Day #86: Objective Beauty? Does it Exist?

Hello all! So, I think I'll post a couple photos along with a couple thoughts. I'm procrastinating/working-out an essay for my ethics class, so bear with me as I jot down and organize an idea or three. So... we are currently reading C.S. Lewis' book titled The Abolition of Man, where he claims that a certain book on grammar has the capacity to a radical destruction of society as we know it. The problem begins with an example that the two grammarians give, a scenario where two tourists are looking at a waterfall. One of the tourists calls the waterfall "pretty," while the other calls it "sublime." The two grammarians say that when the tourists are saying these things, they are actually talking about their feelings towards the waterfall, not the waterfall itself. They are saying, "I have sublime/pretty feelings." These two grammarians are capturing the heart of a new ethical modern theory that has changed our world radically. C.S. Lew says that this grammar book will bring about the weakening and emasculating of mankind, and eventually bring about its complete destruction. A rather hefty claim, right? Can C.S. Lewis back this up? Actually, yes he can, and he does.
How is it possible that a grammar book could lead to the destruction of society? First of all, one must understand that there is a huge connection between language, thought, and reality. C.S. Lewis and Aristotle both saw this connection, as have many other philosophers, politicians, and world leaders. Let's begin with Aristotle. Aristotle wrote a book on grammar called, "The Categories." This was the very first book on the philosophy of being a.k.a. metaphysics. Although the book begins as a grammar book, its conclusion is metaphysical, making claims on being. You see, language reveals being. Every time we learn a new word, it adds a new dimension to our perception of the world. When you learn the word, "mother," you learn to associate that with a certain person, a certain kind of person, a reality that you may not have known before. The word expresses the being. Aristotle says that there are ten categories of language which match up to ten categories of being. He states that when we look at a word we need to look at its etymology and its common use - its origin, its meaning, and how it is usually used in society.
However, just as language can reveal being, it can also obscure being. It can reveal reality or it can obscure it. For example, if your language is stunted, your grasp on being will also be stunted - your perception of reality will be muddled, gray. For example, during the Second World War, Hitler used the term "social cleansing" vs. "extermination" or "murder" to obscure people's perception of reality. I am tempted to say here, in a play off of Cuzco's words from The Emperor's New Groove, "Well, anything sounds good when you say it with that attitude!" It's all in how you say it - language matters. Politicians know this all too well - the first thing they attack is language, because if you mess with the language, you can blind people to reality. You can screw up their thinking. Language is the key that unlocks the door to reality.
If language is so deeply connected to reality, then there is a deep connection between language and morality, between grammar and ethics. Now, let's look at this grammar book in light of these connections. The grammarians say that when the tourists were talking about the waterfall, in reality, they were only talking about their feelings. There are two problems with this statement. First of all, they are teaching bad grammar. We do not associate the attributes of "pretty" and "sublime" with our feelings. We don't have "pretty" or "sublime" feelings. The supposed experts are teaching bad grammar! Secondly, the grammars use the word "only." "They are only talking about their feelings." So not only are the tourists not saying something about the waterfall, but also the feelings of the tourists are belittled. Feelings are not important.
These guys are teaching more than grammar. They are instilling an idea that will have huge implications for the world. One of the major propagators of this idea was a man by the name of David Hume (1711-1776). David Hume said that something was bad only if you felt it was bad, that the value of an object was the result of your feelings towards it. This same idea is propagated in the grammar book. The waterfall is sublime to the one tourist because he feels it is sublime. The waterfall is pretty to the other tourist because he feels it is pretty. We are the source of value, we determine its worth. Man is the measure of reality. This is David Hume's idea of the world.
The other possibility is that of Aristotle and Plato. According to these Greek philosophers, values are independent of us and merit or deserve a certain response from us, from our heart, will, thought. Being is the tree, and value is the fruit that comes from the tree, from being. So how do you know when what you think, say, feel, or do are good and right? When you do justice to the world. When the way you think matches up with the world. Your thought is measured by being. Michelangelo's David  merits a certain response from us. Its value, its worth does not come from our opinion or our feelings toward it, but originates in the sculpture itself, outside of ourselves.
So we have two options: either we determine the value of objects and of actions or their value is determined by something outside of ourselves - in short, either we determine the good or the good determines us. It's the question of whether or not there is an objective good. Where does the good come from? Is murder always wrong? Is the evil of rape only a matter of feeling? Or is the good determined by something, someone beyond man? We are talking about God here. Either I am God, and I determine the good, or I am not God, and there is a God or at least a source of all goodness.
Now, you are probably wondering why this title is about objective beauty when I am talking about objective goodness. Well, first of all, when the grammarians gave the example of the waterfall, not only were they talking about grammar and philosophy, they were also talking about beauty. They use a very particular example - namely, the beauty of a waterfall. Secondly, according to Aristotle and C.S. Lewis, there is a connection between the two. David Hume also noted this connection. Remember him? He said that something was bad or evil only if you felt it was bad - for example, rape is only bad because you feel it is bad, it's not actually objectively evil. Well, David Hume also said, "All sentiment is right because sentiment has no reference beyond itself." In other words, every feeling is correct because there is no value outside of feeling. A feeling towards something can never be inappropriate. Hume continues, "Beauty is no quality in things themselves. It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them and each mind perceives beauty differently." In short, he is saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
So first Hume is saying that morality is up to my feelings, and now he says that beauty is up to me. What is the connection here? There was another great thinker by the name of Mackie who had a key insight into what Hume is doing here: "When I reject objective moral goodness, I am also rejecting nonmoral values, especially the aesthetic ones." What is aesthetics? The study of beauty! So when you reject moral goodness, you also reject beauty!
Did Aristotle have anything to say to this? Of course. According to Aristotle, the education of children depended heavily on beauty. He said that in order to train children to be moral from their early years, you expose them to beauty. You teach them taste, to like or dislike certain things. You teach them to have appropriate feelings towards appropriate things : for example, teaching the evils of theft, of murder, you teach them to feel dislike and abhorrence towards these evil acts.
But this is a lesson in morality, not beauty, right? Yes, but they are connected. An excellent example of this is found in the film trilogy The Lord of The Rings. In these films, there is a clear distinction between good and evil, morality and immorality. Evil is depicted vividly in the ugliness of the orcs and the uruk hai, whereas the good is portrayed as beautiful in the elves, the men, the hobbits, the dwarves. In these films, the soul takes visible form. Another great example is Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. In this book, a handsome young man wishes that he could live the way he chooses without feeling the effects of old age or the consequences of immorality, and magically, he gets his wish. However, a portrait that was painted of him begins to show the effects of his wicked lifestyle, becoming more and more decrepit as he falls deeper and deeper into sin. Although he himself does not grow old or ugly, the portrait does.
Now, do you think we can teach our children to be good while letting them watch and listen to garbage? What if people are numbed to beauty so that they can't see it? Or, it may be possible that they have developed a taste for ugly things? It's quite possible. So what do we do? EXPOSE THEM. Expose them. Expose them. To quote my ethics professor, "Of course we don't readily see beauty. We watch the Simpsons! We watch these awful cartoons - have you ever seen anything more base, more grotesque?" (I mentally cheered at this point - I'm glad someone else thinks that those guys running around on Disney Channel and Cartoon Network are hideous, like Phineas and Ferb? Gross! Maybe these shows do have some good lessons to teach kids, but morality and beauty don't always necessarily come together the way they ought. They're still ugly).
Well, that's all I can write on the subject right now. I need to go talk to my professor tomorrow about my ethics paper before I actually write it. But I did promise some photos, so I will put up a few so that you might appreciate some beauty after that long over-hall. Enjoy! God bless!

A park in London near Buckingham Palace

                                

St. Stephen's Green, Dublin

Connemara, Ireland

More Irish countryside

The Cliffs of Moher

Connemara sheep and lamb! ("killer sheep") ;-)

Day #11: A Vector, Snow, and Palestrina

Guten Abendt! Good evening! Classes are going well! German is my favorite, I think. Professor Franz Schneider teaches it. He's a native Austrian, a sweet older man. Today he gave us Mozart Kogel (pronounced Kool), these little truffle candies with Mozart wrappers, because tomorrow is Mozart's birthday! We went over his dates. He said, "How long did he live? Only 35 years! Imagine what he would have done if he had lived longer!" I turned to one of my classmates and said, "The world couldn't have contained such genius!" Some things I've learned in German class: English is the most dominant language b/c of British Imperialism, and that Germans capitalize their nouns!


Physics is so easy it's hard! The professor doesn't give us any math b/c most people don't like it, so he's just giving us concepts to work with. I guess other people appreciate it, but I don't like it. I WANT Math! It doesn't have to be hard. It's simple formulas. Today we had a little. We had our first quiz today. I think I did okay, but not sure. We were learning about pressure, and our professor did an experiment on camera. I had to laugh when we learned about vectors though. "Because I am committing crimes with DIRECTION - and - MAGNITUDE! OH YEAH!" (Despicable Me reference, FYI)

I'm enjoying Art Appreciation. I know a lot of it already, or a lot of it is at least familiar, so it's nice. We're learning about the Ancient Greek Period. It's cool because the art is divided into four major periods: Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Modern. I know some about the Renaissance period and the dates for the Baroque because of Music History class! It's fascinating how they overlap. Our text book has sections on drama and music along with the art, but we're only supposed to read the specifically art sections. :-( There's so much I want to learn and so little time! I wish I could read them...

Foundation of Ethics is hard, but I like the professor. I have Brian to help me, too, and Joey Walsh. Joey tried to explain the difference between phenomenology and thomism to me a few days ago. We established that evil is the absence of good rather than existing in and of itself. This is what happens when you take a philosophy course: your whole thought process gets turned upside down. Christian Marriage is hard too, but Dr. Asci is a great teacher!

It's been snowing almost every day here. Today and yesterday it was a little warmer though, so it's melted some. To those who live in the Pennsylvania area around Lake Erie, this is like lake effect on crack! SO MUCH SNOW! And it's so pretty! Annie and I walk through the town to go practice at the church in Gaming, and we feel like we're walking through one of those decorative Christmas villages. There's a little winding stream through the village with bridges weaving over it. There's fish in the stream - but you need a license to fish in it. One of the prethes, Josh, is really tempted to fish in it. 


We had our first Music Ministry Mass today with our "traditional" choir as Sister calls it. It went beautifully! I played organ and so did Annie, and we sang hymns and such. I love singing and playing for Mass here: it's like therapy. Our practices are on Monday night, just like Schola back at school! Father Brad, one of the TORs came up to say hi during our rehearsal on Monday and said how lovely we sounded. He asked if we knew any Palestrina and I about died! Palestrina was one of the greatest Catholic composers from the Renaissance Period, although he is rarely heard in the typical Catholic Church these days. He said he loves Palestrina and he wants us to sing some of his music for his birthday! Fortunately I even had a Palestrina piece on hand! We're going to try to learn it, I think. Mark Daniels, Hannah, Annie, Elizabeth, Holly, Brian, and Nathan and I make up the choir. Mark pulled me aside last night, excitedly, and said he had found a Victoria Ave Maria for free online, and he was hoping to try it! It made my heart happy. He and I are looking forward very much to the new translation of the Mass in Advent. 

We're going to be singing for the Friday Mass in Salzburg this weekend, and the bishop might be there! Yikes! Sister is trying to get permission for Annie and I to play the organ. *fingers crossed* I'm excited that we might get to play it, but I hope I don't embarrass myself in front of the bishop of Salzburg! We may get to meet with the organ professor that Dr. Weber put me in contact with while we're in Salzburg as well. I might just stay in Salzburg the whole weekend, rather than going to Munich on Saturday. We'll see. I hate being dragged from one church to another without really SEEING them.

Day #6: Snow + Classes sounds like Steubenville!

The view outside my bedroom window

First day of "B" classes started yesterday (Tuesday, Thursday classes). Today is our first day of "A" classes (usually Mondays and Wednesdays). Christian Marriage looks like a good class, but lots of reading (90 pages of Love and Responsibility). I have my first philosophy class: Foundations of Ethics with Prof. Javier Carreno. He seems like a good professor but very challenging. That one's going to be my hardest, I think. Art Appreciation was this morning. I'm enjoying that one immensely! Today we went over some of the artwork we could see tomorrow in Vienna at the museum. It was a lot of Renaissance art, but some modern stuff, too. I recognized a lot of them from the art memory game we have back at home. Hurrah for good cultural home school education! :-D This afternoon I will have Survey of Physical Science and German 101. Physics is only going to be an hour long, I think, so I'm very happy for that. An hour and a half of class is a lot of note-taking.
We had the opening Mass of the semester yesterday with the bishop! I played the opening hymn for the Mass, Come Holy Ghost, on the organ in the Maria Thron. I also had to teach the congregation before Mass how to sing the Heilig (the German Sanctus). That was a little nerve wracking, but I pulled it off! I'm so glad we had to sing German last semester, it's so good for pronunciation purposes.
Annie and I went to go practice at the church in Gaming yesterday but there was a funeral going on so we had a change in plans. It was interesting to see the funeral though from a distance when they came out of the church. It appeared that some VIP had died, as there was a small brass band waiting outside, which played soon after the priest and the coffin and the congregation moved outside. They were dressed in feathered hats and dark green coats. It was unlike anything I have ever seen in America, and it made me think of Bach's father, who was a town musician (among other things) and who would have played with his music group for funerals and weddings and such. BUT Annie and I visited the flower shop instead, which was lovely. They had orange roses with petals with pointed tips! I also went on my first trip to the Spar (a Gaming grocery store), got my first Melka, and my first Mozart chocolate (but it has Marzipan in it, so I don't know if I'll like it, but I don't care it's Mozart).
Well, tomorrow is Vienna, and I must find where Brahms and Beethoven are buried and directions to the cemetery, plus get a good chunk of reading done before we depart tomorrow morning, so I must go. A trip to Venice the first weekend in February may be in the works as well! *fingers crossed*