Contemplation

The dispute over beauty is a manifestation of the dispute over what the purpose of a person is.  For Bentham, it is to create a happy stable politeia where everyone is fed and warm and happy and amused so we don't get bored or angry and start killing each other.  For Pater, it is pleasure:  art is useful because it provides pleasure and then we contemplate our own pleasurable experience and so don't notice that our life is passing away.

For Aristotle, which is whom Pater is most distorting, what is "peculiarly human" is to be "a being-at-work in accord with reason" formed by virtue so that we can choose right actions, and this is what is most beautiful.  Virtuous action in accordance with reason is most beautiful because it is most fitting to what a human being is.  The next questions then, will involve the nature of virtue (in brief, the mean between two extremes) and of contemplation.  I am so excited about this, because it cuts down Pater and modern emoters right at the root:  life, and art, are NOT about our own feelings or experiences.  This is a good place to begin to know reality, but a terrible place to end.  Contemplation is NOT about one's own self, and it is NOT sterile.  Rather, contemplation is the ultimate action of which a properly formed human being is capable.  It is not some sissy irrational thing, or even something to which the elite few are called.  It is the fulfillment of our existence, and seeking beauty is the shortest way there.