What do you think?
Rate this book
Beauty and Imitation: A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts
The human person is a truth seeker, and one of the most compelling ways human beings pursue truth is through the arts. In Beauty and A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts, Daniel McInerny argues for an understanding of art as a form of inquiry into truth that proceeds by way of sensible beauty.
Drawing upon the thought of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, McInerny argues for the unfashionable yet philosophically compelling view that art is essentially “mimetic,” imitative of human action. But what does it mean for art to imitate human action? It means that art imitates the way human beings by nature quest for fulfillment, or happiness. In questing for fulfillment, human life takes the form of a story, and so the arts—all the arts, from painting to music, from fiction to film—are storytelling arts whose beauty reveals the truth about human happiness.
The first part of the book features a renewed defense of the ancient Aristotelian claim that art is mimetic and that its imitation of the human story takes the form of a moral argument. The second part shows how audiences are transformed by the moral arguments the mimetic arts make, and the third concludes with a guided tour of the mimetic arts, where specific arts are considered in light of the Aristotelian and Thomistic principles advanced earlier.
Drawing upon the thought of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, McInerny argues for the unfashionable yet philosophically compelling view that art is essentially “mimetic,” imitative of human action. But what does it mean for art to imitate human action? It means that art imitates the way human beings by nature quest for fulfillment, or happiness. In questing for fulfillment, human life takes the form of a story, and so the arts—all the arts, from painting to music, from fiction to film—are storytelling arts whose beauty reveals the truth about human happiness.
The first part of the book features a renewed defense of the ancient Aristotelian claim that art is mimetic and that its imitation of the human story takes the form of a moral argument. The second part shows how audiences are transformed by the moral arguments the mimetic arts make, and the third concludes with a guided tour of the mimetic arts, where specific arts are considered in light of the Aristotelian and Thomistic principles advanced earlier.
- GenresPhilosophy
430 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 3, 2024
18 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Daniel McInerny
17 books21 followersDaniel McInerny is the author of Christ-haunted, darkly comic fiction. His novel, THE GOOD DEATH OF KATE MONTCLAIR, will appear from Chrism Press in March 2023.
He is also the author of the comic thriller, HIGH CONCEPTS: A HOLLYWOOD NIGHTMARE, as well as the humorous Kingdom of Patria series for middle grade readers.
Subscribe to Daniel's Substack, "Daniel McInerny's Studio Stories," at danielmcinerny.substack.com.
And find out more about Daniel's work at danielmcinerny.studio.
He is also the author of the comic thriller, HIGH CONCEPTS: A HOLLYWOOD NIGHTMARE, as well as the humorous Kingdom of Patria series for middle grade readers.
Subscribe to Daniel's Substack, "Daniel McInerny's Studio Stories," at danielmcinerny.substack.com.
And find out more about Daniel's work at danielmcinerny.studio.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.