Assignment #3: Tolstoy

1. Read: Tolstoy "What is Art?"

Questions for consideration and discussion:

1. What is the source of Tolstoy's dissatisfaction with some art, including, for example, opera?

2. What is his view of the relationship between beauty and art? (And how might he respond to Nehamas?)

3. What is the significance of his food analogy for understanding art (that is, seeing pleasure as the purpose of food)?

4. How does he define art?

5. What determines the "infectiousness" of art?

6. What role does Tolstoy assign the "religious perception of [his] time"?

7. What are the limitations of his theory of art?

8. Anything else you want to discuss...