Re: MD What Good Are the Arts?

From: ian glendinning (psybertron@gmail.com)
Date: Mon May 30 2005 - 15:31:31 BST

  • Next message: ian glendinning: "Re: MD What Good Are the Arts?"

    Interesting too Platt, that George Steiner (Pirsig's reviewer) is also quoted.
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2102-1626588,00.html

    I tend to think Pirsig made the point already that the divison between
    arts and "sciences" is a fiction anyway - I always believed his
    etymology of Rt / Art / Craft / Rite / Right etc was particularly
    telling.

    I would say, MoQ iluminates real life - in general - art is just an
    aspect of it.
    Ian

    On 5/30/05, Platt Holden <pholden@sc.rr.com> wrote:
    > Hi All:
    >
    > Those interested in the arts and their relationship to the MOQ might be
    > interested in a new book by John Carey entitled "What Good Are the Arts."
    > I haven't read the book (it's published in Britain) but was interested in
    > the review of it written by David Lodge in the May 30 Sunday Times.
    >
    > Carey, writes Lodge, ". . . tackles the question raised in his title by
    > posing a serious of sub-questions: What is a work of art? Is high art
    > superior? Can science help? Do the arts make us better? Can art be a
    > religion? His answers are brief: anything; no; not much; not as a rule;
    > no."
    >
    > To get some flavor of Carey's criticisms, he points to Nazis who were
    > connoisseurs of music, visual art and architecture to demonstrate that art
    > doesn't necessarily have "an ennobling affect on those who appreciate it."
    >
    > A couple of comments by the book's reviewer, however, brought art directly
    > into the realm of the MOQ. Lodge writes:
    >
    > "Value is certainly an unreliable basis for formally defining art, but it
    > is at the very heart of the experience." I take this to mean that there
    > can be no experience without value -- good, bad or indifferent.
    >
    > and:
    >
    > "You only have to imagine the dreariness of a world without art to know
    > that it is a good thing." I was reminded by this thought of Pirsig's
    > assertion that a world without value would be unrecognizable.
    >
    > Although I disagree with some of the conclusions of the author, I look
    > forward to getting a copy of the book when it becomes available in the
    > U.S. Whenever the subject of art arises, the MOQ sheds light. The two
    > illuminate each other.
    >
    > Best,
    > Platt
    >
    >
    >
    >
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