On Beauty and Being Just

In the past two decades various political arguments have been put forward against beauty: that it distracts us from more important issues; that it is the handmaiden of privilege; and that it masks political interests. In On Beauty and Being Just Elaine Scarry challenges such theories, taking inspiration from writers, painters and thinkers as diverse as Homer, Plato, Matisse, Proust, Simone Weil and Iris Murdoch. She not only offers a passionate defence of beauty from the political arguments against it but also argues that beauty does indeed have a positive effect on life. Rather than serving the privileged it presses all of us towards a greater concern for justice.