Prompt: Fruits and flowers
“Bellringers” are classroom tools that help set the tone or introduce a topic in the classroom. Adam Smith Works bellringers use quotations from and activities based on the work of Adam Smith, allowing you to illustrate the long history of the ideas you will explore in your classroom by grounding them in great books.
Adam Smith Works Activities are quotations with accompanying activities that you can discuss with your students to introduce a topic, generate deeper discussion, or set the tone for your lesson. They cover topics from economics to history to moral philosophy.
Bellringers are presented as slides ready to pull and use in your classroom. On each slide, you can find speaking notes and links to more information.
Adam Smith Works Activities are quotations with accompanying activities that you can discuss with your students to introduce a topic, generate deeper discussion, or set the tone for your lesson. They cover topics from economics to history to moral philosophy.
Bellringers are presented as slides ready to pull and use in your classroom. On each slide, you can find speaking notes and links to more information.
- Click the hyperlinked quotation (for example, look for something like (WN 1.ii.2) to see the quotation in the context of the full text.
- Use the "Find" feature in the left-hand menu to search for the first few words in the quotation and see it in context.
- Alternatively, click on "Contents" to find the relevant chapter of the text. "WN 1.ii.2" is Wealth of Nations Book 1, chapter 2. "TMS I.iii.1.7" is The Theory of Moral Sentiments Book 1, chapter 3, section 1.
(The last number in the citation refers to the paragraph in the section.)
- Where available, click "Click here for more about this quotation" to visit a short article about the passage in question.
- Speaking notes suggest topics for discussion when using each quotation.
“Artificial fruits and flowers sometimes imitate so exactly the natural objects which they represent, that they frequently deceive us. We soon grow weary of them, however…But we do not grow weary of a good flower and fruit painting.” (Of the Nature of that Imitation which takes place in what are called the Imitative Arts. Part 1, paragraph 10)
This group activity should take ten minutes, plus any time allocated for class discussion.
Divide the class into pairs of students and provide them with the prompts below for discussion.
Why might it be that a painting is so much less interesting than a convincing replica or a photo? Is there a point at which a convincing replica or a photo might be as or more interesting than a painting?
What, if anything, do you think this observation can tell us about what makes art interesting?
Once group discussions are complete, students may be asked to share their thoughts with the class or via a short writing assignment.
See the quotation in context as part of the full online text of Of the Nature of that Imitation which takes place in what are called the Imitative Arts here. Use the "Find" feature in the left-hand menu to search for the first few words in the quotation and see it in context.