Single Idea 22347

[catalogued under 21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality]

Full Idea

The appreciation of beauty in art or nature is not only the easiest available spiritual exercise; it is also a completely adequate entry into (and not just analogy of) the good life, since it checks selfishness in the interest of seeing the real.

Gist of Idea

Appreciating beauty in art or nature opens up the good life, by restricting selfishness

Source

Iris Murdoch (The Sovereignty of Good [1970], II)

Book Reference

Murdoch,Iris: 'The Sovereignty of Good' [RKP 1974], p.64


A Reaction

Not keen on 'spiritual' exercises, but I very much like 'seeing the real' as a promotion of the good life. The hard bit is to know what reality you are seeing in a work of art. [p.84] Her example is the sudden sight of a hovering kestrel.

Related Idea

Idea 22349 Art trains us in the love of virtue [Murdoch]