Why We Need Beauty

Now neglected in the Western canon, Shaftesbury’s Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times was one of the most important philosophical works of the eighteenth century. Its ideas and influence paved the path forward for the later emergence of Romanticism and Transcendentalism. Prior to the eighteenth century, nature was seen as grotesque and dangerous, art as of questionable moral value, religion as dictated by a punitive God, and morality was defined as to combat human sin and selfishness. After Shaftesbury, Europeans changed their views: unvarnished nature was the pinnacle of beauty, beautiful art was intrinsically valuable, religion was conceived to pray to a God of love and goodness, and morality was identified with “a beautiful soul attuned to the good of humanity.”