Full Idea
It is of course a fact that if art is love then art improves us morally, but this is, as it were, accidental.
Gist of Idea
Because art is love, it improves us morally
Source
Iris Murdoch (The Sublime and the Good [1959], p.218)
Book Reference
Murdoch,Iris: 'Existentialists and Mystics', ed/tr. Conradi,Peter [Chatto and Windus 1997], p.218
A Reaction
Is an enhancement of one's love necessarily a moral improvement? Love is a fine feeling, but how does it motivate? Has no wickedness ever been perpetrated in the name of love? 'All's fair in love and war'.
Related Idea
Idea 22712 Art and morals are essentially the same, and are both identical with love [Murdoch]