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Talk

C.S. Lewis and the Objectivity of Art

Date recorded: 23 May 2018 | Speaker: Jerry Root | Event: ELF Artists Network
C.S. Lewis and the Objectivity of Art

Description

C. S. Lewis was an objectivist. His objectivism is not to be confused with Enlightenment Rationalism. Lewis’s objectivist commitments are tethered to Revelation, both General (revealed in Nature) and Special (revealed in Scripture). Lewis makes his most substantive case for objectivity in The Abolition of Man, and gives evidence for his objectivity in many of his other books. He applies this objectivity to intellectual and moral judgment and also to judgments of Beauty and Art. He was aware that knowing about objectivity conceptually is only part of the process to making good judgments; consequently there is a need for epistemological verification and skill in the application of principle. This talk sets forth Lewis’s thoughts in matters of objectivity in aesthetic judgment.