Introduction
Values are one of the core aspects in any given community. They instill respect among members of a community enhancing cohesion between the various parties of the community. Artists play a pivotal role in the introduction of community values, ideas as well as belief systems. These ideas, beliefs and experiences bring about improvement on human values.
Establishment of limits of bad behavior in a society is fundamental for the well-being of all the members of the society in question. The knowledge of such limits as well as passing them to new generations enhances success in a society. Art plays a major role in these thus boosting human values. In addition, many cultures are neither good nor bad thus they might introduce undesirable behavior(s) to the people. Art helps in the correction of such behaviors as well as the cultures.
Role of art in shaping human values
A strong relationship exists between art and politics specifically between various kinds of art and power. The requirement is that citizens should enjoy their freedoms within the stipulated limitations. This raises a major concern on the role of art in such conditions.
The fact that in art people can represent whatever they want such as ideas, believes, and life experiences, provides an arena for violations of the governance requirement. The fact that art improved because the history of it had a freedom, implies that artists should do things that make art better. Political values have supported the establishment and growth of art to what it is today.
On the other hand, art has imparted several values on political views. As works of art respond to contemporaneous events and politics, they take political and social dimensions. By so doing, they become points of controversy creating strong forces that aid in social and political change.
For instance, Pushkin, Russia’s first great writer, irritated the Russian officialdom, particularly Tsar, by composing the extremely arrogant, independent and wicked verse in which a dangerous freedom of thought was evident in his propensity for making fun of major and minor tyrants instead of being a good servant to the state.
Historically, revolutionary ideas first emerged from artists. That is why it is important to create a ‘separation between arts and politics’. In this case, people can safely integrate them into the official culture and the public discourse, where they can add new flavors to old dominant ideas and play the role of a gear wheel in the mechanism of the society of the spectacle.
Culture is one of the core aspects in any nation. It gives the nation its identity-its pride. Furthermore, the culture of a region can be an economic force that draws resources to a particular country. It can also influence physical features found in the region. Each culture bears with itself a set of arts like music, architecture and even clothing designs. In this view therefore, a particular group of people can be identified by their culture that defines their outward values.
In the contemporary times however, some cultures have been deemed outdated and therefore in the wave of change, many communities have lost cultural heritage that previously defined them. The major cause of this is that many people confuse culture and religion and they cannot differentiate the two due to lack of enough information about them. For instance, in Saudi Arabia many people think that religion forms the basis of a nation’s culture, which is not true.
There are many differences among the culture and the religion. In fact, many cultures are contradictory to the prominent religion. As aforementioned, many cultures are neither good nor bad and their negative aspect(s) may greatly influence people’s behaviors. Owing to this, there is the need to find means of correcting the negative aspects of a given culture and embark on correcting such aspects. Art has been instrumental in this.
The perception of the value of art differs significantly among different people. To some, it is recreational while to others it is life. The truth is art is an important aspect in human life and through which we can introduce many things in our life-it acts as a language. However, it is important to improve as well as continually correct different aspects of art to put it in maximum use.
This translates to the need to introduce to people in a more informative way so that they understand what it is, and what it can do. Finally, art could be a perfect investment if there is support from the government or some companies. As we know, some of art works are so expensive and unique, so they can bring a lot of money to the country and people.
Spirituality entails people’s strong belief and trust in something. This results into a religion. When someone practices his religion, it increases his/her conviction in spirituality. When people express their spiritual values in art, they come out differently depending on the religion. Many of art works that describe the spiritual are somewhat religious, and they are more attractive for people as spiritual works.
Two standpoints concerning arts
Two evident standpoints have emerged concerning the use of literature. On one hand, there are those of the opinion that the use of arts in expressing thoughts, ideas and exercising freedoms has detrimental influence on moral values, political stability, cultural values and social economic values. On the other hand are those who argue that, even though arts can have detrimental influences, they cannot overshadow the role it plays in the society. Therefore, the governing bodies should not only come up with means of controlling the use of art but also implement the controls.
Plato posed several objections that still hold to date. In his argument for the abolishment of arts, he said that it affects education negatively by fostering evil habits and vices in children. In his opinion, creative thoughts expressed in arts do not express either morality or sound behavior. Artists portray some characters in imagery as cunning, lusty and even as warmonger. Such traits have a negative impact on the development of children. He concludes by urging the government to abolish such works of art.
In a philosophical dimension, Plato argues that art does not lead to, but away from the realization of the ultimate reality- truth. He argues that by imagery, the imitator knows nothing but the appearance, which is far from the true existence. In addition to both the philosophical and the educational arguments is the moral argument which contents that art irritates, nourishes and strengthens emotional, sentimental and sorrowful impulses of humans which are baser compared to reason. These the standpoints held by Plato, which are similar to the ones that critics of art hold in the contemporary society.
In response to Plato’s’ arguments, Aristotle gave a supportive argument for use of arts. He argues that the work of art is not to inspire value nor teach morality but to provide aesthetic delight, communicate experience, express emotions and represent life. In this, one should not confuse the role of ethics, which is to instill morality, with that of arts. He argues that we should base the acceptance of artistic works on the artist’s ability to present his thoughts and ideas in an aesthetic manner, which is the ultimate goal of artistic works.
The argument that art leads us away from the truth is false. In as much as art gives a likeness of something that is concrete, we must appreciate the fact that art gives more than the concrete truth offers. According to Aristotle, some elements present in art like ideological presentation and imaginative creativity have their own beauty, and the rough and raw realities lack these.
Therefore, we should accept arts for the aesthetic value. In addition, art is an end and not a means to an end. Instead of judging arts in other viewpoints, we should judge it by what it is by its own objectives, merits and demerits. It would be absurd to denounce artistic works based on other viewpoint judgments.
These standpoints have greatly influenced my sense of values. First, I was of the opinion that art came without negative impacts and that it is to be appreciated as it is. However, in view of these standpoints, my values though still in support of arts have been greatly influenced. It is true that arts may foster unwanted values to the society.
Therefore, I am of the view that different arts should be evaluated on both the basis of their purpose and that of implications on societal values and morals. We should not enjoy the beauty of art in a discriminative manner meaning that we receive what is good and leave what is wrong.
Confronting personal or collective bias, prejudice, intolerance, and/or discrimination
There are situations whereby our values are lost or are displayed in their worst limitations. At these times, we face the force of dilemma on whether to uphold our challenged values and belief systems or to conform to change. In such confrontations during this period, I would let the judgment of rational thinking prevail. It is not worth to hold any value, prejudice or bias challenged by reason and I let go.
At times messages passed through artistic literature are very unacceptable due to moral degradation expressed through them. This calls for an assertion of personal values that are right by virtue of rational thinking. Under no circumstances should one give in to the pressure art presents but rather should base our reason for adoption or rejection of presented ideas on morality.
Conclusion
Art is a means of communication that artists paint creatively ideas, controversies, or current situation, which provokes new dimensions of thought and questioning of current practices and beliefs. In the past, artistic ideas have influenced political change. First, arts help highlight disparities in the social-economic factor in the society.
This has recently been the focus of many governments to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. Art has greatly influenced political advances toward social change. Furthermore, art is more appealing to human as it appeals to the emotions of humans and therefore it is a successful instrument of social change.
In as much as the purpose of art is not to teach morality, it presents new ideas on what is acceptable and what is not. In this case, it can affect the set of values and beliefs held by particular people. What is presented as good can be easily be adopted since art comes as an appealing force which at times can be overridden by rational thinking. Art improves the social status of the people when used as a source of living, which can mean adoption of new lifestyles thus fanning social change.