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Full Idea
The work of the great artists shows up 'art-for-art's-sake' as a flimsy frivolous doctrine.
Gist of Idea
Great art proves the absurdity of art for art's sake
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
She keeps referring to tragedy (as the greatest art), but it is hard to see how we learn love and morality from a great pot or a great abstract painting. Wilde makes the doctrine frivolous, but I think it contains a degree of truth. Music.
| 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] |