Date: Fri, 2 Apr 1999
Metaphysical Value Judgments
MVJs and art
Thomas M. Miovas, Jr.
I've clipped Tore Boeckmann's recent post on metaphysical value
judgments, art, and the creative process down to what I read as
a mistaken view on what the artist does while creating a work of
art. I've been working on my novel since 1991 (late 1990 if you
include the short story that was it's "grandfather"), and I'm
very conscious of what I'm doing while I'm writing.
>From Tore Boeckmann:
>
>[N]o artist, including Ayn Rand, can create by
>conscious reference to MVJs.
Perhaps we are talking past one another, but when I began to
write a short story late one evening, I knew exactly what I
needed, and that it wasn't available in all the world
literature, so I set about to do it myself. I expressed this
dissatisfaction very clearly to myself, in clear conscious
terms, and I would say I was consciously focused on my
metaphysical value judgments.
<big snip>
>What makes the artist's MVJs function as his
>*deepest* standard of selection is not a matter
>of conscious choice, but a function of the fact
>that he is creating a work of *art* -- a re-creation
>of reality that serves no untilitarian function.
>How one re-creates reality, when that is one's
>primary task, does express one's MVJs.
While it is true that one does not consciously choose one's
MJV's, they can come into conscious focus as one is writing --
simply by the fact that the artist is aware of what he is doing
and what it means in terms of his MJV's while he's doing it.
That is, his own response to what he is imagining and writing
plays a very important role in the creative process. I don't
know if this applies to other types of artists, but a novelist,
perhaps because he is dealing with concepts explicitly, can have
his MJV's at his fingertips, so to speak -- which is very
helpful while editing. The expression of his MJV's *is* what he
is writing, and he *knows* it if he is familiar with Objectivism.
>What determines your actions in creating a
>utilitarian object is the purpose of that object....
>
>The reason why you can achieve this ultimate goal
>[while creating a work of art] even though you are
>not focusing on it, has to do with the *nature* of art
> -- with the fact that you are selectively
>re-creating some aspect of reality, without an
>ultimately purpose to direct your choices.
I strongly disagree with the idea that an artist doesn't have an
explicit "ultimate purpose." In my experience, my MJV's serve as
the standard of selection for my theme, one that I think is
important enough to spend nearly ten years of my life in
creating and refining -- in this particular novel, the
relationship between psycho-epistemology and long-term goals. My
ultimate purpose is to present, through my novel, the world as
it might be and ought to be, according to my metaphysical value
judgments.
