“I never view aesthetic ideas as having an existence purely of their own but as a function they have in connection with political or moral values.” IdeasPoliticalValuesViewsExistenceMoralConnectionsFunctionAestheticMoral Values Author:Antoni Tapies
“Since the Greeks the predominant attitude of thinkers towards intellectual activity was to glorify it insofar as (like aesthetic activity) it finds its satisfaction in itself, apart from any attention to the advantages it may procure. Most thinkers would have agreed with Renan's verdict that the man who loves science for its fruits commits the worst of blasphemies against that divinity. The modern clercs have violently torn up this charter. They proclaim the intellectual functions are only respectable to the extent that they are bound up with the pursuit of concrete advantage.” MenMayAttentionAttitudeModernWorstHe ManActivityIntellectualAdvantageFunctionFruitBoundsSatisfactionPursuitCommitGreekDivinityThinkerAestheticConcreteTornRespectableGlorifyBlasphemyCharterVerdictScience Love Author:Julien Benda
“Whatever the practical origins of aesthetic discernment may have been, it has been used to create great works of art. When the very loftiest human creations are seen to derive from humble origins and functions, what needs revision is not our esteem for these creations but our notion of nobility.” NeedsHumansMayHas BeensArtUsedCreationFunctionNotionHumblePracticalsEsteemWorks Of ArtAestheticNobilityGreat WorkDiscernmentRevision Book:The Nature of Rationality Source: The Nature of Rationality
“Fascism is fundamentally and at bottom an aesthetic conception, and . . . it is your function as creators of beautiful things to portray with the greatest efficacy the sublime beauty and inevitable reality of the Fascist ideal.” RealityBeautifulIdealsFunctionBottomCreatorInevitableConceptionFascismAestheticBeautiful ThingsSublimeFascistsEfficacy Book:Corelli's Mandolin: A Novel Source: Corelli's Mandolin: A Novel
“Religion is not about accepting twenty impossible propositions before breakfast, but about doing things that change you. It is a moral aesthetic, an ethical alchemy. If you behave in a certain way, you will be transformed. The myths and laws of religion are not true because they they conform to some metaphysical, scientific or historical reality but because they are life enhancing. They tell you how human nature functions, but you will not discover their truth unless you apply these myths and doctrines to your own life and put them into practice.” IfsWayLifeHumansRealityTruthLawCertainReligionChangeAcceptingMoralPracticeImpossibleHuman NatureAcceptanceEthicsDiscoveryFunctionTwentiesTransformationHistoricalMythDoctrineBehaveBreakfastEthicalAestheticTransformedConformPropositionsMetaphysicalAestheticsAlchemyFamous WomenSelf TransformationSpiritual TransformationEnhancement Author:Karen Armstrong
“It would seem that more than function itself, simplicity is the deciding factor in the aesthetic equation. One might call the process beauty through function and simplification.” SeemsMightScienceProcessFunctionSimplicityInventionFactorsAestheticEquationsSimplification Author:Raymond Loewy