The Art of Copying

Abstract

In my 2013 article in our journal, entitled “Chasing After Pi,” I returned to a theme that has become a focal point of my attention across for many years now, the high value of human authenticity. In this emphasis, I find both the greatest influence of existential philosophy, my own greatest personal quest, and something of the fulfillment of the concept of highest human existence as echoed in the ideas of Robert Hartman on goodness. Here I created a kind of polar opposite to authenticity as any form of copying. The whole thought of any existence that is a copy became antithetical to any truly authentic, human existence. In a much more reasonable overview, my friend and Hartman scholar—Art Ellis—raised an objection. Maybe I had overstated my case, and—as I reread my article through the lens of Art’s thought—I may have even become something of a “drama queen” in my crusade against copying. I hope this new article is a better and fuller statement. After ranging through examples relating to Johnny Cash, Duke Ellington, and the Beatles, I find great help from Abraham Maslow, Will Campbell, and—ultimately—Robert S. Hartman. In the end, there may be a distinct way in which copying is a normal and even appropriate way of reaching toward authenticity. The article is written with great appreciation for Art Ellis.