Q&A: Aesthetic Value
Aesthetic Value
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi,
A question בעקבות the post on aesthetic values:
You suggested there that there is an aesthetic prohibition against doing disgusting things, such as eating a dead dog.
Do you think there is also a positive value, an “aesthetic commandment” to do beautiful things, such as bodily cleanliness and beautifying life (trimming the lawn, planting flowers, and the like)?
Thank you, and have a good week.
Answer
Absolutely. It seems to me completely parallel. There is ugliness / a human deficiency, and there is human excellence.
Discussion on Answer
Why not? In principle it’s like any moral value. A person deserves condemnation (or extra-legal punishment, or punishment from Heaven). And of course here too, as in morality, there are values that fall under the category of “pious conduct” — that is, existential values: if you did it, you receive reward and deserve praise, and if not, then you’re just an ordinary person who is perfectly fine.
Interesting, thank you for the answer — this is really novel for me.
How can one know the “laws of aesthetics”?
What is obligatory and what is beyond the letter of the law?
It’s even easier than knowing the laws of morality. Moral laws require apprehending the ideal of the good; the laws of aesthetics require awareness of social norms (and the ability to distinguish which of them are basic and binding under the given circumstances). All matters that are not Jewish law are not acquired by studying orderly sources, but rather through intuition and reflection with the eye of the intellect.
Following up on my question:
Do you think one can speak of “aesthetic obligations,” like “moral obligations,” such that if a person violates them he deserves punishment or condemnation?
In other words: is it a sin to violate the “laws of aesthetics,” or is this a non-binding value, something merely “proper”?