Abstract
The dominant conception of art in the last century infamously denied the traditional link between art and beauty. While elevating and placing the former at the center of attention, it has rejected the significance of the latter. In contrast to this trend, Lorand argues that beauty is an essential feature of art, and the value of an artwork amounts to the degree of its beauty. This understanding of artistic value supports the claim that the creation of art works will continue as long as there are reflective human beings who seek beauty.
The chapter gives a brief analysis of beauty and attempt to substantiate its vitality for understanding the purpose of artistic activity. Beauty, Lorand argues, answers the need for a special kind of order that is not satisfied by science and logic. It expresses individuality and is not based on known rules or laws; it defines its unique form and therefore it is highly informative. Due to their individuality, aesthetic orders do not compete with each other. The fact that high degree of beauty was achieved in the past does not put an end to the human quest for new beauties in new materials and new forms of art.
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Notes
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Nehamas notes that “Beauty is the most discredited philosophical notion—so discredited that I could not even find an entry for it in the index of the many books in the philosophy of art I consulted in order to find it discredited” (Nehamas 2000).
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I have discussed these points extensively in Lorand 1994.
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Lorand, R. (2017). Beauty: A Promise of Enduring Art. In: Higgins, K., Maira, S., Sikka, S. (eds) Artistic Visions and the Promise of Beauty. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43893-1_4
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