Q&A: The Role of Aesthetics in the World
The Role of Aesthetics in the World
Question
According to the Rabbi’s thesis, there is a similarity between morality, aesthetics, and Jewish law, in that they are all some kind of ideals, and a person looks at the ideal and sees what it says. The Rabbi explains the need for morality, and what it means that I look at the ideal there (since morality means how one ought to behave in the world), but what is the meaning of aesthetic judgment? After all, when God implanted the moral law in the world, we obey it because we know there is such an obligation. So what, then, is the meaning of aesthetic judgment? There is no particular value here that one can point to…
Does that mean it is basically just a matter of comfort? If so, then why is there any need for such a judgment to be objective? In one sentence — what is the role of aesthetics in the world? Was all God wanted simply that we have an intuition for personal taste?
Answer
Aesthetics is a judgment. It does not necessarily have behavioral implications. True, one can argue that there is value in being aesthetic and in acting for the sake of aesthetics and in an aesthetic manner. There was a column in which I discussed aesthetic values. But all of that is open to debate.
This is not a question of comfort but of truth: contemplating aesthetic ideals shows us whether a certain thing is aesthetic or not.