Beauty and the Transmission of Ideas

History is replete with countless examples of men who used their eloquence in the field of the arts to convince people of their visions. Humanity is hardwired to feel; therefore, any communicator who is able to illicit strong feelings in his listeners has the upper hand. Emotional resonance will trump logic in most cases.

Conservatives have fairly well mastered the use of logic and data. Being the dissenting voice dictates strength in these areas since our arguments have to be excellent to even break through the liberal gatekeepers’ wall. Yet, our acuity of logos has led to a deemphasizing of ethos and pathos.

This is quite understandable given the tendency of the left to use emotions  as a substitute for careful argumentation. Nevertheless, we lose many people through our use of logic and evidence in isolation from art, literature, and emotion. The greatness of Reagan was largely in his ability to communicate his ideas in a palatable, humorous, and winsome manner.

Conservatives must use rhetoric and other arts if we are to have any chance at liberating our countrymen from the tyranny of technocrats.  I have struggled for many years with the proper balance of fiction and nonfiction. I figured that if I wanted to make a difference, I needed to consume as many facts possible regarding the issues I cared about.

This was a reasonable strategy, but it led me to devalue the arts. The great works of fiction in the Western Cannon can contend for the truth in a way that no whitepaper ever can. I came to the realization that if God saw fit to endow mankind with emotion and the capacity for inspiration, there must be elevated ways of experiencing these sensations even in the realm of ideas. I remembered that even Socrates called rhetoric “the handmaiden of philosophy” in the dialogue Gorgias.

The brilliant explication of man’s nature by Augustine needed the literary aid of a Dante. The paradoxical parodies of secularism contained in Orthodoxy needed the humorous accompaniment of The Ball and the Cross. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man needed the personification of Eustace in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

 The truth need not hide from the potentially obscuring powers of the arts. A truly holistic worldview incapable of beautiful description is a contradiction in terms.