two slices o' pie

..pizza pie, that is.

A question derived (as per usual) from my reading: is the goal of art to better society, to bedeck and bejewel the metaphorical shrine of civilization in hope of achieving some ultimate state of truth/beauty? Or is art something we create because we have to, because it is an integral and therefore inescapable part of being human? On the other (third?) hand, perhaps the entire discussion of aesthetics is trite and meaningless, as Wittgenstein suggests.

I tend to lean somewhere toward (if not against) the likes of Heidegger, insofar as I think of art--in particular lingustic/poetic art--as revealing in itself the essence of being. ("Being" being, of course, an all-time favorite word and compunded root of ol' Martin's.) Luckily for you, dear reader, I'll not delve into the business/commodification/death of art, nor the more nuanced (and arguably more interesting) aspects of these many debates, because frankly I've neither read nor thought nearly enough on the subject/s.

These are, after all, only the meandering lunch-time musings of a disgruntled corporate whore. Take them with a healthy pinch of salt and be on your merry way.

-rrr