R: Art is the Telos of Man

No one would dare label the members of the Federalist Party as philistines. We are proud to count pianists, painters, poets, and playwrights amongst our ranks, and while our artistic sensibilities may differ from person to person, none of us would reject art as an inherently meaningless or antithetical endeavor. However, a debate exists regarding the role art plays in the achievement of life’s fullness—what will be defined this evening as telos. Art, for our purposes, represents the classical disciplines that are traditionally associated with the term: painting, music, architecture, theater, and the like. These certainly contribute to the nourishment of our souls by attempting to bring us closer to that which is beautiful. Our task is to determine the extent to which human beings can attain unity with God through the artistic processes of creation and consumption.

The affirmative recognizes art to be the only way for man to truly transcend from the world of sin and interplay with the divine. When God damned Adam to live only “by the sweat of [his] face,” he forced man into a life of toil, where nourishment could only be gained through labor and hardship. In this sense, engaging with art is a means of returning to Eden: it frees us from our physical limitations and allows us to focus solely on the contemplation of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Art also fulfills man’s purpose as the rational animal, granting him the chance to create works which can be understood through reason alone. Because of this, everyone should strive to be an artist, and society should prioritize artistic expression as the highest human activity.

The negative rejects the notion that man’s fulfillment lies in the artistic process and fears the equivalence of art with the divine. They read the same story from Genesis and take away a very different interpretation: that it is an essential part of human nature to be a beast of burden. Art may have the potential to enliven the soul, but it can only achieve this when material needs have been catered to. It is no coincidence that the most leisurely societies are also the most artistic, showing the link between material decadence and artistic prioritization. Furthermore, labeling art as the only pathway to heavenly interaction distracts us from art’s true beauty: its temporality. Instead of treating artistry as the pinnacle of human experience, it should only serve as a reminder of our finitude, which both limits us and makes us who we are. The telos of man is not art, but rather admiration of the natural art which God has bestowed upon us in the form of the natural world.

Can everyone be an artist? If so, should everyone be an artist? Is art a gateway to the divine, or a pathway to idolatry? And where else, if not in art, can man find his meaning?