[Jussi M.]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

To take Jussi's watch story as a starting point:- is the appreciation of a genuine, certified, Watchaholic for a genuine, certified Audemars Piguet Royal Oak any greater than the appreciation of Freddy Bloggs from Nowhereville for his genuine, certified Audemars Piguet , made in China, Royal Oak?

In my opinion the answer is both yes and no. – Yes in that a judged opinion based on how the item/act in question relates to others of the same ilk within a "standardized" set of criteria used to compare them is... in a way more solid - it appears more objective though the application and weightings of the said criteria is always subjective. - It should be remembered that branding originated as a means to mark ownership, not as a means to portray any given set of values to be associated with the said brand or make. So no, in my opinion the Freddy Bloggs opinion is just as valid - it´s just completely nude within its subjectiveness as it has not been disguised "objective" by the cloak of knowledge and experience. However... we live on a world in which the majorities opinion matter most and is thus perceived as "truth". So, if we look at things exclusively from the standpoint of appreciation they are both right and valid views. If we conclude the rest of the world onto the equation I feel that Freddy Bloggs opinion is easily countered. It´s just the way it is that we tend to appreciate more what the "expert" has to say about things than the "commoner". Why? - because reality as we have to deal with it is not formed by the latter. It is formed by the clan of "experts".

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Does knowledge sharpen appreciation, or does ignorance permit a personal response in the ignorant, as does knowledge in the educated?

In my opinion, yes.

Or rather, knowledge shines light to areas previously unnoticed. When this happens on a continuous state the previously "lighted" or acknowledged parts of the whole in question become dimmed by the new focus. In the extreme these areas become void in not so much different than what happened to my listening of music described a couple postings above - the focus turned from listening the actual music onto listening to the effects that the equipment used for listening the recording. In my case it become so difficult to get back to the original unlearnt state of just listening to the music that I stopped listening altogether - by becoming too aware, too "expert", I lost the ability to enjoy, not much different from Freddy Bloggs enjoying his "subjectively" genuine timepiece - how can it be "fake" if it fulfills and even exceeds Freddy Bloggs needs and expectations?

I would hence state that awe in ignorance and "genuine" appreciation that stems from knowledge and experience are the two sides of the same coin. When an expert realizes that his expertise is "nothing" but a set of learnt knowledge, connections and skill´s he is no longer bound by the expert role and he can widen his horizon by the subjective areas that were dimmed by the hard light of the expert search light.

Is it not funny when we contrast this with what the wikipedia has to say about "Emeritus":

"The term is used when a person of importance in a given profession retires, so that his former rank can still be used in his title. This is particularly useful when establishing the authority of a person who might comment, lecture or write on a particular subject. The word is typically used as a postpositional adjective but can also be used as a preposition adjective. It is frequently capitalized when it forms part of a title. The word originated in the mid-18th century from Latin as the past participle of emereri meaning to "earn one's discharge by service". Emereri itself is a compound of the prefix e- (a variant of ex-) meaning "out of or from" and merēre meaning "earn". Emeritus does not necessarily indicate that the person is retired from all the duties of his previous position; he or she may continue to exercise some of them."

An example:

Robert J. Smith
Professor Emeritus
Socio-Cultural Anthropology
(see: http://www2.ku.edu/~kuanth/people/faculty.shtml )

So, in a Emeritus we have what used to be the experts expert who has earnt the right to step out of the experts role and shine the unlighted areas of the whole he "was" partly an expert in. - So, the same unnoticed things that Freddy Bloggs might have written in the newspaper may become huge and widely casted top news when said by the Emeritus even though it might be the exact same thing Freddy Bloggs said. – There are no objective truths - only degrees of subjectiveness that may be perceived as such. So, the short answer is that Freddy Bloggs and the "expert" are both right and wrong at the same time.

In the end it is not about the act of appreciation itself. It is also not about the story either. Ultimately it is plainly about the way we can appreciate things. – A human brain has two sides that have different tasks assigned to them. Depending on the situation - time and place - we come across a new phenomena or item it is the state of mind (the brain) that mostly dictates our response and the rest will follow. A true expert (Emeritus) has become so saturated with the subject s/he is expert in that s/he can let the logical side run in parallel with the soft side in subconsciousness and let the soft lead the way. Thus s/he is able to see things a mere expert is not capable of as the hard focus of the logical re-search light dims what it is not focused on. If you contrast this to Bill´s experience with the parking garage you can see that this is what happened - he was able to transcend ("regress") beyond his analytical mindset and see the garage with novices eyes again while still being able to use his acquired expertise skills in taking photographs – using the hard side of the brain subconsciously in parallel with the soft side. If you think about it the word "research" is composed of "re" and "search", thus ultimately meaning to search for something already found but lost (like my partly failed quest to re-find the enjoyment of listening to music).

A mere novice is just a child. A mere expert is often just an adult convincing the rest and/or himself that he is an expert. A transcended expert - Emeritus - is a person who acknowledges his knowledge is just that and that there is more to the subject s/he is supposedly an expert in that meets the logical side of the brain. I guess that remaining or -gaining an innocent, uncorrupted childlike ability to see and experience things bare of excess (story) is what appreciation, at it´s highest order, really is about?


Main point:

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Does knowledge sharpen appreciation, or does ignorance permit a personal response in the ignorant, as does knowledge in the educated?

It has the capacity to do so but it is not automatically so.

Or?

Thanks,

J.