On Beauty and Justice. Elaine Skerry

Have we become blind to beauty? In recent decades, the humanities have advanced a variety of political arguments against beauty: that it distracts us from more important issues; that it is the handmaid of privilege; and that it masks political interests. In On Beauty and Justice, Elaine Skerry not only defends beauty from the political arguments against it, but also argues that beauty actually motivates us to care more about justice. Drawing inspiration from writers and thinkers as diverse as Homer, Plato, Marcel Proust, Simone Weil, and Iris Murdoch, as well as from her own experiences, Skerry offers a sophisticated, passionate manifesto for a revival of beauty in our intellectual work, our daily lives, and our homes, museums, and classrooms.

Elaine Skerry, one of the boldest and most creative thinkers of our time, offers in this book a passionate call to change our understanding of beauty.