Ways of Knowing and the Law: A Tribute to Joseph William Singer

What is art in human life? When we think of art, it seems at first blush to be just another human endeavor. It is brush strokes of some chosen substance across a piece of canvas or paper. It is the piece of wood or stone left after pieces have been removed by human hands.

It is sounds made of a certain pitch and in a certain pattern, rather than another. Yet we know that art is more. It is more than the mechanics of creation or even the materials of which it is comprised. It is more not because of what it is, but because of what it can evoke.

Somehow a work of art allows us to access—sometimes forces us to feel—emotions, thoughts, and connections that are buried or denied in everyday life. It allows us or compels us to experience hidden, deeper complexities that humans experience. It is another way of human knowing.