Gnosiology and Arts

edited by Santiago Caprio

Toward behaviors in Cities

Can gnosiology help us to deepen knowledge and cognition to help ourselves?

Baumgarten (1760) introduced this term in conjunction with his efforts in the field of aesthetics. The term "gnosiology" is not well known, although found in Baldwin's (1906) Dictionary of Psychology and Philosophy and means the theory of knowledge, perceived as a combination of sensory perception and intellect and then made into memory and behaviors.

When Arts meets Environment It reminds us of our love of nature and wildlife. It awakes enhances our relationship with the natural world and our respect. Sometimes brings people together around an environmental cause as our common cause.

Over two years, director Matt Anderson traveled more than 24.000 km to live firsthand our modern industrial world and the environmental destruction in its wake into an hypnotic journey, reaching to the past to understand the origins of the catastrophic environmental transitions we now face.

'Fall and Winter' is a documentary film which explores part of the origins of our global cause - and the ingenious adaptations needed to survive the catastrophic transition we've entered, finding in the process strategies to transcend the coming ecological and psychological crisis. Some of today's most progressive thinkers, from anthropologists and bio-architects to psychologists and journalists collectively recreate a story of humanity and the history of Earth, illuminating a new path for us to take. Maybe this artistic point of view was a survival guide for our times, but this is not a story of despair.

Anderson said "What began as exploratory journalism soon became a mission to understand and document as many dimensions of this crisis as possible, along the way we sought out people directly engaged in developing alternatives to our industrial civilization; a civilization which has pushed life on earth to the brink of collapse. From listening to a chorus of people fighting for truth, beauty and justice". Is maybe his sensory perception experience and his new intellect position could have made into memory and new behaviors to Us.

Despite the great challenges we face as citizens or cityusers of our towns and neighborhood, and when considered in the context of science, gnosiology (origin, processes, and validity).

Gnosiology being the study of types of knowledge i.e. memory (abstract knowledge derived from experimentation being -episteme- or teachable knowledge), experience induction (or empiricism), deduction (or rationalism), scientific abductive reasoning, contemplation (theorias), metaphysical and instinctual or intuitive knowledge to start this new path toward new model of city life.

What is the health of the earth's soil? How will our species have to adapt to survive the sad transition we've set in motion? How urban life contribute this great problem to solve?

Gnosiology is focused on the study of the noesis and noetic components of human ontology. Matt Anderson, with this artistic work discusses the immediate need for a cultural paradigm shift in how we resource and respect the earth.