Knowing ourselves seems to be the foundation for everything. It is important to question, and be critical of the thoughts, actions and beliefs that resonate with us. Such contemplation is crucial to continual self-development and sanity. Thus, madness can be partly seen as obliviousness, or in history it was highlighted as forgetting. If we forgot what had made us happy, are we mad?
I’m fascinated by moral integrity, greed and art. I also have mixed feelings about didacticism, especially in art. My question stems from a recent ethics forum centred on Art and Ethics where an esteemed ethicist provoked the audience with the statement that the only ethical art was one that instructed or commented on Climate Change (and/or social inequality).
Public discourse on politically contested matters—like climate change, refugees, distribution of resources, etc.—seems to be at a low ebb. We need to find ways to address these issues constructively if we are to have any hope of meeting the challenges of the coming years. But how can we be a part of the solution and not just a part of the problem?