Research Assignment Paper: What Good Are The Arts?

1. WHAT GOOD ARE THE ARTS?
Epistemology is the study of what it means to know things, and how we know them. Philosophers generally define “knowledge” as “justified true belief.” To know something, it must be true, and you must believe it for good (well-justified) reasons.
For this discussion, consider the controversy presented at http://www(dot)iep(dot)utm(dot)edu/art-ep/ about whether the arts, including literature, can give us knowledge. Or do they mislead us into thinking that we "know" something when in fact we only learn what the artist or writer presents--not the truth itself?
After you read the material, think about your own experience of the arts—visual arts (painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, architecture); literature (poetry and prose); and the performing arts (music, dance, theater, and film).
In your experience, do any of these arts arouse certain “emotions or activities that are able to facilitate or produce knowledge” by tapping into something that cannot be expressed in words? Do the arts give you knowledge? Or do you think they are not useful in producing knowledge? Explain your thinking, using ideas from at least one of the thinkers mentioned in the article.
Include an example from one of the arts to help support your position. Have you gotten “true knowledge”—or not—from a work of literature, the ideas of a philosopher, a piece of art or architecture, or a film? Describe a specific example and if possible, give a link.