[ExI] The art of rhetoric

[citta437 at aol.com]

"Martin Luther King preached this in a sermon (about the Vietnam war) in
1967" : "Don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as His
divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. 
God has
a way of standing before the nations with judgment and it seems that I 
can
hear God saying to America: 'You are too arrogant! If you don't change 
your
ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power."
_______________

Judgement of right or wrong is a mistake in thinking. Martin Luther 
King is invoking the name of God Almighty to make America change the 
use of military power against Vietnam. His intent is right to influence 
the US to stop the war. Pres. Johnson did stop the war not because God 
told him so but reason seem to override the belief which MLK used in 
his speech.

Art appeals to emotions. Poetry, music, literature and paintings are  
expressions of human aspirations but to use art as propaganda destroys 
the appeal and may lead the irrational mind to irrationality.

On another note, is there art in science or does science need art?
Science as the study of how nature works need reason more than art. To 
understand consciousness or brain/mind behavior including emotional 
responses to stimuli will use art in technology but are these two 
functions depend on scientific discoveries more than the other way 
around? There is art in philosophy as in religion. Both disciplines use 
art but philosophy use reason as well and religion use fear entirely at 
the expense of everything else.

Some scientific discoveries happen by chance sans reason and art.

Terry