Date of Award
2015
Degree Name
Master of Philosophy (School of Philosophy and Theology)
Schools and Centres
Philosophy and Theology
First Supervisor
Dr. Renee Kohler-Ryan
Abstract
This thesis aims to explore the method and content of Joseph Ratzinger’s aesthetics from a philosophical perspective. Ratzinger takes up Plato’s description of man’s encounter with beauty as a wounding by the power of eros, and argues that the involvement of emotion in this experience does not render it irrational, but rather, stresses that the feeling of beauty is in accordance with logos, since the domain of logos reaches far beyond abstract processes of reasoning. Moreover, Ratzinger rejects the notion that beauty is simply a cover over what is fundamentally ugly. According to Ratzinger, beauty is the foundation of reality because it is convertible with logos, which after all, is not simply unchanging being, but also person, that is, Jesus of Nazareth, who ultimately reveals beauty as truth and love in the form of both eros and agape.
Publication Details
Jang, J. (2015). Beauty as a transcendental in the thought of Joseph Ratzinger (Master of Philosophy (School of Philosophy and Theology)). University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/112