Aesthetics Versus Reason

On a certain Debating Page I had received some criticism that my essays were overlong, and it was suggested that I could serve my readers better if I were to simply list my ‘bullet points’ – a quick summation of my most important ideas and conclusions, without the bothersome arguments, and then my readers could quickly see whether or not they agreed with me.

Hmmmmm.

Gloss over the Arguments and get straight to the Conclusions.

That is not Reason. That is not really even debate. It is Aesthetics – appreciation based on appearances, impressions, feelings.

Its what lawyers, advertisers and politicians nowadays specialize in.

It is the guy at the Art Show who says that he ‘doesn’t know Art but he knows what he likes’. Really, he has a point. In regards to the Things that fall well within the Realm of Aesthetics – wall paintings, neck ties and what not – then not much more matters than simple ‘I-like-it’ or ‘I-don’t-like-it’ feelings and impressions.

But on a Debate Page…!?

The larger problem is that it is not just a problem here. Our entire Society is forgoing Thought in favor of Feeling. There is no longer any compelling duty toward Rationality. The Propaganda of the last Hundred Years has focused on building up Aesthetics and modeling a Public that could be manipulated solely on the basis of their tastes and emotional preferences.

Why would the Policy Masters prefer Aesthetics to Reason? Well, Reason is inexorable and inflexible. But tastes can be guided and influenced. Propaganda works best on Tastes, where it simply falls blunt upon Reason.

So, really, People need to STOP trusting their feelings when it comes to Public Policies and Complex Social Issues. They need to STOP evaluating Arguments on the basis of Aesthetic Appreciations. It needs to be understood that such Aesthetic Appreciations are not personal. They have been Systematically Implanted. Whether from Market Street, or Washington D.C. there have been ranks and files of Expert Manipulators whose Life Purposes it has been to establish Public Taste and Acceptable Opinion. And Reason has had very little to do with it.

So when it comes to First Impressions, there is practically no doubt at all that you will think, I mean FEEL, entirely as you have been conditioned to FEEL. This is why it is so necessary to THINK. This is why it is so necessary to formulate actual arguments for believing what you have no reason for believing, aside from your conditioned feelings.

Just ask yourself why it is that so many Debaters here resist any actual Debate? They see an Argument, and FEEL that they must disagree with it. Such a STRONG FEELING must be right. Such a STRONG FEELING couldn’t possibly be wrong. Could it?

The Ancient Greeks also believed that Strong Aesthetic Appeal could not be baseless… that Truth was Beauty and Beauty was Truth. But then they, like ourselves, found that what people thought to be Beautiful was by no means fixed, and that Tastes could be worked on, manipulated, shaped by public pressures and Speeches made by pretty faces and tall convincing men. It was found that people could be trained like dogs. And Civilization fell. Now the Greeks can’t build a good car.

Anyway, untrained Intellects should never decide Right from Wrong on the basis of their emotional preferences. Such tastes are not their own, but a sum total of their Social Conditioning, and can’t be reasonably trusted to serve their own best interests. They are not conditioning you for your own good, but for their own.

You need to make arguments for and against the most important propositions in your life and see on which side Reason sticks.

Don’t be surprised if you come up not feeling good about it. Reason will not often agree with your Social Engineering. Your consolation is that you can begin to realize you need to begin correcting all the Propaganda and Conditioning that has screwed up your head.