Wat is schoonheid? Een niet zo eenvoudig te beantwoorden vraag. Scruton bespreekt de schoonheid van mensen, de natuur, de alledaagse schoonheid en artistieke schoonheid.

Verder behandelt hij het verschil tussen kitsch en kunst en pornografie en kunst. De hedendaagse kunst is voor een groot deel een vlucht voor schoonheid. Schoonheid wordt als flauw en nutteloos gezien. ( )

Talvez este não livro não era para ser ruim. Ele certamente não começa mal, desde que descontemos que o autor tem uma concepção de beleza que a liga com o bom, de modo que a busca pela beleza adquira contornos éticos, de construção de caráter (ele gosta da análise de Hume sobre o gosto) e busca por uma vida mais plena. Mas aqui e ali, e sem conhecer o autor de antemão, há nos exemplos e em certas ênfases, um tom que faz identificarmos conservadorismo. E o ruim de identificar conservadorismo é que minha experiência com livros de conservadores é a seguinte. Eles querem se afirmar enquanto tal, dando dicas, aqui e ali, por exemplo, "de que o homem vê a beleza da mulher idealizada como coisa de supremo valor", que tal ou tal coisa é Universal, que há as grandes obras do ocidente, que as tradições legam coisas importantíssimas, que o cristianismo na figura de x é sublime etc. O problema entretanto é que com isso vai se construindo um tipo de argumentação que é mais do tipo "venha comigo", "seja um dos nossos", e que apela a seleções do senso comum para avançar sem discutir pontos que deveriam ter discussões alongadas e para dispensar de modo metodologicamente suspeito correntes que deveriam ser consideradas. E o final do livro é horrível nesse sentido, porque nele o autor se solta e basicamente diz: parto do pressuposto de que a sociedade atual é horrenda, que a pornografia, o pós-modernismo, o kitsch (o pop?), o conceitual e a falta da presença de uma espiritualidade do sacrifício são os fatores que a tornam horrenda. Por isso a importância do belo e do belo ligado ao erótico. E bem, sabemos que no livro são selecionados exemplos convenientes para apoiar esse pressuposto. Mas daí aprendemos o que sobre a beleza? Aprendemos mais uma vez que não somos conservadores. E isso, que não vale um livro, gera a sensação de que foi uma leitura em vão, que os pontos avançados podem muito bem ser desconsiderados, que a ideia de argumentos bem construídos era só uma máscara para esse tipo de apelo megalomaníaco e fantasioso de uma essência perdida. ( )

People seem to rate this low because Scruton goes against the current of relativist thinking when it comes to art and art appreciation, and voices a defense in the traditional classicist view. What does warrant a low rating is not the viewpoint but the execution. It's just not very good. The documentary "Why Beauty Matters" is the reason I read this and is a much better execution; you will find no deeper defense here. ( )

Part of Oxford University Press "Very Short Introductions" series
Takes thought

LT Beauty, Roger Scruton, Oxford University Press, 2009
Where is hard copy? home stack, goes in philosophy section of BCSA west wall bottom shelf

Theme:
Type: philosophy
Value: 1-
Age: col
Interest: 1- (2+?)

Objectionable: not Christ-centered
Vocabulary:
Synopsis/Noteworthy:

Beauty runs through everything; it is inherent and part of the created order 49, 55
Beauty has to do with (what brings) delight/pleasure 40; it is what is properly aligned/tuned/what fits Gen 1:31; Pro 8:30-31
Art is presented beauty
Art (beauty) makes us feel as though we belong 55, that we fit 80-81, 106, 108, 123
Art is to what we want aligned
Beauty is its own end
Beauty (art) has communal aspects 112
Beauty has originality-individuality-personality-subjectivity 120-2

Beauty defined 22, 145, 162-RS; 123 Hume; 162 Plotinus; 162 Hutcheson
Mohler: You made a tremendous contribution in the field of aesthetics and there is a new found appreciation for this field which is long neglected in philosophical circles but also in the world of theology as well. And you have written by my count at least four or five major works on aesthetics including a recent work on beauty. And Dr. Scruton I’d just like to ask you straightforwardly because this may be the most important question of all aesthetics. What exactly is beauty?

Scruton: I wish I could answer it. What I would say is that the sense of beauty is connected with our longing to be at home in the world and to be part of the world and to find endorsement in the world. And to do it through our own immediate experience. And I think what we regard as beautiful is the thing which rewards our contemplations and by bringing us into if you like an endorsed relation with it. The landscape before you which strikes you as beautiful is the one which has suddenly become a home to you in which you’re not a stranger. And I think this is true of music..the most beautiful music has that affect too. https://albertmohler.com/2011/02/14/thinking-in-public-2

L 69-70, 77, 87-Wild Strawberries 139-Wasteland
Whit poetry expresses simultaneous 94, 117
Nate 64, 69
Ted Miller this book, music theory course 105

Aesthetic judgment 69, 72
Taste 76
Style 77
Fashion 78
Art criticism 83
Similes for abstract art 104
Why we exist—to fit 108
Rejected lover story 108
Universals 109, 140
Ought 123
Music shares in communication 144
Desecrate 145
Why we resist beauty 152-3
Beauty is a sign of higher life 160
Beauty teaches a way out 161

The main observation seems to be that beauty is a sensual perception that satisfies our intellect. He introduces different contexts in which beauty manifests, such as architecture, day to day life, and art. It often felt as though he was showing off his erudition, but, in fairness, his meaning was not heavily dependent on his references.

There is some cursory discussion of the philosophical arguments concerning aesthetics, but the book mostly consists of the author's own musings. Scruton is known as a politically conservative thinker, but this mus be one of his less polemical works. Aside from some anthropocentricism my political sensibilities were not affronted, though I may not be sophisticated enough to have picked up on all the implications of his words. ( )