Scott argues that aesthetic discussions wrongly conflate sensory delight with novelty and context, and that modern art's obsession with being part of a historical conversation has led to the abandonment of beauty in favor of mechanical innovation. Longer summary

Scott argues that discussions of artistic taste conflate multiple distinct concepts (sensory delight, novelty, pattern recognition, context, etc.) and that this conflation prevents clear thinking. He uses a parable about restaurant criticism to argue that we should isolate the direct aesthetic experience from contextual factors like novelty and provenance, similar to how medical trials control for placebo effects. He criticizes modern art and literature for prioritizing novelty and historical conversation over genuine beauty or transformation, using examples like the Angelus Novus painting (which inspired beautiful commentary despite being visually unimpressive) and the constraints on contemporary novels. Scott acknowledges the value of artistic innovation but argues that when artists can't successfully marry beauty with novelty, they should stick to traditional forms rather than produce endless variations of transgressive art that adds nothing meaningful to the conversation. Shorter summary

The review analyzes Ernst Jünger's 'On the Marble Cliffs' as a beautifully written allegory of Nazi Germany that offers advice on surviving totalitarianism through appreciation of beauty. Longer summary

This review explores Ernst Jünger's 1939 novella 'On the Marble Cliffs', contextualizing it within the German Catastrophe and Jünger's life, analyzing its poetic style and allegorical content, and arguing that its primary purpose is to offer advice on surviving totalitarian rule through the appreciation of beauty. The reviewer discusses the book's historical context, Jünger's writing style, the challenges of translation, the plot's allegorical nature, and the often-missed central message about the power of beauty as a coping mechanism in the face of horror. Shorter summary

Scott explores the connection between the Dark Room Problem in neuroscience, meditative jhanas, and theories of beauty, suggesting that intense focus on regular stimuli can produce extreme bliss. Longer summary

Scott Alexander discusses the Dark Room Problem in neuroscience and its connection to meditative states known as jhanas. He explores the idea that sitting quietly in a dark room, or focusing intently on a single stimulus, can lead to extreme bliss. This perspective, shared by Andrés Gómez Emilsson, suggests that regularity, predictability, and symmetry in stimuli can produce intense pleasure when one can concentrate deeply enough. The post compares this to theories of beauty and discusses how it might explain the appeal of music and other forms of art. Shorter summary