Rene Magritte's This Is Not A Pipe

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Rene Magritte a Belgian surrealist artist created a painting of a pipe with the words “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” at the bottom. The phrase translates to “This is not a pipe.” The painting challenges the idea that a visual representation of something and a physical object are the same thing. The image is not a pipe, but a picture of a pipe. This paper will discuss three ideas on why people tend to believe the painting is in fact the same thing as a pipe. First, that reality is a social construct, then the idea of master vs. slave and finally the idea of bounded ethicality. According to Daniel Graeber, a Media Literacy Professor at Grand Valley State University, reality is a social construct (Class notes). Our perspective is based off our experience.

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