Artifacts

Part I

1. What is an Artifact?
“Artifacts are objects made intentionally, in order to accomplish some purpose
(Hilpinen 1992, 2011). This definition is rooted ultimately in Aristotle’s distinction
between things that exist by nature and things that exist by craft (Metaphysics 1033a
ff., Nicomachean Ethics 1140a ff., Physics 192b ff.). Those that exist by nature have their
origin in themselves, whereas those that exist by craft have their origin in the
craftsperson—specifically, in the form of the thing as it exists in the mind of the maker.
Both Aristotle and his contemporary descendants are primarily concerned to distinguish
artifacts from objects that occur naturally, without any human intervention.”
2. Discuss Art as a humanistic discipline.
“Originally, the term "humanity" implied the distinguishing between human
beings and those considered to be less than human, whether that means dogs, goldfish, or
the literal "less than humans" known as the barbarians and slaves. But with the dawning
of what we now refer to as the Middle Ages, an interest in the divine arose and man
began looking at what was greater than himself. And with this recollection came the
understanding that if some humans were considered subhumans, then what must humans
appear as to God? And thus a new definition of "humanitas" began infiltrating the
vernacular, one that implied our certain mortality rather than superiority over one
another. This new definition and conception lead to what we now call "humanism" which
Panofsky describes as maintaining our rationality and freedom while still keeping in mind
our own fallibility and frailty. Thus, responsibility for ourselves and tolerance to others
(p. 2).With the rise of humanism in the Middle Ages, it is no wonder that new artistic
styles emerged everywhere and played off one another versus the soon to come
Renaissance which radically shifts to looking at the past as something to be
reconstructed. The humanists learned and grew from what they could study of the past
but didn't emulate it. As Panofsky says so beautifully, "For, if human existence could be
thought of as a means rather than an end, how much less could the records of human
activity be considered as value in themselves" (p. 4). To the humanist there are two

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distinctions to be made: the one of nature and the one of culture. Everything falls into one
category or the other, being that all things are either found in nature or are man-made,
and whatever camp that might be, the situation always has to make sense at the end of the
day. Meaning, that if something is new and alters our current perception, whether this be
historic, scientific or what have you, then our understanding must be malleable enough
(and we must be open enough) to accept this new idea (of course, pending it's accuracy).
That said, the old ideas must maintain credibility, not to be confused with validity, for
even if something is outdated, it lead to a new and improved thought or idea, and as a
stepping stone was integral to our current knowledge. This is true for the historian as well
as the scientist, who constantly learns from those who studied before him. Thus, science
and culture are inevitably linked. It is impossible to know something fully without
understanding it's history both scientifically and culturally. Panofsky uses a painting as an
example, for if we know it scientifically to be dated in 1400, we are useless to understand
it unless we know culturally and historically where it was painted. And similarly, if we
know it to be from a Florentine school, we are also trapped without knowing when it was
created (p. 7). This is all of course, relative, as we must resign ourselves to the fact that
everything we can learn and study with and from is subject to "humanity" in the fallible
and frail sense of the word. Everything we know at the start just presupposes the end,
philosophically called an "organic situation" (p. 9). Speaking of painting, Panofsky
breaks down the term little by little until it hardly resembles itself. He calls a painting a
work of art, but picks this apart to make the distinction that although something is not
necessarily created with the intention of being experienced aesthetically, it still has
aesthetic significance if not aesthetic value. But in order to appreciate it fully we must
remove our own desires, conceptions and knowledge about the subject we view. But this
is subject to the object itself, because man-made objects always have the creators
intention embedded within. Of course, that intention might be for us to interpret it as we
will, and so we might be at liberty to do so. Sometimes, practicality calls us to create
something that does not demand any aesthetic praise, and are generally "vehicles of
communication and tools or apparatuses" (p. 12). Of course, aesthetically intended
objects tend to fall into one or both of these categories, for works of art are indeed
vehicles of communication, candlesticks are apparatuses and tombs are either or both.

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But keep in mind that some things are artistic and happen to be useful, as well as can be
artistic although not intended to be. Here now is a difference between the scientist and the
humanist. The scientist is able to analyze almost immediately while the humanist must re-
enact and re-create mentally. As such, the scientist can simply read and interpret a book
on art history but the humanist must understand what the book says in so far as it's
meaning and impact on the reader. Unfortunately though, the art within the book,
however scrutinizing and finicky one gets with art history (comparable to the exactness
which science is subject to), most of the people to view a work of art are not going to
recognize it's full capacity. And even those who do are influenced by their own agendas.
But each viewer will inevitably see the form, the idea, and the content and will enjoy it to
varying degrees. Thus there is no technically "naive" beholder of a work of art. For if a
person has never seen art before in his life he will be affected greatly by even the most
banal painting that would leave a heavily marinated art historian aghast with disgust. The
art historian's experiences have taught him to compare this work to others, to interpret the
Where, When, Why, and How about the piece while the "naive" viewer will revel in the
use of color and form because it is entirely unfamiliar. But while the "naive" viewer is
radically less seasoned than the art historian, his lack of experience taints this new one.
And so although one can look upon art "naively", he is not necessarily "naive". And tying
back into the humanistic point of view, this naivety leads toward "appreciationism" (p.
19); the idea of learning about art without reference to anything historical, versus
"connoisseurship" where one collects art and enjoys it in respect to it's quality and
condition. The "connoisseur" knows everything to say about the art but limits himself
from the details that the art historian pours himself over.
All this talk of art history could seem like a tangent away from the idea of "humanity",
and so Panofsky pumps the breaks on his essay by asking why we should consider art
history as part of "the humanities". The question begs the practical answer that we are
interested in the past, but further still, because we are interested in reality. Everything that
has happened historically and scientifically was and is real life to a certain degree and
thus our interest in it. Though here is another difference between the humanities and the
sciences: when looking at science we capture and preserve what we observe in order to
learn from it, and what we observe is constantly naturally occurring. For the humanities,

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 we look at what once was and when we put it into practice we bring it back to life.
Maugre their differences, the humanities actually complement the sciences and vice
versa. It's only that the exactness of science is a mastery and the depth of the humanities
is wisdom (p. 25). Our frail and fallible human bodies leave behind frail and fallible
records of our frail and fallible lives oddly turning our inescapable mortality into a kind
of immortality for subsequent mortals to humanistically or scientifically observe. And so,
the duality we face regarding the definition of "humanity" still remains.”
3. Discuss the Humanities in western civilization.
What is distinctive of European art is that it comments on so many levels-
religious, humanistic, satirical, metaphysical, and the purely physical. Some cultural and
artistic modalities are characteristically Western in origin and form. While dance, music,
visual art, story-telling, and architecture are human universals, they are expressed in the
West in certain characteristic ways.
In Western dance, music, plays and other arts, the performers are only very
infrequently masked. There are essentially no taboos against depicting a god, or other
religious figures, in a representational fashion. European art pays deep tribute to human
suffering.
Music
In music, Catholic monks developed the first forms of modern Western musical
notation in order to standardize liturgy throughout the worldwide Church, and an
enormous body of religious music has been composed for it through the ages. This led
directly to the emergence and development of European classical music, and its many
derivatives. The Baroque style, which encompassed music, art, and architecture, was
particularly encouraged by the post-Reformation Catholic Church as such forms offered a
means of religious expression that was stirring and emotional, intended to stimulate
religious fervor.
The symphony, concerto, sonata, opera, and oratorio have their origins in Italy.
Many musical instruments developed in the West have come to see widespread use all
over the world; among them are the violin, piano, pipe
organ, saxophone, trombone, clarinet, accordion, and the theremin. In turn, most
European instruments have roots in earlier Eastern instruments that were adopted from

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the medieval Islamic world. The solo piano, symphony orchestra, and the string
quartet are also significant musical innovations of the West.
Painting and photography

Jan van Eyck, among other renaissance painters, made great advances in oil
painting, and perspective drawings and paintings had their earliest practitioners
in Florence.[100] In art, the Celtic knot is a very distinctive Western repeated motif.
Depictions of the nude human male and female in photography, painting,
and sculpture are frequently considered to have special artistic merit.
Realistic portraiture is especially valued.

Photography, and the motion picture as both a technology and basis for entirely
new art forms were also developed in the West

Dance and performing arts

The ballet is a distinctively Western form of performance dance. The ballroom

dance is an important Western variety of dance for the elite. The polka, the square dance,
and the Irish step dance are very well known Western forms of folk dance.

Greek and Roman theatre are considered the antecedents of modern theatre, and
forms such as medieval theatre, passion plays, morality plays, and commedia dell'arte are
considered highly influential. Elizabethan theatre, with such luminaries as William
Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson, is considered one of the most
formative and important eras for modern drama.

The soap opera, a popular culture dramatic form, originated in the United States
first on radio in the 1930s, then a couple of decades later on television. The music
video was also developed in the West in the middle of the 20th century. Musical
theatre was developed in the West in the 19th and 20th Centuries, from music hall, comic
opera, and Vaudeville; with significant contributions from the Jewish diaspora, African-
Americans, and other marginalized peoples.

Literature

While epic literary works in verse such as the Mahabharata and Homer's Iliad are
ancient and occurred worldwide, the prose novel as a distinct form of storytelling, with

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developed, consistent human characters and, typically, some connected overall plot
(although both of these characteristics have sometimes been modified and played with in
later times), was popularized by the West[105] in the 17th and 18th centuries. Of course,
extended prose fiction had existed much earlier; both novels of adventure and romance in
the Hellenistic world and in Heian Japan. Both Petronius' Satyricon (c. 60 CE) and
the Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (c. 1000 CE) have been cited as the world's first
major novel but they had a very limited long-term impact on literary writing beyond their
own day until much more recent times.

The novel, which made its appearance in the 18th century, is an essentially
European creation. Chinese and Japanese literature contain some works that may be
thought of as novels, but only the European novel is couched in terms of a personal
analysis of personal dilemmas.

As in its artistic tradition, European literature pays deep tribute to human

suffering.

The validity of reason was postulated in both Christian philosophy and the Greco-
Roman classics.

Christianity laid a stress on the inward aspects of actions and on motives, notions
that were foreign to the ancient world. This subjectivity, which grew out of the Christian
belief that man could achieve a personal union with God, resisted all challenges and
made itself the fulcrum on which all literary exposition turned, including the 20th-21st
century novels.

Tragedy, from its ritually and mythologically inspired Greek origins to modern
forms where struggle and downfall are often rooted in psychological or social, rather than
mythical, motives, is also widely considered a specifically European creation and can be
seen as a forerunner of some aspects of both the novel and of classical opera.

Architecture

Important Western architectural motifs include the Doric, Corinthian,

and Ionic columns, and the Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, and Victorian styles are still
widely recognised, and used even today, in the West. Much of Western architecture

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 emphasizes repetition of simple motifs, straight lines and expansive, undecorated planes.
A modern ubiquitous architectural form that emphasizes this characteristic is
the skyscraper, their modern equivalent first developed in New York, London, and
Chicago. The predecessor of the skyscraper can be found in the medieval towers erected
in Bologna.
4. Discuss the Humanities and Filipino personhood (pagkatao).

““Kapwa is a recognition of a shared identity, an inner self, shared with others. This
Filipino linguistic unity of the self and the other is unique and unlike in most modern
languages. Why? Because implied in such inclusiveness is the moral obligation to treat
one another as equal fellow human beings. If we can do this – even starting in our own
family or our circle of friends – we are on the way to practice peace. We are Kapwa
People.” — Professor Virgilio Enriquez, founder of Sikolohiyang Pilipino.”

“Pakikipagkapwa. It means connecting myself with others, feeling myself in the other
and having a sense of shared identity and a shared inner self. That sense of having a
common human identity, community and destiny lies deep in our psyche…It’s the
translation in our particular culture and history of a universal truth that tells us to treat
others the way we ourselves want to be treated because at our innermost core we have a
shared humanity.”

“I can’t help but reflect on how powerful this deep, age-old Filipino sentiment can be
when rekindled and placed in action, in our homes, communities, schools or workplaces
and yes, especially in our social and political life today.”

“This sense of a shared identity is reflected in many Tagalog words, words that carry
with it sentiments and feelings that resonate at a subliminal level.”

“Kababayan means my fellow-countryman; root word– bayan, country. When

Filipinos meet other fellow Filipinos, that instant recognition and connection spark up
because, we are, kababayan.”

“Kaakbay means to support. The root word “akbay” conjures images of lifting up,
shoulder on shoulder.”

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 “Kaibigan means friend; the root word is “ibig” which means to love.”

“Kasama means someone I am with, the root word “sama” means “to be with or be
together with.””

“Kaanak means one’s kin; root word being “anak” which means sons and daughters.”

“Filipino media has capitalized on the deep registers these words have on the Filipino
psyche. One TV network is known as Kapuso, kapuso meaning being one at heart. Its rival
network is the Kapamilya Network, meaning belonging to the same family. Kapwa Ko,
Mahal Ko (Love my Fellowman) is a decades-long public service program that has been
providing assistance to the poor and the needy.”

“Researching into the origin of the word “Kapwa”, I came across this. It seems that
the word originated from two words: Ka– a union that refers to any kind of relationship, a
union, with everyone and everything. Puwang–space.”

“The word Kapwa refers us to that “space” that we share with others as fellow-
Filipinos and fellow-human beings, sensing that “space” as being both a psychic and physical
space. (And with that, we can imagine a time when life and work was more communal.
When, after the day’s shared work was done, our ancestors would be sitting around in a
circle, perhaps around a communal fire, under a starry night, perhaps drinking some rice
wine, while discussing village concerns or simply sharing their stories.)”

“The list of Filipino or Tagalog words that start with the prefix ka- is long. While I
am not a linguist, it signals the sense of sharedness and relatedness we have that underpins
Filipino personhood. With the arrival of Western colonizers—first the Spanish, then the
Americans, with the passing of time, this sense of shared identity has been suppressed,
overlaid with Western individualism and values; and, a world-view that separates oneself
from the other.”

“According to Professor Enriquez, Kapwa is the “unity of the one-of-us-and-the-

other”. After extensively researching the cultural heritage of indigenous Filipino groups and
tribes and their IKSP (Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices), he concluded that

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Pakikipag-kapwa is a core Filipino value underlying the Pagkatao ng Filipino (the
Personhood of the Filipino). He maintained that “Kapwa implied moral and normative
aspects that obliged a person to treat one another as fellow human being and therefore as
equal.” Such a position was “definitely inconsistent with exploitative human interactions,”.
But he also foresaw that this Filipino core value was threatened by spreading Western
influences. “…once AKO (the I) starts thinking of himself as separate from KAPWA, the
Filipino ‘self’ gets to be individuated as in the Western sense and, in effect, denies the status
of KAPWA to the other.”

“Today, most people who hear the word “kapwa” think it means neighbor. But
standard Tagalog dictionaries like Vito Santos’ define kapwa as “fellow being” and “other
person.” And older, Spanish dictionaries translate kapuwa as “both” and “the one and the
other”, or “others.” From all this research, Enriquez concluded that the original Filipino idea
of “others” was inclusive. He wrote: “The English “others” is actually used in opposition to
the “self,” and implies the recognition of the self as a separate entity. In contrast, kapwa is a
recognition of a shared identity, an inner self shared with others.” He also said, “A person
starts having a kapwa not so much because of a recognition of status given him by others but
more so because of his awareness of shared identity. The ako (ego) and the iba-sa-akin
(others) are one and the same in kapwa psychology.””

“As further described by Dr. Katrin de Guia, “Kapwa is a Tagalog term widely used
when addressing another with the intention of establishing a connection. It reflects a
viewpoint that beholds the essential humanity recognizable in everyone, therefore linking
(including) people rather than separating (excluding) them from each other. Enriquez felt that
this orientation was an expression of ‘humanness at its highest level’.” – from Kapwa: The
Self in the Other, Worldviews and Lifestyles of Filipino Culture-Bearers”

“Pakikipagkapwa, seeing ourselves as connected with others, leads us to better

relations within our families, with schoolmates or fellow workers. It leads towards concern
for our community, our country and for our environment, both social and natural.”

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 “More importantly, it leads us towards putting the human being’s needs as the highest
value, over and above other values be it Money, Power, Prestige, the State, Ideas and yes,
even Religion.”

“The times we are living in are calling for us to awaken and rekindle that
pakikipagkapwa that have been suppressed under centuries of colonial influence, a call to
hark back towards our ancestral way of being in the world— one that is imbued with a deep
sense of community, cooperation and solidarity.”

“It may be that the “mythic Filipino” is not dead and gone, just sleeping but ready to
awaken, to inspire and reanimate the best qualities that we have residing in our depths.”

“Imagine what our lives, our society and our world be like if we, parents and children,
leaders and followers, employers and employees, politicians and citizens practiced
pakikipag-kapwa. On a personal level, the “kapwa” in us will consider the welfare and well-
being of those whose lives we touch and will be more considerate of the effects of our action
on them. On a community level, the “kapwa” in us will be concerned about what is
happening in the immediate environment and will respond in whatever way is in reach to
help make the community a better and safer place to live in. On a wider and social level, the
“kapwa” in us will not tolerate disrespect for human rights, will value human life, each
human life. It will not disrespect women, or dispossess minorities. Neither will it endanger
human life, nature, and our planet by abusing and misusing our resources in the search for
greater profit, ensuring that life on our planet will be sustainable for generations to come. It
will reject all forms of injustice and discrimination.”

“This universal value of a shared identity as it expresses itself in our culture is also
manifested in other cultures because it is rooted in our common humanity. Yes, we are
Kapwa People and within us lives a powerful force that can help build a culture of peace.”
(K. Santillan, 2018)

5. What is the Filipino concept of Art?

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 “When a Filipino artist paints a farmer in the fields or writes about a fisherman
casting nets, the subject is Filipino. But the medium of expression should portray the
subject as true to what it is in reality.”
“Many critics still doubt the Filipino-ness of the artworks produced. Tradition
where works and artists came from makes one to question its authenticity. For example,
our painters learned Western painting tradition (canvas, paintbrush, easel) blemishes the
authenticity of Filipino words.”

“In Philippine literature written in English, the language itself doubt the Filipino-
ness of the literary work. Many regarded the works written in Filipino or regional
languages more Filipino than in English.”

“The identity of the Filipino is constantly changing, struggling and evolving.

Filipino artists try to bring the nation’s experience and talent in the global arena.”

Sources

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/artifact/
http://johannakathryn.blogspot.com/2010/10/history-of-arts-as-humanistic.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culture#Arts_and_humanities
https://www.slideshare.net/JoemMagante/philippine-art-as-filipino

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Part II: The Philippine Artifact

Name/Local Name: Sambalilo a.k.a. Sumbrero made out of Buli leaves

Origin: These hats are famous products made in Batangas

Producer: The product was made by the residents of Brgy. Isla Verde
in Batangas.

Material: Buli (Corypha Elata)

One of the largest palm trees in the world, this stately palm tree
is comparable and as useful as the Coconut tree. Nothing is wasted from
this palm since young fruits are made into sweets, the terminal core
known as "ubod" is cooked and prepared similar to that of the "labong"
or young bamboo shoot, the sap is made into wine, "tuba" or toddy,

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vinegar or soap ingredient, fiber known as "buntal" and "raffia" is made into hats, the midrib of
the leaves known as "calasiao" is also made into a hat, broom, basket and other furnitures, wood
is used or classified as "coco lumber" and the leaves are used as roof thatch. The list seems
endless.(philippinenativeforesttrees.blogspot.com)
Measurement: The hat has a total diameter of 38 centimeters. The head diameter is 18
centimeters.

Where to buy: The hat was bought in a store along Manggahan, Quezon City.

Price: This high quality, locally made product was bought for only Php 150.

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