The Artist as a Philosopher

While not disagreeing with McLuhan's general idea, I do see that labeling the artist with a sort of prophetic gift as problematic. I argue that a artist is more often a philosopher instead of a prophet. They look at the way culture, technology, political struggles and the way the world currently works and makes guesses at the possible outcomes.

A good example of how a artist is a philosopher would be George Orwell's book 1984. The book was published in 1949 about 4 years after the cold war officially started and it is a frightening glimpse at what he felt was a potential future during that time period. The book takes place in a fictitious country named Oceanian through the eyes of our main character Winston Smith. In this book all party members and outer party members(a group Winston is a part of) are continuously blasted with propaganda through a television set that cannot be turned off and that continuously monitors its members. Only the Proles (lowest class) do not have Telescreens in there homes. This derives from the idea that it is usually the middle class that starts revolutions which is why they allow the lowest class the most freedom and commit more resources to control the middle class (outer party). The author also introduces ideas such as doublethink. Doublethink is the idea that through constant use of propaganda and fear of the party, the party is able to continuously change and rewrite history while making the individual say, think and even believe this is the way it is and has always been. The standard outer party member would be willing to change his beliefs in a instant if the party told him to. If the party said 1+1=3 then that is what 1+1 equals and as far as they are concerned, that is what they have always believed.

While George Orwell's book was both insightful and had a great deal of lessons and ideas that could be taken from it, it is hardly a prophetic vision(not yet, at the very least). While I concur that artists can teach us a lot about the society we live in, who we are and where we are going; I argue that artists as Philosophers, is a more accurate depiction of arts ability to explore the abstract.