Raemon, Thank you for sharing your thoughts here. I have a particular interest in the philosophy of aesthetics and always get excited when people are willing to wade into the tricky territory of the subject.
Two questions for you: 1: In your suggested "knobs to turn" you made a distinction between the beautiful and the distasteful, are these two ends of a spectrum or are these different things? 2: In your examples there seem to be an inherent tie between aesthetics and ethical claims. What I mean by this more clearly is there is a connection between what you are describing as aesthetically good and "the good" (not a bad thing, you are in great company with that stance). In the view presented are these things separate? Can they be? Can something be beautiful, but ethically bad?
I'm new to the Lesswrong space so excuse my ignorance if these points have been touched upon by you or others in previous posts.
Raemon,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts here. I have a particular interest in the philosophy of aesthetics and always get excited when people are willing to wade into the tricky territory of the subject.
Two questions for you:
1: In your suggested "knobs to turn" you made a distinction between the beautiful and the distasteful, are these two ends of a spectrum or are these different things?
2: In your examples there seem to be an inherent tie between aesthetics and ethical claims. What I mean by this more clearly is there is a connection between what you are describing as aesthetically good and "the good" (not a bad thing, you are in great company with that stance). In the view presented are these things separate? Can they be? Can something be beautiful, but ethically bad?
I'm new to the Lesswrong space so excuse my ignorance if these points have been touched upon by you or others in previous posts.