Gene Edward Veith has some comments today on Objectivity in Beauty that are noteworthy. I wonder what the Maple Mountaineers (for so I have named that small cadre of commentators whose heads, by way of the mouth area, talk so winsomely here) have to say about this.
 

“To remind those of us who say we believe in “absolutes” against the postmodernists who deny there is any such thing, the three absolutes were and are Truth, Goodness, and BEAUTY. Christians are against relativism when it comes to truth and goodness but they tend to agree with the postmodernists that beauty is relative. This must be challenged. Once beauty goes, the other absolutes quickly become unravelled. (This is not, by the way, just the problem of churches; rather, it reflects the even bigger tastelessness of the culture as a whole, which Christians, while criticizing the culture on many points, emulate it on this one.)

Yes, beauty involves a subjective response and that “tastes” differ, but taste, like other human faculties, must be cultivated, educated, and disciplined. We need to learn how to take subjective pleasure in what is objectively GOOD.”

 

I have to admit to holding some lingering relativism when it comes to art, and though I have moved towards a more objective approach, I still see art as possibly having large areas of subjectivity. Am I wrong?
I used to take the approach that music was amoral and that any music could be used to glorify God, or to most any different end, in certain contexts. I no longer hold that view, and believe that we can certainly say that some art is bad and some is good. But I feel uncomfortable with the idea that the rules could be so very objective, and it seems like this empowers elites to tell the rest of us what’s REALLY good. But isn’t that the way all disciples work? For some examples, we say things like: That’s bad philosophy, that’s bad science, that’s bad writing, that’s bad form, that’s bad architecture…so why not in art? Well we do say that, but who has more authority on the subject and why? I don’t ask because I am in defiance, I ask because I know I don’t exactly know and I want to.
I guess I have been on a journey from the relativist position (on Beauty) towards a more sure objectivity, but am looking for a few signs and guides along the way…because I am unsure of how to get there (and exactly why).