About the work …
In the entry "Beauty" in his Philosophical Dictionary, [2] Voltaire argues that "artistic beauty is in the eye of the beholder" although some virtuous actions are considered "beautiful" universally across cultures. This short essay is an entry in a polemical book, an epitome of French Enlightenment writing. Voltare described his Dictionary as expressing "common sense" which is "not so common."
How does Voltaire show that beauty cannot be defined in terms of fulfilling the purpose of a work of art?
What is Voltaire's evidence that artistic standards are not universal?
According to Voltaire, how does the beauty of virtue become known? How is the beauty of virtue unlike the beauty of the senses, of intelligence and of imagination?
[1] | Edmund Fuller, 2500 Ancedotes for All Occasions New York: Barnes & Noble, 1952. |
[2] | Voltaire, "Beauty" in Philosophical Dictionary, trans. H.I. Woolf, New York: Knopf, 1924. |