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Product Description
Review
"Aesthetics as an independent academic discipline may have faded with the 19th century, but in Roger Scruton's vigorous, decidedly unfashionable little book, Beauty, it's as timeless as ever."--Amelia Atlas, Barnes and Noble Review
"There is much to be learned and pondered on from Scruton's splendid treatment of beauty in its different forms. Scruton reminds us of the vital importance of aesthetic education for the re-shaping of our culture and world for human happiness." --Quaestiones Disputatae
"[H]is characteristically lucid and penetrating style.... Scruton's Beauty is a thoughtful and challenging exploration not only of some central issues in aesthetics but also the place of the experience of beauty in our lives."--Donald W. Crawford, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
"Highly accessible and offers readers a unique and well-argued approach to the concept of beauty."--Scott Duimstra, Library Journal
"Roger Scruton has moments of great insight and clarity in this attractively slim volume...."--The Observer
Product Description
Beauty can be consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane; it can be exhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling. It can affect us in an unlimited variety of ways. Yet it is never viewed with indifference. Here, the renowned philosopher Roger Scruton explores the concept of beauty, asking what makes an object - either in art, in nature, or the human form - beautiful, and examining how we can compare differing judgements of beauty when it is evident all around us that our tastes vary so widely. Is there a right judgement to be made about beauty? Is it right to say there is more beauty in a classical temple than a concrete office block, more in a Rembrandt than in last year's Turner Prize winner? Forthright and thought-provoking, and as accessible as it is intellectually rigorous, this introduction to the philosophy of beauty draws conclusions that some may find controversial, but, as Scruton shows, help us to find greater sense of meaning in the beautiful objects that fill our lives.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know, Jun 24 2009
By Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Beauty (Hardcover)
Roger Scruton is a moral philosopher whose work is for many of us a source of reassurance and hope. He stands against the modern and especially post- modern trend which suggest that Truth , Goodness and Beauty are not values, but forms of oppression which must somehow be violently opposed and devalued. In a sense his heart is that of an Enlightentment Rationalist who argues that our Thought and our Art are meant to enhance our understanding of the world, and our appreciation of Life. In seeking in a sense to give us back our sense of how Beauty enriches our life Scruton does a service not only to Aesthetics but to the way we live in our everyday world.
I find his work among the most persuasive and inspiring philosophical writing that is being done today.
50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Contra Post-Modernist Sacrilege", May 31 2009
By Stanley H. Nemeth - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Beauty (Hardcover)
In this brief volume, Roger Scruton persuasively comes to the aid of those of us eager to hear nowadays, say, a Mozart opera or a Shakespearean play but who to do so have to endure the by now conventional shenanigans of Regie directors bent on defaming clearly admirable characters and setting noble works of Western Culture in brothels or other tiresome dens of iniquity. Scruton makes an unanswerable case that such post-modern exemplars are engaging in a predictable, frankly adolescent sort of sacrilege, not so transgressive in fact as just merely and less glamourously repetitive of their own peers' practice. Post-modern "rebellion," reminiscent of teenage behavior, is a rebellion by its numerous advocates marching in embarrassing lockstep. If his book were to be widely read, it would surely influence younger artists to innovate, moving out of the dead-ends of such trite postmodern practice.
Scruton's central thesis is that while Beauty is something that must be individually experienced, nevertheless it is essentially rational and thus connected to Truth and Goodness, rather than being a mere preference one cannot expect other rational selves ever to agree upon. Scruton's knowledge of aesthetics, ranging from Plato and Plotinus down through the centuries to contemporary theorists and artists is undeniably impressive. His is a work to reread and savor.
36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful!, Oct 26 2009
By Edward Styles - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Beauty (Hardcover)
Few books have fulfilled my expectation as well as Roger Scruton's Beauty. Many decades ago, I entered college intending to become a graphic artist. Going into publishing instead, I became disgusted with art as it succeeded in its efforts to be disgusting. Scruton reconnected me with what I once valued so much - its transcendence. It was a pleasure to read someone who takes art more seriously than most artists do. I strongly recommend this book. -- [...]
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