Thought Experiment

Abstract

Part I reads the writings of Arthur Danto with the purpose to unpack his Red Squares thought experiment. Chapter 1 presents that experiment within the context of his life work. Why did it begin with a borrowed anecdote of Exodus, the Red Sea Passage? Why the color of red and what significance a square? How did the thought experiment inspire his end of art thesis, of which the philosophical result was an analytical definition of art? Chapter 2 treats his end of art thesis contextualized by his philosophy of history, and Chapter 3, his engagement with others who have used the Red Sea anecdote, including writers of la vie de bohème. The book thereafter investigates what it has long meant to picture freedom with a wit that attends the mind’s constant experimentation with its thoughts, moods, and perspectives.