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‘The Lowdown On Art’

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‘The Lowdown On Art, or Aesthetics for the Science Student’ Art and Science have this in common: they both = man + nature. They both imposed an ordered scheme on nature. Science, in its applied state, for a useful end. Pure science and pure art for a useless end. (Oscar Wilde said, “All art is perfectly useless.”) You can decorate a wall with a Da Vinci. You can use part of a Haydn string quartet for national anthem. That is making use of art, but that is not the essential purpose of art. Pure science is seeking to discover and manifest Truth. Art is seeking to discover and manifest Beauty. These are called Values. Their discovery and manifestation are considered to be valuable or worthwhile. Know that Truth or Beauty exist. There are only true things and beautiful things. So no one should think that Science is on the trail of Ultimate Truth. Or Art on the trail of Ultimate Beauty. Both these quests are the job of Religion.


Read more poetry:
‘Girl’  |  ‘Spring In Camp, 1941’  |  ‘That The Earth Rose Out of a Vast Basin of Electric Sea’  |  ‘The Lowdown on Art’  |  ‘In This Spinning Room’  |  From ‘The Nose Song’  |  From ‘Byrne’  |  Back to main Poetry menu
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