Talk:Aesthetic Realism/sources
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On cult aspects
Harper's article
When rumor got out that [this article] had been scheduled, someone rang Harper's to ask if it would be 'fair'..... 'Fair' is a word favored by the Aesthetic Realists, a.k.a. the Embattled Disciples of Eli Siegel and, in some of their incarnations, the Moonies of Poetry. They also favor impersonal constructions, world like "large" and "good," boiler plate like "having-to-do-with." What they push isn't poetry, though poetry is part of it; they push Aesthetic Realism, the banner of a way to psychic wholeness taught by Eli Siegel for forty years. They will testify that he changed their lives, and they cannot get over it. A few months ago some of them rushed a talk show on homosexuality and gave Phil Donahue a hard time. (Are you whole and serene if you stay obsessed with your deliverance? Donahue was too flustered to ask.) ... Thus the title, Self and World, of a posthumous prose 'Explanation of Aesthetic Realism,' from which we (and the press) can at last learn what the press has been Unfair to. Not that we're allowed to forget the intensity of discipleship that pickets, flaunts buttons, and testifies in chorus. At the book's threshold you bang your head on an introductory note by Martha Baird Siegel, who says Self and World is 'the greatest book ever to have been written. If you think I am saying greater than the Bible or Shakespeare--yes, I am.' After that, you'll not be blamed for walking warily. ... Sentence by sentence [Siegel] can be sweetly credible, and you'll not miss what he's overlooking till you come up for reflection. ... The introductory note laments what [Siegel's] isolation may have cost us: 'He thought, for example, if he had been able to work with doctors, he could have found the cause of cancer.' I'm afraid he did think that.
— Harper's: "Contempt causes insanity: The guru of aesthetic realism", by Hugh Kenner, April 1982 [1]
Jewish Times article
And while Mr. Siegel's supporters all use similar language to explain his life's work, his detractors do not mince words.
"Eli Siegel was an evil person. And I don't use the word evil lightly," said 38-year-old Adam Mali, who left the organization -- and his family -- in his early 20s.... "He was an incredibly manipulative, selfish, charismatic cult leader."
Mr. Mali's parents began studying aesthetic realism when he was only 2 years old, and he said that growing up under its influence has colored his entire life.
"I had to go through a lot of therapy getting out of this group," said Mr. Mali, who regrets that aesthetic realism proponents discouraged him from having a bar mitzvah ceremony or attending college. Mr. Mali even felt compelled to break up with his girlfriend of three years when she wouldn't buy into his family's philosophy. He also said that his family never traveled because it had to attend so many meetings at the foundation, a complaint of numerous former followers.
"All the meetings were lectures of Eli Siegel droning on for hours and hours. So you don't have a life outside of it," he said. And when he wanted to go to college, Mr. Mali found himself in the dreaded "hot seat."
"They criticize you -- they say, 'You have the greatest knowledge in the world in front of you. Is this what you really want? Do you think you can learn more in college?' Your peers basically get around you. It was like a little spider web in your brain. They get you to actually control yourself. A lot of people's lives have been hurt -- ruined.
"I find [the memorial] pretty baffling because I think he's nothing more than a child abuser," he continued. "I was screamed at. I was told I was evil. People are told that if they leave, they can never be happy. It was brutal.
"I was fortunate to get therapy to get back together. I thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to be punished, and that went on for years."
Experts in the cult awareness field affirm Mr. Mali's experience.
"I think that [Siegel] was a cult leader, and that like many other cult leaders, he had a narcissistic personality and was a control freak," said Steve Hassan, a licensed mental health counselor and author of two books, "Combating Cult Mind-Control" and "Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves."
..."What's dangerous about them [is that] being in a mind-control environment, basically what happens to you is your identity gets assaulted, broken down, and a new cult personality is created," said Mr. Hassan. "You have a new set of beliefs that are a mirror image of Eli Siegel. You are constantly being manipulated by guilt and fear. I'm certainly not happy that there is any type of memorial to him."
...Ms. Cohen is not the only one who has been skeptical over the years. Heide Krakauer, a teacher still living in the New York area, met Eli Siegel through her then-boyfriend in the late '60s when he began to study aesthetic realism.
"We were 23 and sort of floundering and not that happy, even though it was popular to be not that happy then," she recalled. "I didn't think [aesthetic realism] was that amazing. I did not like it at all, but I was kind of lost, and I figured [my boyfriend] and I were not on very good terms, and I figured maybe if I joined this, we would get back together. They flatter you to death and tell you that you're so wonderful, and you have all these qualities that others have never seen. And then there's this horrible criticizing."
Referred to by some cult-awareness experts as "love-bombing," this initial flattery and attention followed by various forms of judgmental behavior and disapproval are typical.
"It's hard for me to tell how it took control and when," continued Ms. Krakauer. "I never believed it was a cult. I didn't see my parents for 15 years, and I thought nothing of it. I used to plan trips to go home, and all the cult members would get around you and talk you out of it. My parents would be so heartbroken when I canceled at the 11th hour. The point is, people who are in it do not know they are under mind control even though everyone has their private reservations."
..."Another sign that there is something wrong with this group is the paranoia -- that they think the world is against them -- that they're the elite, they've got the truth," added Ms. Bardin.
...When asked why anyone would want to denigrate Mr. Siegel or his philosophy unjustly, Ms. Tarrow said, "People have been angry that they had to have respect beyond a certain point. It is a tribute to Mr. Siegel that narrow people haven't been at ease with his largeness."
Libbe Madsen, administrative supervisor of the Cult Hotline and Clinic of the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, whose organization has a "fat file" on aesthetic realism, said that a number of people have an ongoing counseling relationship with her office about their involvement with the philosophy.
"When people are involved in a pretty intensive way, it can be extremely controlling, undermining of a person's capacity to trust their own judgments. It also leads to splits within families that are permanent," she said, and she believes the philosophy can be dangerous "for some people. And there's no telling ahead of time who they are. Certainly the people I've spoken to had very serious consequences."
...It appears that many new adherents to the aesthetic realism philosophy are teachers, a fact that disturbs many, including Ms. Madsen.
"I'm concerned that if a teacher believes that he or she has the right way of understanding the world, he would feel like the right thing to do is to pass it on -- that's true of any kind of true believer," she said.
...One former aesthetic realist has another word for it.
"I think it's repulsive," said the woman, who was active with the Aesthetic Realism Foundation for nearly a quarter-century, when learning of the memorial, "because [Eli Siegel] was a hurtful person. He was a sociopath. He was a control freak, and he was a cult leader."
..."The main reason [I left] was because [my son] left, and I was not allowed to have anything to do with him. He was my only child, and there was no way I was going to live without my son," she said, noting that she was not specifically forbidden to see her child but felt a great deal of pressure.
"You're never told you cannot do something," she said. "They just ask questions -- 'Will you like yourself if you talk to someone who has abandoned truth? Will you be proud if you talk to someone who doesn't want to be completely fair to Eli Siegel?'"
The former supporter also was experiencing some health concerns, and she realized that she wanted to explore other options in her life she felt had been suppressed. "For some reason, something normal in me was coming to the surface. I didn't like the way people were being treated, excoriated -- not that I didn't participate."
She added that her ex-husband, who is still active with the foundation, will not speak to her or his son. "It's heartbreaking," she said. "[Her son] misses his father very much. [He] worries about him. It seems no matter how old you get, you would like to have a father in your life."
...Many aesthetic realism supporters do elevate Eli Siegel to a status rarely earned by a mere mortal. Articles on the Internet abound, crediting Mr. Siegel with having the answers to everything from poverty, hunger and racism to family disputes, anorexia and suicide. This is ironic, since Mr. Siegel ultimately took his own life after complications from prostate surgery, according to one former adherent who was with him when he died.
..."People treated [Eli Siegel] more and more as a god, the perfect human. It was no longer a give-and-take -- it was the best, the greatest and the only -- and anyone who questioned that was seen as an enemy," said another person who left aesthetic realism when he felt his family was being hurt by its involvement with the organization.
"This is one of the characteristics of the organization that is cult-like -- you can't have reservations. Either it is the most important thing you have ever known and you have to devote your life to them, or you are an enemy," added the former supporter, who chose not to be identified for this article because he has only recently re-established contact with family members and does not want to jeopardize these tenuous relationships. "There is no such thing as privacy. Everything you do is public knowledge."
He said that even intimate moments were scrutinized and discussed in aesthetic realism meetings. Attendees were grilled about dates with others -- and as in the case of Adam Mali, they were often discouraged from seeing these outsiders if they did not embrace the aesthetic realism philosophy.
"People were told that if their families did not support aesthetic realism, they were not their families," added the former supporter, though he does feel some of Mr. Siegel's philosophy is useful. "I think Eli Siegel had an awful lot to say that was really helpful. He was a very unusually perceptive person, charismatic. If it weren't for all of this worship around him, it would be fine."
Heide Krakauer's sentiments about Eli Siegel are somewhat similar. "He was an intelligent man; he just got carried away with the power he had over people. He became this egomaniac. He wasn't happy unless you could think of new ways to praise him. People are very strange about cults -- they look the other way," she said in response to the Eli Siegel Memorial. "It alarms me that people care so little about cults."
..."If anybody comes along and has all of the answers," she said, "then there probably is something not right there."— Jewish Times: "Monumental Man: The controversial legacy of Eli Siegel", by Melissa Goldman, August 2003
71's links
I am writing to share my views on the Aesthetic Realism of Eli Siegel. It is not so much the philosophy itself that I find fault with; rather, it is the fact that they are a mind-control cult. I "studied" with these people for several years, and while I learned much that was useful, I was always wary of their worship and adoration of Eli Siegel (which Siegel himself demanded while he was alive). Siegel and his followers claim that Aesthetic Realism is so "beautiful" that one should "respect and be grateful to Eli Siegel and Aesthetic Realism without limit". This is a dangerous concept, for it can mean anything they want it to, and can be used to justify anything in the name of "justice to Eli Siegel". The main purpose of this phrase is to get people to give up their individuality and devote themselves exclusively to the worship of Siegel. The members and "students" are all encouraged to speak and write in exactly the same way. If you read the various articles and testimonials on their website or in their publication ("TRO"), you will quickly see what I mean. They all sound as if they had been written by the same person. They all include statements of "profound respect", "deepest gratitude", etc. In effect, they are all testaments to the "greatness" of Siegel, and the relative insignificance of the author.
In addition, they try to instill a sense of "deep regret" (read: "guilt trip") in everyone because of the way they "met Aesthetic Realism". In other words, upon first learning about Aesthetic Realism, a person is supposed to instantly know that it is "true", "more beautiful than anything in the world", and be instantly "grateful without limit"; if one has any doubts, or simply doesn't understand something, then one is having "unjust contempt", and one must regret this for the rest of one's life in order to "be completely fair to Eli Siegel and Aesthetic Realism". Of course, this is just another mind-control technique. I'm glad to say that I never bought into this, and refused to express feelings I did not have.
They claim to be about ethics and not politics, but in fact they are rabid left-wing extremists, completely blinded to the injustices and human rights violations of communist (or other anti-American) dictatorships, but always eager to rail against the actions of our government. They are highly critical of the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the West's intervention in Kosovo, but have never once criticized the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Tienanmen Square Massacre, or the murderous ethnic cleansing of Milosevic. They claim that Hussein's invasion of Kuwait was justified, because the world's resources should belong to all the people (I guess Saddam was going to share all the Kuwaiti oil with all of us, out of the goodness of his heart). I was "studying" with them when communism collapsed in Europe; just a few months before that happened, they were writing in TRO about how happy the people of Eastern Europe were with their economic system. After these happy people overthrew their wonderful system, Aesthetic Realism never admitted they had been wrong. Then again, they never admit to being wrong about anything.
I could write much more, but I think I've gotten my main points across. In conclusion, I would like to say that I think Siegel saw some things about human psychology that would be valuable additions to that field; however, by demanding to be worshipped and robbing people of their individuality, he only managed to render himself, and therefore his knowledge, highly suspect and ultimately useless. He may well have started out with good intentions, but ended up just another egomaniac. We should welcome all contributions to the knowledge of mankind, but if we should worship anything, it is the Source of that knowledge, and not the people who are able to perceive certain bits of it. Siegel himself said that all men are equal; too bad he felt this didn't apply to him.
— Former Member's Statement about Aesthetic Realism, Posted 12-16-00, former member has chosen to remain anonymous, Freedom of Mind Resource Center, Inc
Albany - Assemblyman Felix Ortiz has set up a $4,000 member item for a SoHo organization that says it has the answer to finding happiness, but which former members say is a cult.
Ortiz, D-Brooklyn, targeted the money for the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, whose program, according to ex-members, is anti-gay and employs strategies that split up families. Ortiz said he sponsored the expenditure in the 2008-2009 budget because the group asked him for funding for services at Brooklyn senior citizen centers.
He said he did not know anything about the foundation but he had heard good things about it from Raices, a Brooklyn-based senior services organization to which he has sent $2,000 in member items annually for several years. AR hasn't received public funding in the 13 years it has been providing senior programs in New York City.
According to former child member Michael Bluejay, who runs a Web site for fellow ex-members to share their experiences, the followers of AR and its founder, Eli Siegel, try to recruit the elderly by using art, theater, poetry and cultural lectures to get their views across in community appearances. Once they become members, he said, followers are discouraged from having relationships with nonmembers.
"When you're in it and you don't see your parents for 15 years, that's hurtful," he said. His parents and grandparents were devotees, he said.
AR spokeswoman Devorah Tarrow, who has been with the group for 36 years, said Bluejay is putting forth lies. She said the $4,000 is for workshops at senior citizen centers in Brooklyn, including some for people who speak Spanish or Chinese.
Tarrow said it isn't true that AR says it can change homosexuality.
"It is a fact that men and women have changed as a result of study of Aesthetic Realism," she said, saying the purpose of the foundation and the senior talks "was to have a good effect on senior lives. That is actually the purpose of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, to encourage the lives of elderly persons to be more energized."
Bluejay quotes from the writings of a leader of the group, including, "It is a beautiful fact that through study of Aesthetic Realism men have changed from homosexuality. Eli Siegel's statement of the cause of homosexuality (contempt for the world) is scientific law."
Rich A. Ross, who tracks cults for a living, backs Bluejay's assessment and said public funds should not be used for a group with such a narrow agenda.
"It's a very specific philosophy," Ross said. "Why would taxpayer money be used to fund that?"
Ortiz said the foundation asked other lawmakers for funding. It did not approach its own Assembly member, Deborah Glick, an openly gay Democrat. She said she would have denied the request.
"Not now, not ever," she said.
— Aesthetic Realism Foundation to receive $4,000 in state budget: Grant recipient alleged to be a cult, Albany Times-Union/April 21, 2008, By James M. Odato
At least two dozen city teachers are spreading the beliefs of a group some consider a "destructive cult" to schoolchildren and co-workers in hopes of attracting new followers, The Post has learned.
Supporters of the tightly controlled Aesthetic Realism Foundation idolize the group's dead founder, Eli Siegel.
They are bent on giving Siegel the widespread respect they feel he deserves for his insights into the human heart and for his remedies for social ills ranging from war and racism to bad marriages.
The SoHo-based group gained notoriety in the 1970s for claiming it could convert gays into heterosexuals. It has since dropped that inflammatory issue and now focuses on denouncing the "profit economy" and pushing the "Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method" in schools.
City teachers trained by the foundation inject Aesthetic Realism and Siegel's name into classroom discussions and fervently praise his philosophy among colleagues whenever and wherever they can - from teachers' lounges to professional workshops.
"It's a kind of recruitment," said Ann Stamler, a former longtime follower who used Aesthetic Realism in teaching college courses in New York.
"The idea was that other teachers and ultimately the students and parents would see how true Aesthetic Realism is and feel as worshipful as I did."
Heide Krakauer, a former city teacher who left Aesthetic Realism 14 years ago, called the teaching method a way to draw more followers. "The goal is to get teachers and parents involved."
She said followers were pushed by leaders to use Aesthetic Realism in their jobs and to spark interest among co-workers.
Krakauer said some teachers "thought it was too weird even laughed at us," but other teachers and principals were taken in.
Foundation leaders insist that they only want to share "the greatest knowledge and kindness in history."
But there's a dark side, former followers said - the group's charismatic leaders demanded total devotion and dictated how they should live.
"I think they did harm to me, my family, and other people - and are still doing it," said Stamler, a Manhattan fund-raising executive who left the group 13 years ago.
Arnold Markowitz, who runs a cult hot line for the Manhattan-based Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, said Aesthetic Realism "Has elements of a destructive cult, such as controlling the behavior, activities and choices of the members."
"Over the years, I have met with 20 to 30 former members and families who have complained that they were seriously and adversely affected by the group's practices and beliefs," he noted.
"It's scary," said Steve Hassan, a former Moonie and the author of "Combating Cult Mind Control," who has counseled several former Aesthetic Realism followers.
"These are cult members who are trying to promulgate and recruit," Hassan said.
Reached by telephone, two teachers associated with the foundation refused to speak to a reporter. Others did not return phone calls.
In a letter to The Post, foundation leaders said the teachers would consider granting interviews only if The Post assured them it had "good will for the Aesthetic Realism of Eli Siegel."
Spokespeople insisted the foundation has no "members" or "followers," only "students" and "consultants" who teach Aesthetic Realism.
City teachers who use Aesthetic Realism have identified themselves in letter to The Post and other newspapers and in the group's literature.
They say they proudly use the "Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method" in city schools and believe it helps kids learn, abstain from drugs, and get along with each other.
The group's efforts to get the city school system to adopt the method have met with repeated failure.
For years, literature and letters sent by the group to the city schools chancellor asking for a meeting have been ignored.
"It's not the purpose of the Board of Ed to advocate any particular school of thought," explained spokesman J. D. LaRock.
In an essay in a Texas newspaper, Monique Michael, a first-grade teacher at PS 30 in Harlem, claimed the method works with kids "horribly brutalized by our ugly, unjust profit economy."
She wrote that she uses opposites like straight lines and curves to help kids identify the alphabet. She said she explained that opposites are found in people, too, and succeeded in teaching them that prejudice is wrong.
"I told the children what I was so grateful to have learned from Aesthetic Realism, that when we use the fact that other people look different from us to feel we are better than they are ... we are having contempt."
Last Thursday, at is headquarters on Greene Street, the foundation held its annual education seminar, "Through the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method, students choose knowing the world, not fighting with it!"
Moderator Arnold Perey compared Aesthetic Realism founder to Siegel to Darwin, Newton and other scientists whose theories were debunked before finding acceptance.
He blamed the press and the "educational establishment" for maligning the group's teaching method and preventing the city's children from benefiting from it.
Four city school teachers told the seminar audience of more than 100 how they used the method in the classroom.
Barbara McClung, a science teacher at JHS 56 in Manhattan, said she taught her students to think of their lives as similar to the stars in that sometimes they're turbulent ad sometimes at rest.
"But the two opposites are at one in the world," she explained.
The other speakers - Lori Lerner, a kindergarten teacher at PS 59 in Manhattan; Donita Ellison, an art teacher at LaGuardia HS; and Leila Rosen, an English teacher at Norman Thomas HS - also described how they worked "opposites" into their lessons.
No matter what the subject - art, history, math or science - students get an earful about Siegel and Aesthetic Realism from the teacher-followers who sometimes show up for class wearing the group's white button that says "Victim of the Press."
La Guardia HS senior Lauren Rabinowitz said she wrote to the foundation at the suggestion of biology teacher Rosemary Plumstead.
"She talked about it so much, I just had to figure out what could possibly make a person so devoted," Rabinowitz said.
"She forced it on us," said LaGuardia senior Yana Suzanova, who had Donita Ellison as her art teacher.
"From the first day of class she started talking about it, and didn't stop until the end of the term."
A Norman Thomas HS student described teacher Leila Rosen as soft spoken and sweet. "She mentions it [AR] all the time, that it makes the world a better place."
Norman Thomas HS Principal Joanne Frank told The Post she considers Aesthetic Realism "a wonderful means of instruction." But she conceded that she didn't know how to explain it.
Myron Liebrader, a principal of Grover Cleveland HS in Queens, said he would be concerned if any of his teachers brought up Aesthetic Realism extensively.
Earth Science teacher Larry Rabinowitz, in a union newsletter to other teachers, advocated Aesthetic Realism and explained how he used it to lead a lesson about sedimentary rock into one about self-analysis.
Noting that rocks break down and build up again, Rabinowitz wrote that he asked his class: "Can we break something down in ourselves so we can build up something more beautiful later on?"
He wrote that his students "spoke about mistakes they seemed to repeat, habits they were ashamed of and wanted to break. We saw that the way the Earth puts these opposites together gave us more hope for our own lives and had us feel more related to things."The principles
These are the four principles of Aesthetic Realism, as outlined in the group's literature:
•Every person is always trying to put together opposites in himself. •Every person in order to respect himself has to see the world as beautiful or good or acceptable. •There is a disposition in every person to think he will be for himself by making less of the outside world.
•All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making on of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.
— Foes Accuse teachers of 'cult': Aesthetic Realism center of storm, New York Post/February 1, 1998, By Susan Edelman, Maria Alvarez and John O'Mahony
Former followers of Aesthetic Realism brand it a "cult" that controlled their minds and manipulated every aspect of their lives - from money to sex.
They told The Post that their innermost feelings were scrutinized and condemned - and that they were pushed to submit to the group's beliefs ultimately losing their free will.
They said Aesthetic Realism leaders told them where they should live and with whom, what friends and relatives to talk to, and how to use their spare time - all to ensure complete devotion to the group's beliefs and its charismatic founder, Eli Siegel, who died in 1978.
"I feel I threw out 15 years of my life," said Heide Krakauer, a former city schoolteacher who lectured on Aesthetic Realism at the foundation. "It was the biggest mistake of my life."
Krakauer said she joined the group after she finished college and was unsure about her future. She said she was indoctrinated by Siegel and was completely enthralled - until she was criticized for wanting to start a family.
"I wanted to have a regular life. But they didn't want that. They thought all I should do is be out there proselytizing."
Krakauer, who married another follower, said she had no privacy.
"They were in every aspect of your life. Every minute of your life was observed. I was criticized for buying too many clothes."
She said she and her husband were pressured to live with another couple - so they could keep an eye on each other.
"I feel very sad for the people still in there," said Krakauer, who has a young daughter. "I'm speaking out because I don't want other people to get sucked in."
Another ex-follower, Ann Stamler, a Manhattan fundraising executive, agreed.
"It hurt me. It muzzled my expression," said Stamler, who left the group 13 years ago. "It's a system only allowing activities and thoughts that Aesthetic Realism would approve of."
Stamler, raised in the group from childhood, said her parents still belong and refuse to speak to her.
"For years, my parents and I had nothing to do with the rest of our family because they didn't believe that Aesthetic Realism is the most important thing in the world," she said.
Former followers say life revolved around the foundation's three-story SoHo headquarters, where seminars, classes and "personal consultations" are held.
They were required to pay $40 for the consultation, which they described as a grueling session at which they were bombarded with probing questions.
"The consultee [was] ganged up on to adopt certain ideas," said one former follower.
The Post spoke to former AR adherents who said they gave the foundation up to $20,000 a year.
Nothing was off-limits. Followers say they were told that marital sex can be a way of encouraging love for Aesthetic Realism.
Homosexuality and masturbation were acts of "Contempt" - an Aesthetic Realism term used to explain social ills. Oral sex was taboo.
Adam Mali, a former follower who was raised in the group from birth, broke free at age 23 in 1988. now a ski instructor in Vermont, he said, "I was very lonely. I was getting yelled at all the time. My learning, my growth and my development were interfered with."
He said his high-school years were miserable because he couldn't go to dances, play baseball or keep friends who were not involved in Aesthetic Realism.
He said he finally fled after leaders pressured him to drop college courses. "They said everything I needed to know I could learn at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation."
He said his final days were horrific, with followers warning he would die, get cancer or suffer other "terrible things" if he left.
When he did, he said, his father, who still belongs, disowned him.
— 'I threw out 15 years of my life', says ex-follower, New York Post, February 1, 1998, By Susan Edelman and Maria Alvarez
For a politician, sponsoring a pork-barrel item to fund seniors' classes should be a simple, feel-good, voter-friendly action, as easy as shaking a hand or kissing a baby. What could go wrong?
Brooklyn assemblyman Felix Ortiz is finding out. He sponsored a $4,000 earmark in the state budget for a Soho nonprofit called the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, which has the incredibly bland-sounding goal of assisting "people throughout America and the world to see each other and reality fairly."
The Aesthetic Realism Foundation was founded by poet Eli Siegel in 1941 to educate the public about his philosophy, which includes such radical ideas as that "all beauty is a making one of opposites" and that humankind's "largest desire is to like the world on an honest or accurate basis." Today, the organization promotes his philosophy through dramatic presentations and classes on art, poetry, music, and marriage. The foundation also offers "consultations"—a kind of personal therapy in which students are individually counseled by a group of Aesthetic Realism teachers.
In a statement released on April 23, Ortiz said that the foundation "was well-regarded in my community for the services it provided to senior citizens," which is why he carved off a chunk of the state budget to fund some additional workshops at a Brooklyn senior center. And who could possibly criticize him for helping the elderly through such an innocuous-sounding nonprofit?
Turns out that several ex-students are happy to do just that. "It sounds to me like the assemblyman got duped. I don't think the taxpayers should be paying for their enterprise," says Michael Bluejay, who was born to devotees of Aesthetic Realism and attended consultations as a child and teen. "They determine who you marry, whether or not you can go to school—it's definitely mind control." Bluejay believes the workshops would be used to recruit seniors into the group's controlling grip.
Adam Mali, who was also raised by devotees of Aesthetic Realism, calls the funding "baffling." His mother was the director of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation for a time, but both she and Mali left the group around 1990. "Typically, you were excoriated in the public meetings if they didn't like what you were doing," he says. "Your decisions had to be made [on the basis of] what was best for the group." Mali says he was pressured to break up with his girlfriend, who wasn't part of the group, and to bypass college because everything he needed to know could be learned at the foundation. "My father is still in there, and he doesn't talk to me anymore because he thinks I betrayed the group, " Mali says.
Both Mali and Bluejay admit they don't know much about how the foundation is run these days, but say they doubt that things are much different. Bluejay now runs a website tracking the foundation's activities and posting narratives from other ex-students.
Steve Hassan, a former Moonie and the author of two books on controversial religious groups, describes Aesthetic Realism as a "psychotherapy cult." He has counseled eight former Aesthetic Realism students over the last two decades and says the foundation employs all the typical methods of undue influence: "The group was cutting people off from loved ones, regulating all aspects of behavior—their thoughts and feelings—and encouraging the idolization of Eli Siegel."
Aesthetic Realism Foundation spokeswoman Devorah Tarrow turned down requests for an interview—and an employee of the foundation refused to let the Voice into its office. However, in a written statement, Tarrow called the accusations "an attempt to change something wide, cultural, and very kind—the philosophy [of] Aesthetic Realism—into something it definitely is not." Regarding the seniors' classes that Assemblyman Ortiz helped fund, Tarrow insisted that "to say they're for the purpose of 'recruiting' is ludicrous! They're on such subjects as 'Every Person Can Tell You Something About Yourself'; 'Love Is for Liking the World'; 'Memory Shows That We're Connected to the Whole World.' "
Had Assemblyman Ortiz or his staff investigated the group, they might have discovered that from the 1960s through the '80s, the Aesthetic Realism Foundation ran a program intended to turn gay people straight, and claimed to have successfully "changed" 150 people. (The foundation ended that program in 1990, and today insists that "Aesthetic Realism is for full, equal civil rights for everyone.") Later, its members held regular silent vigils in front of the New York Times building, claiming they were "victims of the press" because no one would write about their philosophy.
Apparently, neither the assemblyman nor the director of the RAICES senior center had any inkling of the group's odd history or the accusations against it until last week.
When the foundation previously conducted a health workshop for seniors at RAICES, "there were no overt problems," says director José Ortiz Ortiz. However, he adds that he hasn't spoken with anyone from the foundation in at least a year, and wasn't aware that it had requested state money to do more workshops at the RAICES center. "I would have to look into the organization in greater detail before I would even contemplate [allowing] that," he says.
As for Assemblyman Ortiz, he says he's investigating the charges. "Should the outcome of the investigation reveal any substance to these allegations," he adds, "I will take the appropriate action."
— A Brooklyn Assemblyman's Earmarks Are Political Surrealism: A local pol gets singed for his attempt at pork for Aesthetic Realism, By Maria Luisa Tucker Tuesday, May 6 2008
Most people have never heard of the late Eli Siegel, the little-known winner of a 1925 national poetry prize.
But his name and philosophy ring loud bells for many students at Fiorella LaGuardia HS in Manhattan.
The reason: art teacher Donita Ellison and biology teacher Rosemary Plumstead, who wear "Victim of the Press" buttons to school and weave Eli Siegel and his Aesthetic Realism into class discussions.
"She talked about it quite a few times in class," said senior Maurice Tyne, 18, who had freshman biology with Plumstead. He said he enjoyed the class.
"We were not only learning biology, we were learning about a new philosophy called Aesthetic Realism," he said. "It focuses more on why people do things and what makes them do it."
Tyne said he didn't fully understand Aesthetic Realism.
"I'm not sure exactly what she was talking about," he admitted. "I guess we were too young to understand exactly what it was. But we got a basic grasp of it."
The teacher told the class she attended seminars on Aesthetic Realism, Tyne said.
"She told us there was such a thing as an Aesthetic Realism discussion group, and if an individual wanted to know more about it, she'd be happy to answer their questions."
Vera Radunksy, 16, also liked Plumstead and enjoyed lessons peppered with Aesthetic Realism.
"She [Plumstead] explained how it helped her. She told us she was a negative person before and that she's really positive now."
Vera said Plumstead told the class that the place where she learned Aesthetic Realism "is accessible if we wanted it."
Heide Krakauer, a former city teacher who studied Aesthetic Realism for 15 years, said a popular teacher can draw students into Aesthetic Realism.
"It's really the personality of the people who present the ideas that wins people over," she said.
Krakauer argued that high-school students who are insecure or have suffered setbacks are likely to be attracted.
"What the Aesthetic Realism followers say is that through AR, you can resolve your inner conflicts."
Some LaGuardia HS students were not won over.
Eric Sanchez, who took art with Ellison, said he felt he had to understand Aesthetic Realism and its theory of opposites to pass the class.
"I asked her to explain it 20 times," he said.
Another student, Yana Suzanova said Ellison seemed to favor students who showed interest in Aesthetic Realism.
"I think she pushed that on us too much," Suzanova said. "She'd tell you that that's the way everything is supposed to be."
A Board of Education official said the high school has received no complaints about Plumstead or Ellison's use of Aesthetic Realism in the classroom.
In fact, he said, other LaGuardia HS teachers asked Plumstead and Ellison to give a presentation on their method. Six to eight teachers attended the workshop last November.
But he added that educators should not step over the line in espousing their personal beliefs.
"Every teacher brings their individual personality into the classroom to some extent," he said. "That becomes a problem only when it reaches the level of proselytizing or dogma."
Aesthetic Realism Foundation followers refused to be interviewed by The Post. Instead, they sent letters defending the organization.
They refuted suggestions that their group is a cult.
"One can accuse anybody of anything -- and no matter how preposterous the accusations are and no matter whether they are denied, an impression has been given to people," foundation officials wrote in a Jan. 19 letter to The Post.
"You can even make a course in political science at Yale look like a cult by labeling the students 'members' and the teacher 'the leader.'"
In response to allegations by former followers that the foundation controlled their lives, the letter suggested that the grievances could all be traced to "an individual who has been trying to smear Aesthetic Realism."
"She resented the scholarship of Aesthetic Realism and its ethics" and wanted to use the foundation "as some vehicle for personal power."
"She has been on a vendetta, which has consisted of trying to present us as a cult," said the letter.
The foundation praised its philosophy.
"Aesthetic Realism explains: the economic agony in America and how it can end; the cause of prejudice and racism and what can stop these; what real love is and what interferes with it; why children can't learn and how in New York City classrooms through the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method they do."
The letter concluded by saying that Aesthetic Realism is "not only great, but loved by many, many people. We are immensely proud of the integrity of Aesthetic Realism!"
Another letter stated, "There is no greater friend to children than Aesthetic Realism.
"The insinuation that through Aesthetic Realism hurt is coming to children is sick and a complete malicious lie.
"It is also damaging to the reputation of teachers who, with pride and gratitude, use the Aesthetic Realism teaching method in New York City and elsewhere and to many other professionals known for the study of Aesthetic Realism and the use of it in their work."
— "Students dish out mixed grades", New York Post/February 1, 1998, By Susan Edelman and Maria Alvarez
But it is worth noting that the movie, entirely gratuitously, gave flesh to a supposition that underlies much of the narcissistic culture that came after and skewed the culture in unhelpful ways. It made a tacit connection between Clyde’s impotence and his nothingness, assuming therefore that he had an inborn right to somethingness. When Bonnie tells his story (the film plays clever tricks with the real Bonnie’s naive folk-poetry) and newspapers publish “The Story of Bonnie and Clyde,” his sudden arrival at somethingness charges him sexually, completes his life. It reminds me of those screwball buttons an odd New York psychiatric cult used to send out, protesting the New York Times’s refusal to acknowledge them, insisting on “Aesthetic Realism’s Right to Be Known.” I suppose that underlies the 60s and the Boomers who ran it: that feeling of an innate right to be known. And of course it’s all utter fantasy, or at least, as both Guinn and Schneider point out, there’s not a single shred of evidence to sustain the impotence angle. But we loved it in 67, when we had just discovered the cocoon of our own profound specialness.
— "Clyde and Bonnie Died for Nihilism", Stephen Hunter, July/August 2009
Relating to changing gays to straight
- The H Persuasion: p. 4 (Eli Siegel's bullet points on homosexuality): "1. All homosexuality arises from contempt of the world, not liking it sufficiently. 2. This changes into a contempt for women", again quoted verbatim by van Griethuysen on p. 10. (after which Black adds: "I think homosexuals will probably find quite a lot that is offensive in some of those points." and his two co-interviewees Harris and van Griethuysen add "I did. I don't know why they wouldn't" and "I did too."
- p. 4: (Eli Siegel): "5. Homosexuality, like biting one's nails, depression, excessive gambling, arises out of a disproportionate way of seeing the world. 6. There are other ways a person has of not liking himself, but homosexuality is one." (also repeated verbatim by van Griethuysen on p. 10.)
- p. 19: (Kranz): "Mr. Siegel said it to me many times: "Get rid of your contempt and you will get rid of one of the chief ingredients in homosexuality."
- p. 38: (Kranz quoting Siegel): "get rid of your contempt for people, and you'll get rid of one of the chief ingredients in the H problem."
- p. 48: (van Griethuysen): "Eli Siegel does not approve of homosexuality, but this does not stop him from respecting a person who has the question."
- p. 87 : (Harris): "Mr. Siegel has shown me that I have contempt for women".
- p. 92: (Shields): "I read books on homosexuality. Some said that it was a disease; some that it was a way of life. But none of them said, as Aesthetic Realism does, that it was a poor aesthetic job, a way of getting self-importance."
- p. 118: (Siegel): "H is not the only bad thing in the world"
- p. 125: (Siegel): "H, drugs, drink, are the revenge for having given ourselves to the outside world. In other words, H is the disgust of a person for not having been "good" to himself through his interest in art."
This is less a book than a collection of pietistic snippets by Believers. There is no reason to believe or disbelieve these ex-homosexuals who claim that Eli Siegel put them on the straight and narrow by showing that homosexuality was unaesthetic and therefore contemptuous of life. By the aesthetic realization that Beauty lies in Opposites, they were cured. Nor is there reason to believe that anyone reading this volume would be moved, intrigued, or piqued enough to try the cure.
— New York Times, Sept. 12, 1971, in its review of AR's book The H Persuasion
Pity the lot of the Aesthetic Realists, a New York-based group with fewer than 200 members who are mad at the New York Times because the Times, they claim, refuses to print a story that 123 homosexuals have changed (to heterosexuality) through Aesthetic Realism. In fact, the AR people are so mad they've been bombarding the Times' city desk with more than 65 calls a day demanding that the story be run. Not just that - they have also taken to holding vigils in front of publisher C. L. Punch Sulzberger's home and those of other top Times officials, and to staging little protests in the Times news room. It's really quite funny, in a sad sort of way, a friend at the Times tells us. They come in a couple of times a week - three sorry-looking guys flanked by two women. The guys wear signs around their necks saying something like 'I used to be a homosexual but Eli Segal (founder of the AR movement) saved me.' At least they had an identity when they were gay; now they look as if they've been put through the laundry. The Times, we understand, is holding to its rise-above-it-all stance and has no plans to publish the story.
— "FYI Put those fears away, all citizens-to-be" Robin Green. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Apr 28, 1978. pg. P.8
Handbook of Innovative Psychotherapies By Raymond J. Corsini Wiley, 1981.
Finally, there is the tantalizing shred of hope that holds-just out of reach-the possibility that same sex oriented people can change. [...] Recently, a system of study called aesthetic realism has also been attracting attention with claims of having changed same-sex oriented persons. [emphasis in original]
— Borhek, Mary V. (1983). Coming out to parents: a two-way survival guide for lesbians and gay men and their parents. New York: Pilgrim Press. p. 70. ISBN 0-8298-0665-2.
Depending on his or her background in the field of human relations, any of the following psychotherapy models may be drawn upon: client directed, psychoanalytic, Adlerian, Jungian, problem solving, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic-existential, Gestalt, rational emotive, transactional, aesthetic realism, direct decision therapy, interpersonal process recall, or intensive journal therapy (sec Corsini, 1984: 223-).
— Denzin, Norman K. The Alcoholic Society By Norman K. Denzin, John M. Johnson
Earlier in April, Aesthetic Realism, by invitation only, premiered a film, "Yes, We Have Changed." It sanctifies Siegel and presents a series of persons (all but two male) telling how they changed. Rothenberg said that "the common denominator seems to be aversion to their own homosexuality. There's nothing sadder than self- hatred. It's like all those black publications that, years ago, ran ads for straightened hair and light skin. You don't have to practice homosexuality, but not practicing it doesn't change your instincts." Though Aesthetic Realism gives seminars and "dramatic presentations" on a variety of topics - acting, anthropology, art, business, drugs, ethics, family, insanity, marriage, music, photography, religion - the main emphasis appears to be changing homosexuals into heterosexuals. In a booklet published in 1978, Kranz, purportedly the first to change, reported that Aesthetic Realism has converted 84 percent of the men who have come for assistance. Over a six-year period, Kranz said, "we have spoken with 297 men ranging in age from 14 to 60. Of the 297 men, 107 had seven consultations, which we see as the minimum number of hours necessary for us to begin to know a consultee with some depth, and for him to begin to understand some of the basic principles of Aesthetic Realism. Of these 107 men, 90 have said they have changed." No tally is given for lesbians.
— "AESTHETIC REALISM' AND HOMOSEXUALITY" Kay Longcope Globe Staff. Boston Globe (pre-1997 Fulltext). Boston, Mass.: Apr 18, 1982. pg. 1
About 250 persons rallied on Boston Common yesterday to demand that The Boston Globe "print the truth about Aesthetic Realism," a New York-based educational foundation that claims that gay men and lesbians can change and become heterosexual. Several speakers at the gathering protested a Globe article on April 18, which reported that the organization's heterosexual claim was "staggering to psychiatrists and psychologists and . . . both amusing and enraging to gay people."
— "GROUP PROTESTS GLOBE STORY; [FIRST Edition]" Boston Globe (pre-1997 Fulltext). Boston, Mass.: May 14, 1982. pg. 1
I recall only two others: Kenneth Bowdoin, an experimental southern poet, and Eli Siegel, who founded a school of writing called Aesthetic Realism, which amon other bizarre claims, professed to "cure" homosexuality. Thinking of Siegel, a man in his fifties whom I had known from the WPA Writers' Project as a mirthless, self-important intellectual, made me wonder who would discover a cure for heterosexuality. He enjoyed, if that is the correct word for a grim-faced maven whose long nose sniffed disdainfully at everything, a minor notoriety for a poem called "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana", which in the 1920s or 1930s won a prize in Nation. Based on long Whitmanesque lines, it was actually about the weather. But Williams was right to include him; the poem defied existing norms with a flat, bland insouciance that mocked conventioanl taste.
— Norse, Harold (1989). Memoirs of a bastard angel. New York: W. Morrow. pp. 217–218. ISBN 0-688-06704-2.
AESTHETIC REALISM The most unusual part of the aesthetic realism system is probably the use of a troika-type of counselor therapy.
— Encyclopedia of Psychology by Raymond J. Corsini - Psychology - 1994 - 2408 pages ISBN 9780471558194
A gathering of Transformation Ex-Gay Ministries tomorrow in Falls Church will be small compared with the numbers involved in the American sexual revolution, but its topic is no less explosive. Former homosexuals will talk about how they were "healed" by counseling, behavior changes - and religious awakening. The group, one of about 200 such ministries in the nation, is the Washington chapter of Exodus International, the largest umbrella group in the movement. [...] The secular school of therapy is called "Aesthetic Realism," which holds that homosexuality arises from a learned fear or hate of the opposite sex. But it is the religious approach that is growing.
— "Movement puts major focus on changing homosexuals Professionals reject claims of `healing'" Larry Witham. Washington Times. Washington, D.C.: Feb 3, 1995. pg. A.2
Help Is Available for Homosexuals Having received help in her struggle with homosexuality, a Christian woman wrote me, "I know Aesthetic Realism is not a religious organization but, in a way, that's what made it so encouraging to me. They didn't say homosexuality is wrong because the Bible says so. But they gave really good explanations as to WHY it is wrong. Regardless of religion or AIDS or society's view, homosexuality is just not a real way to find happiness." [...] Another thing that impresses me about Rachel's attitude is that she does not seek to justify homosexual practices. She wrote, "Just this week, I received a newsletter from a (name) church I used to attend. They're having a study on homosexuality where they're going to look at the passages that deal with this topic in the Bible. I got the impression from the wording that it is to try to make the Bible say homosexuality is OK. I appreciate that those people don't want to condemn, but I believe that people think it is such an unconquerable feeling that God certainly wouldn't condemn it. For a study like that, I believe you have to know beyond the Bible what is wrong with homosexuality. Aesthetic Realism taught me that, and I am very grateful." [...] It is unlikely that many homosexual persons will be reading this, but some of you may wish to pass this information on to others who may be eager for help. Some may not want help, but for any who may yearn for change, these addresses taken from literature of the two groups are supplied. [...]
Aesthetic Realism Foundation, 141 Greene Street, New York, NY 10012; (212)-777-4490. This is not a religious organization. Homosexuals Anonymous Fellowship Services, P.O. Box 7881, Reading, PA 19603; (610)-376-1146. This group has chapters in various states. They can also point you to many helpful books. ~Cecil Hook (March 2001)
In the early eighties a young man at Yeshiva University, troubled by his homosexual desires, came out to a religious studies teacher and was sent to Aesthetic Realism, the once popular philosophic cult of Eli Siegel, who had a theory for healing homosexuals. The therapy enforced his self-blame and made his situation worse. Six months later the young man attempted suicide and was sent home by the university, never to return.
— Steven Greenberg (2005). Wrestling with God and men. United States: U of Wisconsin Pr. p. 293. ISBN 0-299-19094-3.
The Aesthetic Realism Foundation was founded by poet Eli Siegel in 1941 to educate the public about his philosophy, which includes such radical ideas as that “all beauty is a making one of opposites” and that humankind’s “largest desire is to like the world on an honest or accurate basis.” Today, the organization promotes his philosophy through dramatic presentations and classes on art, poetry, music, and marriage. The foundation also offers “consultations”—a kind of personal therapy in which students are individually counseled by a group of Aesthetic Realism teachers. [...] Had Assemblyman Ortiz or his staff investigated the group, they might have discovered that from the 1960s through the '80s, the Aesthetic Realism Foundation ran a program intended to turn gay people straight, and claimed to have successfully "changed" 150 people. (The foundation ended that program in 1990, and today insists that "Aesthetic Realism is for full, equal civil rights for everyone.")
— "Political Surrealism" Maria Luisa Tucker. The Village Voice. New York: May 7-May 13, 2008. Vol. 53, Iss. 19; pg. 11, 2 pgs
Unfortunately, Siegel and his followers believed that homosexuality was an illness "caused" by self-contempt. As early as the mid-'40s, some members claimed they had converted to heterosexuality through the foundation’s teachings. In 1971, in what could be viewed as a precursor to the current ex-gay movement, three counselors began specifically working with homosexual men, many of whom were married off to female members, most of whom were lesbians.
In the '70s AR heavily promoted the myth that they could convert people from gay to straight. Members appeared on talk shows, and AR placed full-page ads in the New York Times, Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times that listed the names of those who had "changed." New York’s Gay Activist Alliance responded by infiltrating [or "zapping"] their meetings at their Greene Street headquarters and passing out pro-gay literature with accurate information. In return, AR members claimed that they were victims being "persecuted" by GAA.
As late as 1986, AR published vehemently anti-gay tomes. Until the mid-1990s, AR members wore buttons that read “Victims of the Press.”
Feelings of persecution, intolerance of criticism, slavish devotion to a leader, a belief that only they know the one true path to enlightenment—these are distinguishing characteristics of a cult.
Many ex-members of the group, including those supposedly “converted” to heterosexuality, contribute horror stories to a web site put together by Michael Bluejay, who was a child member of the group and whose own grandmother was one of those who was allegedly “converted.” (The web site is michaelbluejay.com.)
“AR no longer gives counseling sessions to try to ‘cure’ homosexuality,” Bluejay told The Blade. “They still believe that homosexuality is a psychological deficit caused by one’s contempt for the world—they have to continue believing this, because Eli Siegel said so—but it's not a part of their curriculum any more. And they avoid talking about it as much as possible—to the point of even seeming to deny that they ever had such a thing as a gay cure.”
However, they remain privately homophobic. Their official position, as laid out in an e-mail from Friends of Aesthetic Realism (which runs a web site, Countering the Lies, to respond to criticism of the group) is: “Aesthetic Realism does not see homosexuality as a ‘sickness’ or something to ‘cure.’” On this same site AR executive director Margo Carpenter claims that “AR is for full, equal civil rights for everyone.” She labels claims that AR offers a cure for homosexuality as a "hoard of lies."
— "Anti-Gay Cult Pulls Fast One: Aesthetic Realists wrest $4,000 in state funds for a program that allegedly teaches art to Brooklyn senior citizens. But the group has a history of “converting” gays to heterosexuals." By BILL SCHOELL Apr. 25, 2008 The New York Blade
(ARF claims gay to heterosexuality "conversion")
— Freedom Activist Network (no date) http://freeact.net/orgsa.html#Aesthetic Realism Foundation
Victim of the Press Campaign
On the need for disambiguation
"Aesthetic realism" has at least three distinct meanings:
- 1) Eli Siegel's philosophy about opposites and contempt
- 2) Analytical philosophy that properties of objects exist apart from subjective interpretations
- 3) Artistic design geared towards being life-like or 'realistic'
The following list references instances of 2) and 3), unrelated to Eli Siegel
- [17] The Wikipedia Realism disambiguation page lists over 40 pages in philosophy and aesthetics with 'realism' in their title.
- [18] 2005 article in the British Journal of Aesthetics (Oxford) called 'A Note on Two Conceptions of aesthetic realism': "The term aesthetic realism has recently taken on great currency in analytic philosophical aesthetics. What is not generally known is that the American philosopher Eli Siegel called the philosophy he founded in the 1940s aesthetic realism... Thus, two distinct uses of the same terminology exist, and should not be confused."
- [19] Chapter 3 of the Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics titled: aesthetic realism
- [20] From a 2007 article in American Prospect titled "How America Does Art: "Classicism's surrender to aesthetic realism represented progress toward Walt Whitman's "Democratic Vistas," to be sure. But was pop art's move from abstraction to representation democratic?"
- [21] In 'Aesthetics and Material Beauty: Aesthetics Naturalized' By Jennifer A. McMahon the book summary reads: "In Aesthetics and Material Beauty, Jennifer A. McMahon develops a new aesthetic theory she terms Critical aesthetic realism - taking Kantian aesthetics as a starting point and drawing upon contemporary theories of mind from philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science."
- [22] In 'Solving the Puzzle of Aesthetic Testimony' the author proposes to: "While we are quick to form beliefs on the basis of what others tell us about many non-aesthetic matters, we are hesitant to form aesthetic judgments on the basis of what others tell us. And while we are often comfortable counting someone as justified on the basis of nonaesthetic testimony, we tend not to be so inclined in the aesthetic case. These are puzzling disanalogies, and – as I shall show – they lend some attraction to aesthetic anti-realism. But aesthetic anti-realism can be resisted. I offer a solution to the puzzle of aesthetic testimony that is perfectly consistent with full-fledged aesthetic realism."
- [23] In the Oxford Journal 'Screen' there is an article titled "Between science fact and science fiction: Spielberg's digital dinosaurs, possible worlds, and the new aesthetic realism."
- [24] In 'The Metaphysics of Beauty, by Nick Zangwill': "Here Zangwill sets out a working notion of aesthetic realism, which amounts to the minimal claim that there are mind-independent aesthetic facts..."
- [25] In 'The Illusion of Conscious Will' by Daniel Wegner: "...action theory and philosophy of mind, but by those working in moral psychology ... since in some chapters he attempts to defend aesthetic realism..."
- [26] In a paper called 'Fashion Models and Moral Realists' by Charlie Knuth at the University of California San Diego: "The realist might seek to bolster this version of the “proves too much” reply by modeling a fashion realism along the lines of Slote’s (1971) case for aesthetic realism or Railton’s (1986b) realism about an individual’s non-moral good."
- [27] Blaise Pascal University paper by Laurent Jaffro titled: 'Some Difficulties with the Reidian Argument for aesthetic realism '.
- [28] In a Salon.com article called 'The quest for the perfect game face': "But shortly after "Indigo" was launched, Cage began to receive complaints about the game's aesthetic realism, which one reviewer labeled, disparagingly, "atmospheric, but not stellar." The most significant flaw was the face of Lucas Kane, the hero of "Indigo Prophecy." In some scenes, Kane's face looked wooden; in others, the muscles around his mouth moved too much, giving him an eerie, reptilian quality." (nope)
- [29] British Journal of Aesthetics article by Marcia Muelder Eaton titled Intention, Supervenience, and aesthetic realism '.
- [30] Paper by Shelton Waldrep titled, 'The aesthetic realism of Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray'.
- [31] Pitt University article 'Faultless Disagreement and aesthetic realism ' Karl Schafer
- [32] Robin Johnson's 2008 Paper 'Struggling With Reality: Technology and aesthetic realism in "Game Developer" Magazine'
- [bjaesthetics.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/45/2/111] British Journal of Aesthetics: ' Aesthetic realism and Emotional Qualities of Music' by Malcolm Budd
- [33] University of Calgary's History of Intellectual Culture: 'Hutcheson's aesthetic realism and Moral Qualities' by Susan M. Purviance
- [34] Article: 'Is one taste better than another? A case for aesthetic realism ' from the Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society by David E.W. Fenner
- [35] University of Lisboa dissertation: "This dissertation defends aesthetic realism: the view that there is a (non-mental) aesthetic reality, which our aesthetic beliefs and assertions can be reckoned to represent more or less adequately. The focus is restricted to contemporary discussion conducted in the analytic tradition (including some arguments by Hume and Kant that analytic philosophers have addressed, and which will be considered more or less on their own)."
- [36] Journal of Scottish Philosophy article: 'Thomas Reid's aesthetic realism ' by Roger Pouivet
- [37] In "Pleasure, preferenace and value", an essay by Philip Pettit: 'The Possibility of aesthetic realism '
...try searching site:www.jstor.org "aesthetic realism" -siegel -contempt -"making one of" -racism for 100 more 71.224.206.164 (talk) 08:28, 6 February 2010 (UTC)