Art, Truth, and Morality:
Aesthetic Self-forgetfulness vs. Recognition
Alice Ramos
There is a close relationship between the good and the beautiful, between ethics and aesthetics. This paper attempts to follow the lead of Alasdair MacIntyre in presenting “three rival versions of aesthetic enquiry.” I will begin with a brief consideration of the human desire for completion and unification which may be understood as the desire or eros for what is beautiful. This longing for unification has been described in terms of the aesthetic experience, whereby we seem to attain an optimal sense of self. The beauty of the arts can bring us to the deepest core of the self or can alienate us from our true selves, making us oblivious of who we really are.
In this paper I will first contrast the Platonic and Aristotelian positions on the effects of mimetic representation, in order to consider how imitation in art can lead us either to self-forgetfulness or to recognition. Second, modern aesthetics, specifically as elaborated by Kant, provides the initial separation of art from truth and morality. Third, later aesthetic separatism as seen in Art for Art’s Sake promotes a self-forgetfulness or self-alienation, as is evident for example in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde’s novel is relevant even today and highlights in its own peculiar way the human desire for union with the beautiful. The Ancients’ understanding of beauty and the arts provides a more adequate version of aesthetic enquiry than do the modern and contemporary versions.
