Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Leon Tolstoy in "What is Art?" argues that
art is not the manifestation of an abstract and absolute idea, such as beauty, God or simply something created to give pleasure, as generally purported by most of the thinkers and philosophers, but rather is intimately connected with the religions and moral values of every age and of every people. The author points out that both art and religion can reveal a different, absolute reality; but it cannot be agreed that good art should strictly follow religious and moral values. The paper stresses that saying art is only supposed to express the religious idea of good denies the most important quality of art--- imagination. The paper includes several quotations.

From the Paper:

"As you say it yourself, art can serve to unite people and to realize that brotherhood of man, just like religion, through its ideas of goodness and morality. But it is likewise obvious that good art can give an account of the varied human experience and if it speaks, as you say, of nudity, sexuality or adultery, it does nothing more than to relate about human passions or emotions. I think the subject of a certain piece of art should not be confused with its final purpose. And it is to be noticed that a piece of literature, for example, which is replete with "immoral" ideas can produce the same state of elevation of the soul, just like the one that praises moral or Christian virtue. I think the most important fact is that art can reveal the truth and it does this by means of an aesthetic revelation, no matter its particular nature."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hofstader, Albert Philosophies of Art and Beauty, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1976
• Sukla, Ananta Ch. Art and Representation: Contributions to Contemporary Aesthetics, Praeger, 2001
• Tolstoy, Leo What is Art? , Indiana: The Bobbs- Merril Company, 1980

Visitors who viewed this Argumentative Essay also liked these:

• Essay # 73049 : "What Is Art?"
• Analytical Essay # 5762 : "What is Art?"
• Analytical Essay # 2436 : "What is Art Work?"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: