Noumena: Depression

For my noumena project I did it over depression. Depression cannot be seen. People put on a facade of depression that prevents people from seeing it, but we know that depression exists. Depression is serious and leads to suicide or self harm. People who are depressed don't show it and then one day they are gone with out their family or friends knowing why. Even though depression isn't one of the typical noumenas to use, its subtle and harmful. 

Mariah Parker

Photo III

2^nd Hour

Noumena

            Noumena is an object as it is in itself independent of the mind, as opposed to a phenomenon. In simpler terms, noumena is something that you know is there and would bet anyone anything that it exists, yet you cannot see it. The term can also be contrasted with or related to “phenomenon”. Many individuals philosophize over noumena and many philosophical systems came out of this. Platonism is the philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it. On the other hand, “Platonism” refers to the philosophy that affirms the existence of abstract objects that can be asserted to exist in a third realm distinct both from the sensible external world and from the internal world of consciousness. The term may indicate the doctrine of Platonic realism or a philosophical term usually used to refer to the idea of realism regarding the existence of universals or abstract objects after the Greek philosopher Plato. The central concept of Platonism is the distinction essential to the Theory of Forms. The Theory of Forms asserts that non-material abstract forms, and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality. The forms are typically described in dialogues such as the Phaedo, Symposium, and Republic as transcendent, perfect archetypes, of which objects in the everyday world are imperfect copies. The origin of Platonism was originally expressed in the dialogues of Plato.

            Much of modern philosophy has generally been skeptical of the possibility of knowledge independent of the senses, and Immanuel Kant gave this point of view its classical version, saying that the noumenal world may exist but is completely unknowable to humans. Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who widely considered being a central figure of modern philosophy. He argued that fundamental concepts structure human experience, and that reason is the source of mortality. His thought influenced metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics. One of Kant’s major works was the Critique of Pure Reason, which aimed to explain the relationship between reason and human experience. With this project, he hoped to move beyond what he took to be failures of traditional philosophy and metaphysics. Kant argued that our experiences are structured by necessary features of our minds. From his view, the mind shapes and structures experience so that all human experience shares certain essential structural features. Kant also believed that the concepts of space and time are integral to all human experience. One of Kant’s goals was to resolve disputes between empirical and rationalist approaches. Empirical is a theory which states that knowledge comes only a primarily from sensory experience. Rationalism is the view that regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge or any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification. Kant argued that experience only leads to theoretical illusions. The free and proper exercise of reason by the individual was a theme both of the Age of Enlightenment, and of Kant’s approaches to the various problems of philosophy. His ideas influenced many thinkers in Germany during his lifetime. He had moved philosophy beyond the debate between the rationalists and empiricists. Kant is seen as a major figure in the history and development of philosophy.

            There are plenty of examples of noumena. Even though there are a bountiful amount of visible things in the world, there are also plentiful amounts of the unseen. Noumena photography is seen all over, even if it does not blatantly say that its noumena. However, there are example of noumena. For one, air is an example. We all know that air is around us. We can feel it blow against our face, and we breathe it in and out all day long. We need it to live, yet we never can hold it within our hands or see it. Air is accepted as noumena, unlike others. Religion is a huge noumena on the basis of a divine power. No one can see a God or the devil, yet many individuals believe with all their heart that they exist and that they are constantly involved with everyday life. This is where controversy settles in. Not everyone is going to be okay with believing in something or someone that they cannot see. This is why noumena is so hard to capture within an image. How do you take a picture to represent something that you cannot see? Many photographers have done this in many ways.

            Noumena has progressed through history from the first thoughts of Plato to the photographs of Anthony Carriere. Noumena has gone from being expressed through words and philosophy, to being expressed through photographs. It is amazing to think that something that can not be seen can be expressed through something that can only be seen. However, the basis behind noumena has stayed the same. It is something beautiful and mysterious, something that will never be seen or captured or fully understood no matter how hard we try.

Works Cited:

·      “Noumena – Anthony Carrier.” Noumena – Anthony Carriere”. N.P., n.d.

·      “Noumenal.” The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d.

·      Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web.