Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

expressed as an image, or through performance, still has a deeper resonance with us than the use of just words.

Does the study of aesthetics help with this? We saw earlier the separation of the sublime (often from the ‘merely’ pretty), for instance. With Edmund Burke the sublime might suggest a connection with ‘higher’ spiritual truths. And there is scope, I think, for thinking of aesthetics through the lens of the various types of value we identify in the world. But it has to be said that aesthetics is not usually framed in this way.

Sometimes art is spoken of as in some way being a rival to religion. Part of the reason might be that art quite often concerns itself with physical beauty — both of the world around us and of our own bodies. This has largely been rejected by religion as transient and sometimes sinful. Another and perhaps more profound reason is that art offers an alternative path to transcendence — to stepping out of the world of the everyday and glimpsing something sublime. Religion often sees this as its own domain and might therefore view art with suspicion. It might be wondered if the transcendence offered by art is of a similar nature to that offered by religion. And it could further be asked if transcendence could be achieved through such things as meaningful work, the appreciation of beauty and through relationships. I’d have to answer yes to these questions! But I appreciate people of a more religious persuasion may feel obliged to disagree!

Schiller wrote that it is through beauty that we achieve freedom. As such, creativity, for him,

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