We tend to think that aesthetics is secondary to core values such as truth, morality and justice, and more superficial than other attributes such as intelligence, health and relationships. Unlike other values, some question whether beauty should be valued at all. Roger Scruton claimed 'beauty is vanishing... because we live as though it did not matter'. Yet in the objects we acquire, the places we choose to live, and our choice of partner most do prioritise beauty, some would say unhealthily so. A recent study of 15,000 people found they felt happier in beautiful surroundings. And some philosophers including Nietzsche and Heidegger have prioritised aesthetics over traditional notions of truth.
Should beauty be at the forefront of our values and if so what would this mean for the way we make judgments and run our lives? Or should we rein in aesthetic concerns as subjective, elitist and lacking concern for purpose or morality? More fundamentally, why is beauty of importance and what change would it make to culture if we made it central to society?
University of Oxford professor Ankhi Mukherjee, Nietzschian philosopher Babette Babich, multi-New York Times bestselling author Sarah Wilson, and author of Social Constructivism as a Philosophy of Mathematics Paul Ernest debate whether aesthetics is actually the highest value.