期刊名称：Proceedings of the European Society for Aesthetics
电子版ISSN：1664-5278
出版年度：2012
卷号：4
页码：316-330
出版社：European Society for Aesthetics
摘要：This paper explores the relationship between art and morality from British philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch’s dis- tinctive approach to ethics. Murdoch defends the close connection between art and morality, beauty and goodness, and aesthetics and ethics by focusing on the role of art in moral life, and in particu- lar on the analogy between the aesthetic experience in creating and enjoying art and the moral experience. The paper elaborates on Mur- doch’s argument for the vital and intrinsic connection between art and morality in terms of two main themes. First, art reveals the real- ity of the human condition and in turn enhances our moral percep- tion of what is real and cultivates the virtue of loving attention to others. In this light, art and morality are one in that the essence of both is love, which is the true vision of individuals. Second, in culti- vating the true vision,art does not simply serve as an aid for morality, but is a spiritual exercise in purifying our psychic energy by redirect- ing our attention in the search for the good. This assertion leads to the second level of inquiry of this paper, which examines Murdoch’s thesis of salvation through art in the modern secular world.
