The Concept of Beauty Essay - Philip Pettit on Beauty

The Concept of Beauty Essay - Philip Pettit on BeautyI had the pleasure of being the recipient of Philip Pettit's article, 'On the Concept of Beauty,' which is the first part of his two-part analysis of beauty, in the second part of the same article, he analyzes Hegel's account of the concept of beauty in the Phenomenology of Spirit. This article is a follow-up to the first part of this same essay, however, rather than examining the different components of beauty that Pettit argues for, this article is going to take a look at the ways that I disagree with the logic of the argument.I also write in favor of a 'poetic turn' in aesthetics, a sense of heroism or a pearl-clutching feeling, an inner 'or'aah' reaction to beauty. I think this is a misunderstanding of beauty as a subjective notion. It can be objective, like a jewel, but if it is a subjective one, it is subjective because it is expressed.In his essay, Pettit argues that beauty must be a conscious, intended action by the observe r to express something about his or her self. It is not arbitrary; it has to do with a feeling of relation to one's own nature, one's own spirit.There is an image that I have always liked from a recent edition of 'The Art of War,' by Sun Tzu, the famous work by Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War,' and a quote from the work 'The Prince,' written by the famous German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 'All warfare is based on deception.' The actual quote from Goethe is, 'Whoever knows how to lie well will win.' The point here is that one does not truly think, when one is being deceived, because that is the thing that they are doing.A beauty that is the result of a beauty that was given to you by your imagination, when you were quite young and not you in particular, is a pearl-clutching feeling of joy. That is the objective sense of beauty, but then that is not necessarily the most important sense of beauty because there are other things that can be perceived that are more subjective.Kant wrote in his Critique of Practical Reason that beauty is 'the pleasure of the intellect'. While that is the highest object, there are other things that can be perceived that are of higher value than aesthetic pleasure. When a person knows that something is beautiful, and the value is more than the sensory pleasure, but not the pleasure of the intellect, they are saying, that is beautiful.One's own feeling of beauty or the pearl-clutching feeling that is created by someone else's beauty can be subjective, but so can the value of some object of beauty. One may also think that beauty is subjective but it is objective when it comes to artistic value. When one says, this is beautiful, it does not mean that it has to be this way, but it is beautiful because it is this way.Pettit points out that there is a difference between 'the pearl-clutching feeling of delight' and the 'purer feelings of satisfaction and gratitude' that can be experienced by knowing that one is beautiful. He argues that we s hould honor this objective level of beauty, rather than valuing it based on the subjective sense of beauty.

Kaiser William II - Cause Of World War I Essays - German Lutherans

Kaiser William II - Cause of World War I Kaiser William II "Kaiser William II of Germany, 1888-1918, by his personality and actions, contributed to the outbreak of World War I," Discuss. William II came to power prematurely, on the death of his father, at the age of 29. He lacked discipline, was arrogant and bad-tempered. He lacked political experience and maturity and was influenced in his youth by Hinzpeter who instilled in him the idea that a monarch should be independent and follow orders from none. It was obvious to all who were politically aware in Germany in 1890 that a clash would occur between the Chancellor Bismarck, and the Kaiser. When this clash did occur it was over the issue of German policy towards Russia. William favoured outright hostility towards Russia and when he expressed this belief to Bismarck he was met with disillusionment and disbelief. Bismarck realised that twenty years of his work was about to be undone by this impetuous imbicile. William has begun on his road to distruction for Europe. After the collapse of the renewed Dreikaiserbund in 1884, Bismarck recognised that there was a possibility that the isolated Russia would join with France who was in a similar situation. He recognised that this would be disaster for Germany as it would pose the constant threat of a two-front war. However, Bismarck convinced Russia to sign the Reinsurance Treaty and once again managed to insure Germany was safe. However, in 1890 when the treaty was due for renewal William, maintaining that his position "having been imposed on me from heaven." Allowed him to let this treaty lapse. He worsened the situation by refusing to let German bankers makes loans to Russian banks. French bankers took their place and in 1894 the Franco-Russian alliance fused the two together. For Bismarck, this was the ultimate blunder and Germany was faced with a nightmare war. William then adopted a policy of "Weltpolitik", that is now that Germany was a European power he wanted to make it a World power also. He hoped to do this by expanding Germany's number of colonies and by getting involved in international crises between other powers. However, this policy was to bring Germany into conflict with Britain and hence alienate a potential French ally. This began when he announced the construction of the Berlin-Baghdad railway. Baghdad was contained within a British Sphere of influence and was suspicious of the Kaiser?s actions. The second and more serious incident which turned the British against the Germans was the Kaiser's interference in South Africa. After the defeat of Cecil Rhodes in the Jameson Raid in 1895 by the Boers, William sent a telegram to Paul Kringer, the Boer leader, congradulating them on their achievement. The British saw this as a blatent interfernce in what they considered was a internal affair. For them, this proved that the Kaiser was a dangerous figure mwho posed a serious threat to the balance and stability which they wanted to maintain in Europe. Thus, when the Kaiser decided to build up military armaments, they felt they could not allow him to surpass their army size. Admiral von Tirpitz, a powerful military figure, felt that if Germany were to become a world power she needed a strong Navy. William was easily persuaded of this because of his love of pomp and parades and set about buiding up a Navy. The British sawm this as a war threat and pointed out that "the Royal Navy is a dire necessity- the German fleet a luxury" The bringing into operation of the dreadnought made all other ships obsolite because of its power and this a Naval Rce began between the two powers. Huge bitterness and suspicion lingered between the two and by 1914 the two were bitter enemies and Britain used the meek excuse of Germany marching on Belgium as an excuse to declare war on Germany. William's wanting to get involved in international eruses was also a cause of World War I, because of how hje failed to achieve anything at these conferences but to alienate other powers. He demanded an internationa; meeting on the question of French influence in Morocco thinking that opther countries would