The study of art, culture and nature.
Thank you, Arjun Sambhi, for another great question. The natural world is undeniably beautiful. Aesthetically, we appraise majestic mountains as sublime, admire crepuscular rays from a crimson sunset, and appreciate the sound of waves crashing against the rocks. These features of nature are inherently beautiful. By ‘inherently beautiful’, I mean objectively beautiful, which is to […]
Thank you, Arjun Sambhi, for this interesting question. I want to argue that diamonds are intrinsically valuable because they are intrinsically beautiful and resistant to change, both of which are intrinsically valuable properties. Let’s start with beauty. Beauty is an intrinsically valuable property. To see this, consider two worlds that are identical in all respects,
Do diamonds have intrinsic value? Read More
Is it ethical to watch House of Cards after the allegations against Kevin Spacey? Or to read Dostoevsky after reading his confession about raping a girl? Thank you, Ajit Deshmukh, for an important question. In an age of cancel culture, this question might seem to obviously bring a positive response. Of course, we shouldn’t teach/enjoy/celebrate
Should we enjoy good art by evil people? Read More
Thank you, Grace Robertson, for such a perennial question. To dye one’s hair is to change one’s appearance. Is it as simple a matter as changing one’s shirt? When we consider what clothing to wear, we consider practicality and appearance. You wear a coat because it’s cold, and you wear a particular style of coat
Why do people use hair dye? Read More
Thank you, Alex Impey, for such a weighty question. Being in love and loving – that is, romantic love and non-romantic kinds of love – seem to overlap in astonishing ways: both share features such as attachment, attraction, warmth, and interest. That said, being in love certainly feels different to loving – why is that?
What’s the difference between loving someone and being in love with someone? Read More
Not just tangible possessions, but more generally positive life happenings, e.g. to fall in love, to have children, etc. Thank you, Gracie Mrry, for such an interesting question. This is an interesting question for people like me who find themselves in a condition of relative privilege, but questions of desert can apply to anyone’s life,
Do we deserve things? Read More
Thank you, Eoin Martin, for this lovely question! There are lots of ways you could go about tackling it. I want to look a bit closer at the central concept: attractiveness. In my answer, I will be talking about how attractiveness works, what plays a role in determining how attractive someone is, in the hope
Are men or women more attractive? Read More
Thank you, Darlan Campos, for an interesting question! Beauty is usually deemed to be a superficial virtue in light of the fact that it is rarely everlasting and only gives rise to but an instance of aesthetic pleasure. The experience of beauty is incredibly short and seems to have no long-lasting effect. Natural beauty always
Thank you, Tanay Baswa, for this wonderful question! I hope you won’t mind if I start by discussing something slightly different: Why did we start smiling in photos? If you look at Victorian photographs, you will instantly notice a difference to our modern-day selfies: nobody is smiling! Try going further back in time and look
Why do we smile in photos? Read More
Thank you, Alex Impey, for a great question! Let’s first try to understand the question a little better before attempting to answer it. The question involves two deeply loaded concepts: ‘art’ and ‘separation’. I will stick to an intuitive, common-sense understanding of ‘art’ and will take ‘separated’ to mean ‘treated independently’. It is also important
Should art be separated from the artist? Read More
