Beauty: A Very Short Introduction

An Introduction to Beauty by Professor Roger Scruton is an absolutely sublime and concentrated introduction to the topic of beauty and aesthetics. This book is written with serious academic rigor and draws from cultures across the world to help us appreciate that yes, there is such a thing as real beauty, that it is a highly spiritual and metaphysical endeavour, and that what passes for "modern art" now is an obvious abomination, an insult to the word "art" in particular and the public in general. The fable of "The emperor's new clothes" aptly sums up the pretence of modern so-called-art. Being a book written in English, by an Englishman, for an English-speaking audience, it is natural that this introduction will concentrate predominantly on the topics with... A) The most literature and academic study. B) The most famous works of art for the layman to recognise and appreciate and C) The European/Hellenistic/Romanesque heritage that comprises most of the contents of the former two considerations. However, Professor Scruton did not live in ignorance of other cultures (it would be a fruitless endeavour to try and arrive at a universally recognised intuition of beauty without looking worldwide), and he writes about examples from across the world such as the aesthetics of the Japanese tea ceremony, the dances of Indian tradition and the domineering architecture of ancient Egypt. However, the point of this introduction is not to sweat tirelessly to equally represent all genders, cultures and heritages in a tiny introduction booklet. The point of this book is to introduce you to the concepts and nuances, in the appreciation of aesthetics and the messages conveyed in surroundings; from street buildings to the simple array of food and drink on a table. For example, he speaks of the jug of wine in the middle of the typical Mediterranean dinner table as an aesthetic statement; one that alludes to a certain style of warm relaxed life and easy access to rough wine, the aspects of daily life that are themselves an act of self-knowledge, self-awareness. Furthermore, Professor Scruton uses many examples to explain the subtleties in difference between, say, representation and expression or erotic art and pornography, and why the distinctions are crucially important. Other sections deal with the obvious relativistic objections that arise from such a book as this, and he handles them masterfully. For example, the elevation of the grotesque we see in so many modern so-called-art galleries today has philosophical and even political reasons and Scruton starts with Duchamp's objectively awful 1917 "work" called "Fountain", which is literally just a porcelain urinal on the floor with some graffiti on it. We see modern cliché imitations of this shock value kitsch throughout the 20th and now 21st century, from Andres Serrano's award-winning desecration called "piss christ" (A crucifix floating in a vat of the "artist's" urine) to the sculpture of an arse that won acclaim at the Tate modern. Truly, the beret-wearing, vice-reading petit bourgeois have been lapping it up for decades. Anyone daring to counter this new orthodoxy of the ugly and profane is dismissed out of hand, perhaps even condemned. Professor Scruton demolishes them completely. You'll feel refreshed at the sound of reality being spoken once again, as real beauty is proclaimed and explained. Perhaps even nervous, as is the natural response these days when someone dares to put their head above the parapet and tell an unfashionable truth. The further reading section is excellent, and I would highly recommend reading some of the selections from the list such as Wendy Steiner's "Venus in Exile". If you didn't like the book, well that's fine. Perhaps just consider it a piece of provocative art?

Small in size, brief in length, but with great density of content, this book is itself a physical realisation of the values it propounds. In many ways it serves as the introduction to aesthetics that I was expecting, and which would have perhaps shallowed the learning curve that I had to negotiate, with his far more demanding The Aesthetics of Music . As ever, the clarity of Scruton's arguments matches the precision and elegance of his prose. The main bulk of the book is a presentation of the broad history of aesthetic ideas arranged according to themes that assess our responses to beauty in nature, everyday life and our fellow beings. This culminates in the discussion of beauty in Art where some hint of the intensification of the vexatiousness and technical difficulties of the attendant issues is given. The final two chapters are social commentary dealing with themes that will be familiar to those who have read other Scruton titles; the proper role of the erotic in Art, and the apparent 'retreat from beauty' that would seem to characterise much of modern life. Along the way new ways of seeing, thinking and feeling about familiar things are suggested to us, and we are assisted in giving explicit rational form to our inchoate intuitions, and perhaps most importantly we are asked to consider how they contribute to a life well lived. Scruton is a rare and marvellous example of a modern philosopher who is determined to tackle those questions that define its most venerable traditions, and which most modern philosophy has abandoned, namely those that pertain to the right way to live. Questions that have no right answer but that must be asked afresh by each new generation, especially in times such as ours of rapid and radical change. As one reads more of his works one starts to sense the emergence of an overriding systemicity to his thought that starts to bind together questions that would seem to be superficially unrelated, the political ramifications of aesthetic value being just one obvious example. In that light it would seem that this little book is as close as we get to a foundation to this system. I by no means agree with all of Scruton's views. I can't dismiss the sense that some of his ideas are a bit too deeply rooted in privilege for my 'taste'. Nonetheless, there is an undeniable sense of seeing the world with a clear and steady eye, that is informed by the deepest sources of Western history and tradition, that makes so much of modern cultural and social criticism, from both left and right, seem childishly hysterical in comparison. Thus, even when I disagree with Scruton I find myself grateful to him for giving me an intellectual framework within which to think clearly about the issues and their interrelations that he brings to light. My only regret with regards the book is that I cannot discuss some of those issues and seek verbal clarification, particularly in relation to some of the subtler aspects of the chapter on Beauty in Art, from the man himself.

I like this book. It looks at the subject from every possible aspect and although not an easy read it is thought-provoking instructive and interesting

I love the "Very Short Introduction" series because these books are extremely thoughtful and they cut through to the fundamentals of a topic. This is definitely the best "Very Short Introduction" I have read! Scruton not only explores the philosophy of "beauty" (a rare commodity in this age), but he also (with subtlety) suggests a framework for understanding and exploring art itself. For anyone interested in art, this is a must read!

A delightful book, plenty of weighty and important themes dealt with in a serious yet gentle and accessible manner, a must read!

A Kant-like analysis of aesthetics in visual Art and Music ( perhaps also with roots in F. R. Leavis' approach to literature ?) Clearly argued and explained,very usefully ilustrated. Helpful and well worth reading. Stimulates by challenging opinion to accept or reject.

Well written

To me, worthwhile to read; Scruton helps to think about beauty and It cleans too a lot of "supposed to be art" and "Celebrated Desecrations" of beauty.

Roger Scruton has written a fascinating and thought-provoking introduction to the philosophical musings surrounding beauty in this book. Rather than attempting to to exactly define what beauty is he takes a different route, striving to help the reader work through how beauty relates to man and what the significance of that relationship is. Scruton leans heavily on Kant, never quite affirming or denying Kant's ideas, but rather playing off of them, pointing out where they are helpful but also exposing their shortsightedness and/or misconceptions. In that regard, Scruton felt very balanced and mature in his approach. As a writer, I greatly appreciated Scruton's tactic of introducing ideas and concepts early in the book which he utilized later, early ideas and concepts being built upon and "paying off" later on in the book. The connection of desire and the exploration of sexual desire and attraction between people which he works through in the second chapter is essential to the line between erotic art and pornography he divines later on. Additionally, he introduces the idea of the sacred as early as the first chapter, though it is much more extensively explored in the second chapter and onward, which he then draws on for his climactic eighth chapter, art is contrasted with kitsch and the treasuring of the sacred with its desecration in postmodernity. Additionally, though it was only explored briefly, the parallel between the appreciation of jokes (and the difference between good ones and bad ones) and the beauty of art (which is judged as good and bad as well) I found quite insightful. I think a better argument might have been made for some equivalence between humor and beauty, but there are also dark corners to the reality of humor which do not fit Scruton's ultimate orientation for beauty, so that equivalence would not have lasted long at all. Though he never comes forward as a Christian, Scruton's religious worldview is evident in the eighth chapter, specifically with his elevation of sacrifice as that path which beauty offers to man as salvation from the mindless addiction of kitsch and desecration. To explore the ramifications of such a connection would, in my opinion, require an entirely different volume (or more) to tease out. Here, Scruton seems satisfied to point and highlight. Overall I found the book a quite enjoyable read, and much more accessible than I first feared. Though some of the philosophical waters he treads in are deep, he does so with ease and an nonchalant proficiency of which I am slightly envious. I would highly recommend this book to pastors and especially worship leaders or worship arts pastors who are trying to work through how the arts can fit into their church. While not proposing a theology of the arts, Scruton has laid a philosophical (and almost theological) foundation which could greatly contribute to anyone working through such things. I also think this book would be accessible to anyone interested in delving a little deeper into the philosophical waters surrounding beauty, and it would be a great starting point before diving into some much deeper waters with other philosophical writers.

Scrutonは、強面の美学者、しかも世間の評判では、保守的というのが言い過ぎなら、少なくとも伝統遵守の生真面目な美学者とされているようです。そして本人自身も、今日、クラシックな意味での「美」が大切にされなくなっているのを嘆いています。しかし、決して姿勢を崩さず、論理的に筋を通し、しかも、基本的に反-プラントン主義の立場にたち、具体的経験を重んじる、見かけとは異なり、誤解を恐れずに言うなら「民主主義的」な美学を尊重している、その姿勢は、なかなか見どころがある美学者である、そのことが本書で分かるのではないか。

Very well portrayed and outlined. Good to read and full of facts.

El ensayo de Roger Scruton sobre la belleza me ha resultado un libro del mayor interés. La belleza, el concepto de belleza, es hoy inexistente en el arte contemporáneo. Vivimos unos tiempos en que ni tan solo la antibelleza es presente en el arte. Son tiempos caóticos, de zozobra, quizas porque estamos viviendo un cambio de paradigma ético i estético. Es por todo ello que el llibro de Scruton me ha resultado interesante en alto grado, por su documentada visión de la belleza en la història humana y por la detallada exposición de la misma a través de la història i el pensamiento humano. La deshumanización del presente és todo lo contrario. Un caos y un callejón sin salida. Libro excel·lente para quien quiera tener una visión autèntica y histórica de la belleza

A good introduction. But some points are not sufficiently stressed upon, as the human beauty and the natural beauty.