Week 8!

I've created a couple of surveys in our Blackboard site to test the intra-subjectivity of your responses to closely-similar versions of the same work. Take these by March 1st. A favorite thesis of mine is that agreement increases when attention is focused on the same "thing". So many times we think we are talking about the same thing, and yet we are not. Make sure that we are focusing on a key feature -- then agreement seems to follow.

Agreement, of course, does not prove the objectivity of aesthetic features (for example), but it certainly diminishes the sense of utter subjectivity - the feeling that we often get when we confront aesthetic issues for the first time.

Comparisons Assignments

I indicated there would be a comparison assignment last week, but felt you might best focus on completing the Arts Colony Assignment first (and to complete more of the Shakespeare scenes). So the first intra-subjective survey on Romeo and Juliet is now available in the Week 7 Course Document folder. Take it before next Monday. There will be a similar survey on the Beethoven Cello Sonata soon. Stay tuned.