# VII explained — What Is Art?

> Chapter companion for What Is Art? by Leo Tolstoy.

## What happens

Tolstoy argues that the upper classes, having lost faith in Church Christianity, adopted beauty as the standard for art, leading to the invention of aesthetic theory. He critiques the conflation of beauty and goodness inherited from the Greeks, asserts that no true science of aesthetics existed in antiquity, and condemns the modern aesthetic trinity (Beauty, Truth, Goodness) as a justification for art that merely provides pleasure.

## Themes in this chapter

### True Art vs. Counterfeit Art

Tolstoy distinguishes between art that serves goodness (true art) and the counterfeit art of the upper classes that merely seeks pleasure through beauty.

### Art and Morality

The chapter emphasizes that art should serve goodness, contrasting the Greek conflation of beauty and goodness with the Christian moral ideal.

### Critique of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

Tolstoy systematically dismantles the invented science of aesthetics, arguing it has no foundation in ancient thought and merely justifies the pleasure-seeking art of the elite.

## Character check-ins

### Leo Tolstoy

Author and critic of aesthetic theory; argues that the upper classes substituted beauty for religious faith as the standard of art.

### Socrates

Mentioned as a Greek thinker who subordinated beauty to goodness, yet still entangled beauty with goodness.

### Plato

Cited for his contradictory reasonings about beauty and goodness, and as a supposed founder of aesthetic science.

### Aristotle

Referenced for demanding moral influence from art (katharsis) and for having a theory of art separate from the theory of beauty.

### Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten

Described as the founder and organizer of the modern science of aesthetics, who gave it a scientific form in 1750.

### M. Schasler

Mentioned as an aesthetic guide who claimed aesthetics vanished for 1,500 years after Plotinus.

## Key lines

> From the time that people of the upper classes lost faith in Church Christianity, beauty (i.e. the pleasure received from art) became their standard of good and bad art.

Once the upper classes abandoned Christian faith, they began judging art solely by the pleasure it gives, equating beauty with artistic merit.

_Tolstoy identifies the historical shift from religious to aesthetic standards for art._

> The Greeks (as anyone may see who will read Benard's admirable book on Aristotle and his successors, and Walter's work on Plato) never had a science of aesthetics.

Contrary to modern claims, the ancient Greeks did not possess a systematic science of aesthetics.

_Tolstoy refutes the notion that aesthetics originated with the Greeks, citing Benard and Walter._

> If a theory justifies the false position in which a certain part of a society is living, then, however unfounded or even obviously false the theory may be, it is accepted, and becomes an article of faith to that section of society.

A theory that excuses a social group's flawed situation will be embraced uncritically, no matter how baseless.

_Tolstoy generalizes his critique to theories like Malthusianism, Darwinism, and Marxism, which serve class interests._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/vii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters