This is what makes the blogosphere so great — post some random idea, get feedback, and suddenly things makes sense. Thank you.

I hadn't thought of integrating morality and aesthetics, but it makes sense. If there really is this split between Absolutist and Contextualist thinkers, maybe there is no reason to think the split is particularly political.

I wonder if you could thus predict someone's political beliefs by looking at their preference in art… If art styles that reflected an eternal code might imply political desire for an eternal code…

A lot to ponder… thanks!

The usual commentary on this question, especially WRT Hitler, is that aesthetic judgment stands in conflict with moral judgment. The murder of jews, gypsies, homosexuals and halfwits is justified because they are ugly and beauty trumps morality.

Interestingly, it calls to mind a previous post of yours discussing the ultimatum game. In the ultimatum game, attractive people are both offered better terms and expected to offer better terms to others. Beauty is elevated, ugliness is despised.

So it's not just the sociopaths who have these tendencies. It's all of us to some degree.

If I recall correctly, inthis film his paintings and the like were not being accepted, so he turned his artistic drive and ambitions fully toward the Nazi movement. In essence, that became his art.

The problem with “Max” is that it both says way too much about Hitler's aesthetic sense as being a cause of his political ambitions, and too little (what really was the source of his mental illness? the movie leaves the naive viewer in the dark). At any rate, it's an utterly fascinating topic. Go here for a review of the film, written by me when I was using a pseudonym:

http://www.filmmonthly.com/Video/Articles/Max/Max.html

Purpleslog & Karl,

How would you compare “Max” to “Downfall”?

Steve,

Hmmm…. It does seem that engineers tend either to be on the political right or else in favor of an explicitly “engineering” (Planning) approach to society's problems. It would be interesting to try the Wary Guerrilla detector [1] on engineering students and see what one comes up with…

Abu,

Jumping from what you're saying, I'd guess that “absolutist orientation” should exist to a high degree among artists. Probably far higher than “conservative beliefs,” as the abstolutism would be applied to aesthetics. Indeed, the selection pressures of the art world might weed out those who apply their absolutism towards politics while encouraging those who apply it to art. Like with what I said to Steve, that would be fascinating (and useful) to test.

This thread rocks!

[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/12/22/the-wary-guerrillla-part-iv-an-experiment.html

To Quote From the True Believer:
The most incurably frustrated – and, therefore, the most vehement – among the permanent misfits are those with an unfulfilled craving for creative work. Both those who try to write, paint, compose, etc, and fail decisively, and those who after tasting the elation of creativeness feel a drying up of the creative flow…are alike in the grip of a desperate passion. Neither fame nor power nor riches can still their hunger. Even the whole-hearted dedication to a holy cause does not always cure them. Their unappeased hunger persists, and they are likely to become the most violent extremists in the service of their holy cause.

(Found here
http://antichomsky.blogspot.com/2004/06/hoffer-on-artist-as-extremist.html )

I think as long as the transform is seen as being complete it works. The Wary Aesthete suffers for beauty, not for justice.