13+ Denis Dutton Quotes On Education, Democracy And Religion

Denis Dutton was a philosopher and an American professor of philosophy. He was the founder of the website Arts & Letters Daily and the author of several books on philosophy, aesthetics and evolutionary psychology. He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, where he taught until his death in 2010. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Denis Dutton on education, democracy, religion.

Dumbing down takes many forms: art that is good for you, museums that flatter you, universities that increase your self-esteem. Culture, after all, is really about you. — Denis Dutton

I think the idea of the social construction of beauty - this idea that beauty is simply whatever culture or society says it is - is on the run. Of course, beauty does arise in a cultural context. No one ever denies that. But there's also a natural response people have to it. — Denis Dutton

The continuous capacity of genius to surpass understanding remains a human constant. — Denis Dutton

A few years ago, Bill Gates was boasting that we'll soon have sensors which will turn on the music that we like or show on the walls the paintings we like when we walk into a room. How boring! The hell with our preexisting likes; let's expand ourselves intellectually. — Denis Dutton

[Art] would have helped us survive in the Pleistocene - in the period, say, 1.6 million years ago until fairly recently. The kind of imaginative abilities that artists have and that we all have in the appreciation of art - to appreciate Jane Austen, the late quartets of Beethoven. — Denis Dutton

Salvador Dali has been called kitsch, but, although some of this work may be grotesque, its brazenly self-conscious bad taste saves it from being true kitsch, which always strives to please. — Denis Dutton

I try to figure out - intellectually, philosophically, psychologically - what the experience of beauty is. — Denis Dutton

Once kitsch is interpreted ironically, it ceases to be kitsch — Denis Dutton

Solemnity and a complete absence of irony also mark kitsch. — Denis Dutton

It's a grave mistake in publishing, whether you're talking about Internet or print publication, to try to play to a limited repertoire of established reader interests. — Denis Dutton

Beauty is nature’s way of acting at a distance. — Denis Dutton

The arts, like language, emerged spontaneously and universally in similar forms across cultures, employing imaginative and intellectual capacities that had clear survival value. — Denis Dutton

Why do humans make art? It's how we evolved. — Denis Dutton

Life Lessons by Denis Dutton

1. Denis Dutton's work emphasizes the importance of understanding the power of culture and art to shape our understanding of the world.
2. He encourages us to recognize the value of tradition and to be open to new ideas, while also being aware of the potential for bias and prejudice.
3. He reminds us that our beliefs and values are shaped by our environment and that we should strive to be aware of our own biases and strive to be open-minded.