

Can Beauty Save the World? | Prof. Raymond Hain
8 snips Dec 13, 2024
Raymond Hain, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Providence College, explores the connections between beauty, art, and faith. He discusses how a Caravaggio painting invites contemplation on beauty's role in salvation. Delving into medieval thought, Hain highlights St. Thomas Aquinas's views on beauty as essential to joy. The tension between poetry and philosophy is examined, along with J.R.R. Tolkien's concept of 'sub-creation.' Ultimately, he presents beauty as a vital link to the divine and essential for a fulfilling life.
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Art vs. Sacrament
- Crowds gather before Caravaggio's painting in San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, but few attend the Blessed Sacrament.
- This highlights the potential rivalry between aesthetic appreciation (poetry) and spiritual devotion (saintly soul).
Transcendentals
- Transcendentals are universal characteristics of all existing things, according to Aquinas.
- These include goodness (correspondence to appetite) and truth (correspondence to knowing power).
Beauty as a Transcendental
- Beauty wasn't initially included in medieval lists of transcendentals, unlike truth and goodness.
- Maritain, influenced by Plato, established beauty as a transcendental combining truth and goodness, giving joy in knowledge.