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WILLIAM JAMES’S DEMOCRATIC AESTHETICS
Author(s) -
Bush Stephen S.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of religious ethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.306
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1467-9795
pISSN - 0384-9694
DOI - 10.1111/jore.12336
Subject(s) - wonder , harmony (color) , beauty , democracy , aesthetics , cognitive dissonance , blindness , politics , value (mathematics) , sociology , environmental ethics , philosophy , epistemology , law , psychology , social psychology , political science , art , medicine , machine learning , optometry , computer science , visual arts
William James is famous for his investigations of the “Varieties of Religious Experience” in which people encounter (what they take to be) the divine. But in his essay, “On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings,” his interest is in our experiences, not of anything purportedly supernatural, but of one another. He thinks we need to cultivate the capacity to apprehend the intrinsic value of others, even and especially of strangers. We do so in experiences of the wonder and beauty of our fellow citizens, and of our harmony with them. Democratic societies require a sense of attraction to one another’s form of life if they are to inspire shared commitments to public goods. Whereas we shouldn’t reject the political significance of aversion, contestation, and dissonance, these negative attitudes do not suffice. Sustaining democratic engagement requires attractive attitudes, and among these are the wonder, beauty, and harmony that James promotes.