Re the uncertainty principle of beauty - Reader comments at The New York Sun

Recent Blog Posts

Reader comment on:
The Uncertainty Principle of Beauty

Submitted by Alex Dunn, Feb 18, 2007 19:45

From personal experience, the diagnosis that philosophy departments have given up, not only on the idea of beauty, but of aesthetics altogether, is sadly too true. It is not only Kant that mistrusts the passions but the modern anglo-american analytic philsophers, whose bloodless arguements increasingly fail to engage new students to the ethical claim that real philosophy can make on one's soul. Such a stance comes from a deep mistrust of romanticism, which, as Bertrand Russell said, was not philosophy at all. While not wanting to be labelled a romantic, the interplay between what used to be called "the passions" and the intellect is crucial to any real philosophical understanding of self. This cannot be achieved by algebraic shorthand. The field of the sublime, while prone to romanticism, opens up room for this interplay, and investigating it - even through Kant - will prove a fecund field for any who wish to till it. And, yes, it will allow the analysis of popular culture as well as high culture.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.

Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
Desire has a cognitive aspect. It is difficult to imagine a passionate pursuit of pleasure without the curiosity to know... [MORE]	Dilip Chitre	Mar 25, 2007 00:07
Perhaps the pursuit of beauty has been abandoned because of our abandonment of the pursuit of truth. We now live... [MORE]	Arthur Pontynen	Feb 22, 2007 13:25
"beauty is identical to desire, that desire longs for engagement". Engagement with the object? And we desire this engagement because... [MORE]	James Kirwan	Feb 21, 2007 09:32
From personal experience, the diagnosis that philosophy departments have given up, not only on the idea of beauty, but of...	Alex Dunn	Feb 18, 2007 19:45
Actually, Plato states clearly in the Republic and related texts that beauty is strongly linked to virtue and the good;... [MORE]	Philosopher	Feb 18, 2007 12:14
My teacher, Thomas Hora, M.D., defined beauty as "that which is uplifting to the spirit." Inciting desire, which is always... [MORE]	Bruce Kerievsky	Feb 18, 2007 11:49
I wonder if our inability to consider or engage with the question of what is beautiful can be construed as... [MORE]	Cyril Reyes	Feb 18, 2007 02:36
It seems to me that there is one major error in this article i.e. the claim that philosophers have long... [MORE]	Shalom Freedman	Feb 18, 2007 01:41
I am a girl of 18 from The Neherlands, and my experience of the never ending discussion about beauty is... [MORE]	Daphne Andersen	Feb 17, 2007 23:44
Fine review (really more than a review--a mini-essay, which in my experience nearly all very good reviews are). I was... [MORE]	Jim Lilly	Feb 17, 2007 17:41
"There is no a priori judgment that might reveal what will prove evanescent and what sustaining." "As a reader, one knows... [MORE]	Christopher Orloff	Feb 18, 2007 22:52

Reader comment on:The Uncertainty Principle of Beauty

Other reader comments on this article

Comment on The Uncertainty Principle of Beauty

Reader comment on:
The Uncertainty Principle of Beauty