more from Arthur Schopenhauer

Single Idea 4182

[catalogued under 21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 4. Beauty]

Full Idea

The momentary silencing of all volition …is one of the principal elements in our pleasure in the beautiful.

Gist of Idea

A principal pleasure of the beautiful is that it momentarily silences the will

Source

Arthur Schopenhauer (The World as Will and Idea [1819], IV.65)

Book Reference

Schopenhauer,Arthur: 'The World as Will and Idea', ed/tr. Berman,Jill and David [Everyman 1995], p.225


A Reaction

Iris Murdoch sees moral value in beauty, because it overrides selfishness. The perception of beauty is certainly something deeper than just another nice feeling. There is a cognitive element to it.