I think aesthetics is really undervalued in its importance in both ethics and rationality. We like to imagine that our sense of beautiful is distinct from what we judge as good and/or true, but I think that is a self-delusion.
-
-
was leaning that way myself, though it does feel like a cop out in this case. I'd like to have a better answer, though I find much less fault with polka than with dowry.
-
i mean, Polka Your Eyes Out is great
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
is this to say, at their root or within their full historical context, polka/dowry are beautiful for the same reasons that ~classical indian music~ is beautiful?
-
ok, the dowry example is a good one because it's something we (21C internet nerds) find really ethically objectionable. that ethical objection taints it aesthetically as well. we find it "ugly" on a metaphysical level and want to find it ugly on an aesthetic level too.
-
our values are dramatically different than the values of the cultures where dowry is accepted. this is me getting as PoMo as I'm willing to: from their own subjective POV the dowry was ethically beautiful because it solidified kin bonding in a tribal society.
-
the aesthetics that could be developed around reinforced kin-bonding include both works of art, public rituals/ceremonies, and institutional structures that would be subject to aesthetic judgments.
-
I can't judge these things beautiful by my own cultural standards. It's not my culture and I don't want my culture to adopt dowry. I can, I think, learn to understand the beauty those foreign cultures would have found in their own dowry aesthetics.
-
ok, so what we're saying is something like, (and I dont have the right language for this, but): Ethics and Aesthetics are universally bound, but locally variable. And perhaps, you have to understand both to understand either.
-
language is hard, that's close enough
-
very interesting. I wonder what it means then that artists + spiritual leaders rarely overlap. Or is that not true...
- 4 more replies
New conversation -
-
-
doesnt this negate the advantage of aesthetic ethics tho, in the sense that, I can understand both at a visceral level. As opposed to needing a full grok before being able to weigh in
-
eh, ignore this. Let me rethink
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.