derive tangible worth to the residents of that world, with no real value to myself outside of this world, then is that worth manufactured?
To answer your overall question, does the virtual worth provide a tangible or intangible reward? Can I provide it to my what hindus call the atman or ego on my own? If it is line with my dharma and you share the hindus idealology then the emotional rewards themselves can be uplifting. As are the tangible rewards of selling that creative painting to a buyer who shares your belief regardless if it is real or not.
Process, ritual feels good. My son-in-law has been doing resin art and it’s fun seeing the details and his process getting more refined with time. I don’t, but can relate to the satisfaction of slowly mastering a skill.
Yeah, that makes me think of old fashioned tools where you can see the pride and love someone put into objects they used to make their living with.
Or is it like child play, nothing “useful” but still a necessary part of learning life skills. Oh and let’s not forget the emotional satisfaction of a job well done, or a game well played.
Pick your poison. Ill pose the answers in a positive light.
Answer a. It doesnt matter. One example. What I think of other peoples passion and projects and standards is irrelevant because they are not apart of my social circle and thus play no role in my whatever. Ill just ignore this thread and move on as meaning is derived from my interests and my i terests alone. It may take away the spirit of a place to converse but oh well. I take the same stance with voting and voicing my opinion in any assembly that can fundamentally change a neighborhood bill passing, to any global event that doesnt interest me. Why do I care about [enter celebritys project to whatever groups social movement] it is all meaningless in.the end.
Answer b. It does matter. One example. As a potential buyer of renin crafts, it would be rewarding to get inside my head. Although these concepts can overlap, there is a difference between creating for others and creating for one self. No differwnt than a preacher who becomes uplifted through providing guidance through sermons, I provide a commodity to my people and need to know if my experience is just as rewarding to.others as it is to myself in order to play by the rules of society and fund myself that allows the oppportunity of mastery and the use of my time in a practical way. In other words, id love to do this full time but do not possess the.financial means to be a crafter, sculpter, painter, [enter in any job that isnt needed for physical survival]
Answer c) A mix of the two with added structure of what ifs. If the author finds enjoyment doing this but is wearing green socks that day then I find that offense and think it is [enter in word for discrimination like prejudice] by nature. If however he wears red socks, ill respect his inherit passion and support in his projects [enter in any uplifting phrasing]
There are more answers that I can provide based on other school of thoughts but hopefully the above should suffice.
Okay as far as it goes. I reckon.
Since you responded to me, hope you don’t me bringing it back to the last paragraph of your previous comment, which occupied an inordinate amount of my attention during a couple
walks with my Maddy dog.
Guess you can say I’m a physicalist, although I prefer identifying as an Earth-centrist. Evolution and science and the divide between my mind and the physical, biological reality is my constant touchstone with reality.
When I try to engage with learned philosophers, invariably they wind up suggesting “imagine that …”, then its off to the storytelling that invariable pulls us away from consider physical reality - instead focusing on the thoughts we can produce, then building upon those thoughts with yet more elaborate notions (such as panpsychism, etc.) - falling so in love with our thoughts, that we unmoor ourselves from the fundamental evolutionary reality of living on Earth.
Which brings us to today’s situation where I read more and more articles about the short comings of material physical science and the need to inject a wee bit of magical thinking into sober science, in order to accommodate our florid imaginations.
So what’s my question, beyond commenting on that paragraph? What do you think of the “Physical Reality ~ Human Mind divide”? Might be a good place to start.
@Aaawen, sorry to get off-point here, but it feels like something worth pressing. Then I’ll get back on point in your thread.
You mentioned that this is the authors thread and we might be getting off topic. If its okay with you, lets find a new topic where we can be free to exchange ideas and converse without taking away from the OP. You can always rediscover one for us, or create one. Ill answer there when you do.
The study of semiotics shows us that where one finds sense, another finds gibberish, nonsense, or incoherence due to the inability to derive meaning from those symbols. Feel free to start a new topic and ill answer there when you do if you find it interesting enough.
Reminds me of …to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour. -: Robert Louis Stevenson
Isn’t this one of the mantras of the self-development movement: that the journey is more significant than the destination, that the process is more important than the result? I think this truism applies to most human activities, from travel to business, and from dance to politics.
The idea of creativity probably needs some unpacking as well. Creativity is not just about making unnecessary objects, as you put it, or producing art for art’s sake, as it is often described. There is creativity in how people live their lives, the choices they make, how they dress, the language they use, and the ways they relate to others.
Given that humans are meaning-making creatures, it seems to me that creativity plays an essential role in this process. It is one of the primary ways we interpret, shape and express our experience of the world. Creativity is not an optional extra reserved for artists. It’s woven into how we think, communicate, solve problems and construct meaning.
Yes, God created us and we all know our lives have no purpose. I mean, why are we here? What purpose do we serve? Some, to just to bring purpose to their lives, keep pets. They play with them, pat them, feed them a treat, take them for walks in the park,etc.. but I think it gives them purpose. If only pets could talk, we would have enriched ourselves from this simple question.
Creativity is valuable when it improves the product, or the experience. But it can also ruin them.
An object’s history of production can be just as valuable as its history of use, regardless of whether it’s mass-produced or produced by personal effort.
Well, we create lots of unnecessary stuff. These posts, for instance. Are they expressing something about ourselves because they’re unnecessary?
but I think it gives them purpose. If only pets could talk, we would have enriched ourselves from this simple question.