Date of Award

5-1927

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Philosophy

First Advisor

William M. Magee

Abstract

"I don't know much about Art,but I know what I like'! is the hedonistic philosophy,the cause of the degradation of the fine arts whose end is the creation of beauty. The logical conclusions of this view are astonishing; Beauty is made a servile thing to be used for our pleasure;its value is made purely utilitarian. Beauty suffers the same fate dealt to truth and goodness. To say "I know, what I like", implies, I see a thing not because it is beautiful but because I love it,which is the next step to not seeing a thing that is beautiful because I do not love seeing it. - This is damnable. So also I hear a thing not because it is beautiful but because I like it, which again is the next step to not hearing a thing that is beautiful because I do not love hearing it. Are utilitarian ethics inconsistent when they proclaim: I do a thing because I love to do it, not because it is good and then logically omit the good because they sometimes do not love the good?

Comments

being a thesis submitted partially to fulfill the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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