>>>"If you look at "Aristotle contemplating the bust of Homer" and don't think it's one of the greatest paintings ever created, we can't have a useful discussion about painting because it's self-evident to me that it is."
>>>That doesn't say you're wrong, but instead it says we'd be wasting time discussing it.
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>Aristotle, you say? Then let me quote Plato's Allegory of the Cave. :-) The cave dwellers spend their days interpreting and naming shadows cast on a blank wall by a flickering fire behind them. According to Socrates (quoted by Plato) the cave dwellers are satisfied with their perceptions of reality and have no desire to leave the cave... until one day they break their bonds, exit, and discover the Sun.
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As I recall it (eons later) it was the philosopher kings would could see what was really happening. That always seemed arrogant to this scion of working class Irish folk.

My philosophy 101 prof told us that we can only be sure that A=B or something other than B- not very helpful.




>Who is the cave dweller? Who can say, but even if I'm 100% confident that a certain kind of flicker is produced by a particular sky goddess or orange-colored demon, I choose to wonder whether it's actually just collapsing embers in a fire that is not the ultimate source of light or reality in the universe.
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>As for great art: when I was young and full of passion, I stood spellbound for over an hour before a painting of a medieval onion seller. I was devastated that such a beautiful creature lived and died in abject poverty before I had a chance to sweep her away to the new life of prosperity and happiness she deserved. In later years I searched for the painting again, hoping to re-ignite those youthful passions, but I could never find her and even the Great Google didn't seem to know her. She wasn't Sargent's version, she was dressed in ragged clothes on a street, with strings of onions and a blend of hope and resignation at her lowly station in her eye. Ah, youth.