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The Perennial Relevance of the Humanities by Alejandro Llano

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The Perennial Relevance of the Humanities by Alejandro Llano

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According to Llano (2004), the arguments in the Perennial Relevance of the Humanities are as follows:

What are the Humanities for?

The humanities deal with the things which are not generally valuable, those which are useless, and those whose value is not simply utilitarian.

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I. The Vocation of the Artist According to John Paul II’s Letter to Artists

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I. The Vocation of the Artist According to John Paul II’s Letter to Artists

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The majority of artists aim for the wrong objectives. They have different missions that lead to wrong directions. These artists have lost sight of their true objectives when they create because they have lost touch with our creator, God.

The wrong objectives may be seen in the art during the 20th century where most of the objectives of the artists were to release their emotions, mostly angst, but the most common objective was to ridicule God and the morals of Christians. (Corcoran, 2018).

The people who have been chosen must be humble servants who bring forth art that ends with God. (John Paul II, 1999).

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II. The Importance of Classical Art as a Point of Reference for the Fine Arts based on the Letter to Artists

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II. The Importance of Classical Art as a Point of Reference for the Fine Arts based on the Letter to Artists

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Mortimer Adler on Enjoyable Beauty and Admirable Beauty

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Mortimer Adler on Enjoyable Beauty and Admirable Beauty

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-           Adler, M. (1997). Six Great Ideas. New York: Touchstone Rockefeller Center

-          Aquinas, T. (1911). Summa Theologica. (5 vols). New York: Cosimo, Inc.

-          Adler, M. (1997). Six Great Ideas. New York: Touchstone Rockefeller Center

-          Aquinas, T. (1911). Summa Theologica. (5 vols). New York: Cosimo, Inc.

-          Burnham, D. (2000). An Introduction to Kant's Critique of Judgment. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Available from: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

-          Corcoran, H. (2018). 10 Works of Art That Made People Really Mad. Available at https://www.history.com/news/most-controversial-art-in-history

-          Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Second Council of Nicaea | Description, History, Significance, & Facts. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Council-of-Nicaea-787

-          Hughes, M. (2016). The Institute for Sacred Architecture | Articles | Joseph Pieper and the Beautiful Uselessness of Church Buildings. Available at https://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/joseph_pieper_and_the_beautiful_uselessness_of_church_buildings

-          Paul II, J . (1999). Letter to Artists. Available at http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/letters/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_23041999_artists.html

-          Llano, A. (2004.). Unraveling the Beautiful: The Perennial Relevance of the Humanities. pp.3–6.

-          Sartwell, C. (2017). Beauty. Available at https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/beauty

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The people need artists who are selfless where they may flourish to be God’s loving servants by surrendering and remaining faithful to their vocation of telling the truth about Jesus. 

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The people need artists who are selfless where they may flourish to be God’s loving servants by surrendering and remaining faithful to their vocation of telling the truth about Jesus. 

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Once artists accomplish their vocation and the society reciprocates, we are able to walk with God and form our personality wherein we can become a reflection of God.

Artists must know that the divine spark that they have must not only be for their own personal gain but to enrich cultural heritage and provide service to their neighbour and humanity as a whole.

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Artists have the drive to create and share with the world, but they must maintain a union with God when they create as it is important to make their work focused on spreading God’s greatness.

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Artists have the drive to create and share with the world, but they must maintain a union with God when they create as it is important to make their work focused on spreading God’s greatness.

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Not all are called to be artists but everyone is still to live a life that reflects the beauty that they perceive where everyone is invited to participate to be fully human. This was clearly stated by Hughes (2016):

That “human beings, known to be material and spiritual, is uniquely positioned in the created order to glorify God”.

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The Usefulness of Humanistic Formation:

“Where is the utility of all our utilities?” This is the question to which the Humanities endeavor themselves to answer.

The humanistic formation is fundamental for everything for they are the foundation of a complete education.

Everything considered, it is important to take note that the Humanities embrace and provide a sense of meaning to technological society.

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What are the Humanities?

Humanities deal with the most human in man with certain qualities that set him apart from material things and animals.

“Humanities preserve the knowledge which man has of himself and are concerned with deepening and cultivating that knowledge,” (p.4).

Humanities enhance human life.

Humanities are confined to values.

The humanistic formation centers on building up the fundamental intellectual limits and capacities, and has an interdisciplinary inclination.

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Classical Art has been evident in our society for a long time. It has influenced all art in the Western World since it is a reference point by which all art is understood.

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Classical Art has been evident in our society for a long time. It has influenced all art in the Western World since it is a reference point by which all art is understood.

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In the letter of Pope John Paul II to the artists, he reinstated understanding the crucial role of Christianity in Classical Art, as well as Christianity’s influence on art both in its history and presence (John Paul II, 1999).

Creating art of Christian inspiration does not only allow the artist to express their thoughts and emotions in their work but also considers it as an expression of their faith.

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I. Enjoyable Beauty: Talks about the distinction between that which simply pleases us in comparison with that which is truly beautiful. We first take into account the ideas mentioned by Adler. 

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I. Enjoyable Beauty: Talks about the distinction between that which simply pleases us in comparison with that which is truly beautiful. We first take into account the ideas mentioned by Adler. 

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According to Thomas Aquinas (1911),

“The beautiful is that which pleases us upon being seen”.

This statement opens a myriad of questions as it seemingly limits the beauty to the sense of sight.  That idea aside, we contemplate then that there is a difference between ‘true beauty’ and ‘pleasure’. It is emphasized in the reading that not everything that pleases us is beautiful; thus asks what both pleases us and is beautiful.

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Immanuel Kant mentioned that the beauty we find must be rooted from a disinterested pleasure. 

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Immanuel Kant mentioned that the beauty we find must be rooted from a disinterested pleasure. 

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Burnham (2020) states that this disinterested pleasure defined by Kant means that “people feel pleasure in something because they judge it beautiful, instead of judging it beautiful when they find it pleasurable.”

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We take into account that the object that is “seen” does not exclusively belong to that of sight, as this would discredit other great works such as performance arts.

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We take into account that the object that is “seen” does not exclusively belong to that of sight, as this would discredit other great works such as performance arts.

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At this point, Adler reminds us that to use the word “see” is also to show that we understand someone’s views or vision. He mentions that the “seeing” Aquinas views here is also referred to as the beatific vision, which is said to be the highest form of beauty, as we find ourselves reunited with our Lord Himself.

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Simply, we thus find that the beautiful is that which pleases not only the eyes but also the mind; an object of contemplation and thinking. 

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Simply, we thus find that the beautiful is that which pleases not only the eyes but also the mind; an object of contemplation and thinking. 

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Enjoyable beauty is to be simply pleased from beholding or apprehending an object, and we don’t need anything else but to feel this delight when we consider an object beautiful. It essentially devoids of all other concepts–scientific, philosophical, etc.

To conclude, Adler reminds us that one must distinguish the sphere of truth, which is always beautiful and good. Although it is hard to distinguish what we find beautiful with the enjoyable, as we expect others to feel the same enjoyment. We have no right to impose what is enjoyable to others, but we do know that beauty still is not completely in the eye of the beholder, in consideration of what is true and good.

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As much as these images were widely used to show Christian devotion, it also became a subject of controversy, as a certain ecumenical council questioned the attention that these works of art were getting.

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As much as these images were widely used to show Christian devotion, it also became a subject of controversy, as a certain ecumenical council questioned the attention that these works of art were getting.

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This happened through the Second Council of Nicaea, which allowed for the clearing of iconoclastic tendencies–that is, the principle that "icons do deserve reverence and veneration but not adoration, which is reserved for God" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019).

This issue was thus resolved when several bishops appealed by using the mystery of the Incarnation.

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It must be understood then that we must recognize and utilize what is beautiful, and that we must act on it the best way that we can. Through the beauty that we seek, we praise God and we evangelize.

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It must be understood then that we must recognize and utilize what is beautiful, and that we must act on it the best way that we can. Through the beauty that we seek, we praise God and we evangelize.

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All artists of today must live up to the responsibility that Pope John Paul II expressed. They must be selfless servers of God who proclaim their faith, express their prayers, and remind us of how society must live through art.

The Fine Arts thus is a wonderful way of utilizing the gift of being artists we have received from God, and it should be the means for the proliferation of the faith.

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As Pope John Paul II (1999) says, in every artistic intuition, one strives to interpret the hidden mysteries of reality and in essence the mystery of the faith. 

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As Pope John Paul II (1999) says, in every artistic intuition, one strives to interpret the hidden mysteries of reality and in essence the mystery of the faith. 

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There is a definite union between the Gospel and the Fine Arts as the Sacred Scriptures have been used as an immeasurable source of inspiration for the arts.

We, therefore, must take responsibility that John Paul II has given us, and that is to use our art, the Fine Arts, for the propagation and continuous spread of the faith, as well as to put value in the classical arts which have served as a point basis for that we consider beautiful and true.

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When we call an object beautiful, it is supposed to be speaking about the object itself, not about ourselves nor about the object in relation to us.

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When we call an object beautiful, it is supposed to be speaking about the object itself, not about ourselves nor about the object in relation to us.

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According to Adler (1997), if we call something beautiful it is because we can feel enjoyment which is disinterested pleasure derived only from meditating and observing it, then it is not an admirable beauty, because it is about us and the object in relation to ourselves.

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Admiration mediates with thought and knowledge about a thing.

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Admiration mediates with thought and knowledge about a thing.

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If we desire to possess it, we do not regard an object as beautiful because of how we see it physically. When admiring a particular object, it possesses certain qualities or elements which prove the thing is truly beautiful. (Sartwell, 2017).

There is excellence and perfection in the object itself that makes it more admirable. As Aquinas (1911) remarks, an object is beautiful if it has unity, proportion, and clarity.

If its complex wholeness has organized parts which are proportioned to one another that makes it more perspicuous, therefore, it is really beautiful; admired for its intrinsic excellence and perfection.

It is notable that for us to admire one thing, one must have to be an expert in certain areas.

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For Adler, regardless of how it is created and for what purpose, anything that a human being makes is either well-made or poorly-made.

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For Adler, regardless of how it is created and for what purpose, anything that a human being makes is either well-made or poorly-made.

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It either has or lacks the intrinsic excellence or perfection appropriate to its attributes. It either may be admirable or not.

The concept of beauty in regards to its admirability for its intrinsic excellence or perfection comes from the judgment of an expert, with cognizance and special skills in criticizing specimens of a certain kind. An expert must be skilled to judge reasonably, which can have a certain measure of objective truth.

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At the bottom line, it just asserts that admirable beauty is possible because of the agreement to some generalized standards that exist beyond the realm of feeling, even if critics may disagree about those criteria.

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At the bottom line, it just asserts that admirable beauty is possible because of the agreement to some generalized standards that exist beyond the realm of feeling, even if critics may disagree about those criteria.

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What is admirable beauty in the judgment of the experts may not be enjoyable beauty for laymen, it is just that they ought to learn to enjoy what is admirable.