Thursday, April 07, 2011

Ashley Thorne on Philly Soc

Ashley Thorne, who as I noted below, I met at the Philadelphia Society meeting, has her own reflections after attending. I didn't pay that much attention to the fact that the speakers primarily read their presentations, but then, perhaps I have been to more conferences, where that is standard practice. (The exception being the Fund for the Study of Spontaneous Orders conferences, which are unusual in that people have read the pieces before arriving, so the conference is dominated by discussion.)

She notes that she heard many talking about the Good, the True and The Beautiful. Ah, but these are the same thing!

Virtue aims at the beatiful -- Aristotle
Beauty is truth, truth beauty -- Keats
Beauty is unity in variety, variety in unity -- Francis Hutcheson
The just is fair and the fair is the beautiful -- Elaine Scarry
Beauty is the value of values -- Frederick Turner
Beauty is "the highest integrative level of understanding and the most comprehensive capacity for effective action." -- Frederick Turner

No comments: