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Single Idea 22714
[filed under theme 21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality
]
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 Ref
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]
The
22 ideas
from Iris Murdoch
20765
|
Man is a brave naked will, separate from a background of values and realities
[Murdoch]
|
22591
|
We know perfection when we see what is imperfect
[Murdoch]
|
23563
|
Philosophy moves continually between elaborate theories and the obvious facts
[Murdoch]
|
22338
|
An unexamined life can be virtuous
[Murdoch]
|
22337
|
Philosophy must keep returning to the beginning
[Murdoch]
|
22341
|
Literature is the most important aspect of culture, because it teaches understanding of living
[Murdoch]
|
22339
|
Love is a central concept in morals
[Murdoch]
|
22343
|
If I attend properly I will have no choices
[Murdoch]
|
22340
|
It is hard to learn goodness from others, because their virtues are part of their personal history
[Murdoch]
|
22342
|
Kantian existentialists care greatly for reasons for action, whereas Surrealists care nothing
[Murdoch]
|
22345
|
Moral philosophy needs a central concept with all the traditional attributes of God
[Murdoch]
|
22347
|
Appreciating beauty in art or nature opens up the good life, by restricting selfishness
[Murdoch]
|
22348
|
Ordinary human love is good evidence of transcendent goodness
[Murdoch]
|
22346
|
Moral reflection and experience gradually reveals unity in the moral world
[Murdoch]
|
22350
|
Only trivial virtues can be possessed on their own
[Murdoch]
|
22351
|
Only a philosopher might think choices create values
[Murdoch]
|
22349
|
Art trains us in the love of virtue
[Murdoch]
|
22709
|
We should first decide what are the great works of art, with aesthetic theory following from that
[Murdoch]
|
22712
|
Art and morals are essentially the same, and are both identical with love
[Murdoch]
|
22713
|
Love is realising something other than oneself is real
[Murdoch]
|
22715
|
Great art proves the absurdity of art for art's sake
[Murdoch]
|
22714
|
Because art is love, it improves us morally
[Murdoch]
|