In traditional, Thomistic metaphysics, there were what are known as "the transcendentals", predicates that subsist in and of themselves and are applicable to all subjects. For St. Thomas, they subsist perfectly in God, but can still be predicated of all things created by God. They are truth, goodness, and beauty. For most of western philosophy, the first two - Truth and Goodness - have been the subject of the most heated and deep discussion. Like the Third Person of the Trinity, however, the third transcendental tends to get short shrift, especially in modernity. The Romantics, and post-Romantics such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, certainly spent quite a bit of time on the issue of beauty, but their insistence that it was beyond rational comprehension has left little room for serious discussion. Some philosophers - Hans-Georg Gadamer in particular comes to mind, although Terry Eagleton's The Ideology of the Aesthetic is an excellent example of neo-Marxist aesthetics - have dealt with the issue of "art" less so than "beauty" as a category of thought in and for itself. Aesthetics, however, is too often relegated to an irreducible subjectivism.
This is due in part to the work of Immanuel Kant's The Critique of Judgment. In this third of his examinations of traditional metaphysical subjects (which paralleled nicely with the Transcendentals, his other two having to do with "truth" and "goodness"), Kant made clear that aesthetic judgments were not available for intersubjective examination, because the criteria for such judgments were explicitly within the sole purvue of the individual. Since then, this has been taken as Gospel, except perhaps by some neo-Marxist critics, who insist that aesthetic taste be subservient to the will of the proletariat.
I am writing this because I am seeking encouragement. I am at a point I occasionally find myself in my reading. I am floundering about, trying to find something, some subject, to explore in depth. I thought Weber's book on Wesleyan political ethics would be interesting.
Yawn.
I thought I might want to return to my roots, as it were, and revisit some philosophy of science.
More yawning and a stretch.
Hans Urs von Balthasar, a Swiss theologian, attempted to write what he called "a triptych" based upon the three transcendentals. The first one he wrote, surprisingly enough, was a theological aesthetics, called (in translation) The Glory of the Lord. Spanning seven volumes, it explores the dimension of beauty and contemplation in the Christian life. I managed to get all seven volumes, and years ago read the first, but stopped. To be honest, except for some general comments on the lack of Protestant aesthetics (which is true), I really have no memory of what Balthasar wrote.
I am at a point in my own thought and faith where I think that I am ready to take on the monumental task of reading this work. I guess what I am asking for is encouragement. Be warned, however. I tend to process these kinds of things on this blog, so there will be much discussion as I try to figure out for myself the deeper meaning behind Balthasar's work, if I so choose.
