ON HIGH AND LOW STYLES IN PHILOSOPHY, OR, TOWARDS A REHABILITATION OF THE IDEAL

In modern culture a “disenchantment of the world”, i.e. a turn to the ordinary, prosaic and pragmatic has taken place. This development is mirrored in modern art and philosophy with its low, critical-sceptical style and its allergic attitude towards “higher things” and the ideal. The thesis of the article is that in this way important aspects of human experience (in the sphere of care, friendship and suchlike, of scenic beauty, and of morality, spirituality and vision) are marginalised or discredited. The article pleads for a resumption of a (suitably muted) form of high-style thinking in philosophy, art and society.