Its role in defending liberty and prosperity
Event Overview
Common Sense Society and Liberty Fund have partnered to convene a special joint colloquium for CSS fellowship alumni entitled “The Capaciousness of Beauty” to be held October 25-27, 2024, in Dallas, Texas at the Hall Arts Hotel.
Led by CSS Council of Trustees chairman Dr. Joshua Mitchell, this stimulating program will examine the aesthetic philosophies of Plato, Aquinas, Shaftesbury, Kant, Hegel, Tocqueville, and Scruton.
Together the group will confront fundamental questions such as: What is “the beautiful” itself? Does the beautiful exist merely by convention (agreement)? Or does it exist by nature? To what extent is the beautiful related to or dependent upon human nature and the capacity of the human psyche to grasp or recognize its presence? Is there a memetic relationship between the beautiful itself and particular instantiations of beauty? Or does beauty exist only in its instances?
Participants will discuss the capaciousness of our concern with beauty in our lives—from its manifestation in the natural world to its creation in the built environment to its refinement in the creative arts to its formation in the human soul as virtue. Moreover, such engagement will enable a deeper understanding of the connections between beauty and morality, as well as the meaning, significance, and place of beauty in a well-lived life, of the fact that liberty, prosperity, and beauty are necessary conditions of human flourishing.
For more information, please contact senior vice president of education, Dr. Murray Bessette.
