Beauty: A Very Short Introduction

Broad and complex subjects may be approached in many ways. The subject of Roger Scruton's "very short introduction", "Beauty" (2009), for example, might have been written as an overview, presenting various possible definitions of "beauty" followed by a discussion and assessment of alternative ways of undersanding beauty that have been offered over the years. This approach is not Scruton's. He deliberately avoids trying to define the nature of beauty and he steers clear of summarizing competing interpretations. Instead, Scruton offers his own philosophical understanding of beauty. His discussion is informed, provocative, and it takes account of the thinking of others. Still, it is much less an overview than the presentation of a position. As such, it is challenging and valuable. Scruton is a British philosopher and conservative political commentator who has published extensively on a wide range of subjects. He has, for example, written the volumes on Kant and Spinoza for the "Very Short Introductions" series, which includes this book on beauty, for Oxford University Press.

Scruton states the direction of his approach to beauty at the outset. He rejects a "skeptical" approach to beauty which denies the possibility of a shared conception beyond the preferences of individuals:

"In this book I suggest that such sceptical thoughts about beauty are unjustified. Beauty, I argue, is a real and universal value, one anchored in our rational nature, and the sense of beauty has an indispensable part to play in shaping the human world. My approach to the topic is not historical, neither am I concerned to give a psychological, still less an evolutionary explanation of the sense of beauty. My approach is philosophical, and the principal sources for my argument are the works of philosophers. The point of this book is the argument it develops, which is designed to introduce a philosophical question and to encourage you, the reader, to answer it."

Scruton writes that the understanding of beauty requires human rationality and is part of a fully-developed concept of reason. He maintains that beauty is properly shared and common rather than wholly individual. Individuals may not agree fully on, for example, the beauty of an individual painting or work of music, but the conditions for beauty can be assessed. Beauty shows what Scruton paradoxically describes as "disinterested interest". For Scruton, beauty is not found only in the great music of Beethoven's late string quartets, for example, but rather is also a part of every day human experience, in the proper "fit" and setting of a door, the setting of a table, and the wearing of appropriate clothing. Beauty is a way of passing beyond the immediacy of desire to what is ideal, good, and sacred in human life. Scruton writes:

"Our favourite works of art seem to guide us to the truth of the human condition and, by presenting completed instances of human actions and passions, freed from the contingencies of everyday life, to show the worthwhileness of being human."

Much of the book focuses on sexuality and eroticism and their relationship to beauty. Scruton considers briefly and rejects exclusively psychological approaches to beauty. He spends a great deal of space discussion Plato's conception of beauty and of eros, which he ultimately rejects. Scruton works to distinguish erotic, self-interested beauty from what he describes as disinterested contemplation. In the realm of sexuality, this distinction requires the rejection of pornography, for example, which objectifies human beings into mere bodies and separates bodies from persons.

Scruton develops his conception of beauty as "disinterested interest" and proceeds to describe four kinds of beauty summarized (p. 124) as: "human beauty as an object of desire; natural beauty,as an object of contemplation; everyday beauty as an object of practical reason; and artistic beauty as a form of meaning and an object of taste." He then returns to an attack on "art as eros" followed by a critique of postmodernism and relativism with their various rejections of beauty as a goal for art and the embracing, in many popular instances of kitsch as an equivalvent for art. Scruton offers the following summary of his understanding of beauty and its purpose.

"everything I have said about the nature of beauty implies that it is rationally founded. It challenges us to find meaning in its object, to make critical comparisons, and to examine our lives and emotions in light of what we find. Art, nature and the human form invite us to place this experience at the centre of our lives. If we do so, then it offers a place of refreshment of which we can never tire.... For a free being, there is right feeling, right experience and right enjoyment just as much as right action. The judgement of beauty orders the emotions and desires of those who make it. It may express their pleasure and their taste; but it is pleasure in what they value and taste for their true ideals."

Scruton writes gracefully, tightly, and well. Sections and paragraphs of this little book almost stand alone as essays. Much of the book has an aphoristic, quotable character. The philosophers most influential to Scruton's approach, even when he disagrees with them, are Kant and Plato. The book is full of discussion and comparison of paintings, works of literature, and pieces of music. Among other things, Scruton is a great admirer of Schubert's song-cycle, "Die Winterreise" about rejected love, and he discusses it beautifully.

There is much to be learned from this book even if the reader disagrees. In a review in "The Observer" (quoted in part on the book jacket), Sebastian Smee praised Scruton's thought while expressing skepticism about Scruton's focus on reason, disinterestedness, and, particularly, attitude towards eros. Smee quotes John Updike saying "for most men a naked woman is the most beautiful thing they will ever see" as a suggestion for an alternative position. Scruton's book will engage the reader and encourage thought on the nature of beauty, whether or not the reader fully agrees with Scruton. In this way, the book is valuable in itself and more than fulfills the goal of a "very short introduction" to a topic.

Robin Friedman

I wouldn't necessarily call this a *very* short introduction, as the title suggests. But it is a large topic, so perhaps any introduction would be considered 'short.'

Scruton covers a lot of ground, from the Greeks and Romans through Aquinas and Dante, all the way down to the present day flight from beauty altogether.

He develops a concept of four distinct types of beauty: human beauty, as an object of desire; natural beauty, as an object of contemplation; everyday beauty, as an object of practical reason; and artistic beauty, as a form of meaning and an object of taste. Each is developed in its own chapter, with prolific examples provided throughout.

The book is somewhat academic and definitely not a page-turner, but still a worthwhile introduction to an important topic. Recommended.

Roger Scruton does an amazing job of packing an amazing amount of information into this little book. His writing style is fluid and easy to read. He makes topics that have the potential to be quite complex, easy to understand. The book is divided into 9 chapters:

1. Judging beauty
2. Human beauty
3. Natural beauty
4. Everyday beauty
5. Artistic beauty
6. Taste and order
7. Art and eros
8. The flight from beauty
9. Concluding thoughts

As you can see, Scruton covers the topic from all sides. In addition, there are a number of pictures of art works and architectural works to illustrate his points. The only thing different I would have liked to seen is color pictures, but I understand that Oxford University Press is trying to keep these little "A Very Short Introduction" books inexpensive, and for that I am glad. I have a large number of them and I will continue to purchase them as I can. Highly recommended.

disappointing, little history, theory or data

I have to get this book for Philosophy of Ethics class. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Sir Roger Scruton’s Beauty combines pellucid exposition with original nuance. Kant’s mighty aesthetics are well explained here though biased, Scruton shows, toward intuition and natural beauty over high art. According to Kant, aesthetic judgments are universal but also subjective: they are made for others to adopt or refute, not to be neutral towards; at the same time, they are not based on concepts; one cannot formally deduce something’s beauty from critical observations. The pleasure one takes in verdant fields may be subjective in Kant’s sense, but what about a beautiful mathematical proof, Scruton asks—neither sensuous nor Konzeptlos? Pace Kant, Scruton thinks, beauty is presented through the senses to the mind.

To help us grasp how aesthetic recognitions work, Scruton memorably invites us to consider “Rachel.” Say Rachel asks for a particular peach from a basket. “Take this one,” you suggest; “it will taste just as good.” But Rachel wants the peach she pointed to, not another from a category of functional equivalents; she is drawn to just that peach. Nor does she want merely to consume the peach, thereby relieving her hunger; she is interested in the peach per se and, therefore, in contemplating it for as long as possible. However modest its object, in its individuating and supra-practical outlook, Rachel’s is a perfect example of an aesthetic, as opposed to an appetitive, response.

As well as deepening our sense of beauty’s meaning, Scruton broadens it. “In one sense ‘beauty’ means aesthetic success [beauty],” he explains; “in another,...a certain kind of success [Beauty].” We are frequently concerned with some degree of the former, only on certain occasions with what may be the ravishing latter. If we thought all beauty was Beauty, we would overwhelm ourselves. We do better seeking other kinds and degrees, especially what Scruton calls “minimal beauty”: the suitability of a table setting, for example; the modest harmony of one building with another on a village street. Minimal beauty rests our senses, returning us to a comfortable world of use and sociability.

In broadening our understanding of beauty, Scruton also considers beauty’s “subversive power.” Sometimes, beauty attracts us even to what is not good or true. Aquinas and other medievals saw truth, goodness, and beauty as aspects of one given being: what was true and good was always also beautiful for that very reason—and vice versa. By way of counterargument, Scruton cites some dubious yet highly successful artistic phenomena of more recent vintage: Canova’s sensual forms, Wagner’s harmonies, Baudelaire’s imagery. We may be drawn to these yet feel at once it is against our better judgment to be so. To point out but not explain such effects may be a shortcoming of this treatise.

With Scruton’s guidance, we discover that the very negation of beauty may help us understand it. In every art museum displaying kitsch, in Marxist classrooms, by renegade architects on countless city blocks—beauty is under siege. There are always a wicked few who would rather rub out the face of God in our world than realise how far below His standards of goodness they are. Others join in, Scruton thinks, though in a different spirit: these latter are actually grieved at some level but join in because they’d rather see beauty erased than see it live on damaged and accusatory. Thus the destroyers of the beautiful unwittingly confirm its importance, its implication of a sacred judgment upon mankind felt even by the disloyal.

Scruton’s essay on beauty is itself a minor masterpiece of range and subtlety. Beauty may strike some as over-cautious: Scruton often moves sideways as well as forward, but this shows his respect for the deep waters we tread in. The mixture of kind and degree of beauty in these considerations brings aesthetics out of the park and home from the museum—vital moves in Scruton’s bid to conserve our threatened urban and rural spaces. Above all our other appreciations, we feel blessed to have a true philosopher on our side who is a true lover of art and an artist (musician/composer) himself. Beauty is just the peach that you desired.

A pleasure to read such a short book by one of the great living philosophers

Haven't finished. Like what I've read so far.

Good Book

This book is on many classical education fans' reading lists and reviews, so I read it and am so glad I did. While it is a bit academic and some of it went over my head, it had some new and fascinating stuff to say about beauty, porn, addiction, faith, and even the 'conversion experience'.