The Claritas Initiative

The preliminary work of the initiative involves retrieving the rich reflection on the transcendentals that has taken place throughout history. The Catholic intellectual tradition contains insights that are particularly valuable for this project at the University of St. Thomas, but these ideas can be found in other religious and philosophical traditions around the world.

A substantive concept of beauty is especially needed. Beauty is often regarded as trivial ornamentation today, and the rigorous reflection on it one finds in the tradition has been obscured. The initiative's efforts therefore focus particularly on rehabilitating beauty in accord with the views found within the tradition. In these deeper understandings, beauty pertains to much more than surface-level appearance. For instance, beauty can involve moral integrity, such that one perceives a person's goodness through that person's beauty. Along similar lines, the beauty of a thing can reveal its innermost structures (its truth). When beauty is again regarded in this more substantive way, then, goodness and truth become re-enlivened, and their desirability becomes palpably clear.

Although the initiative's efforts involve retrieval, its work is ultimately forward-looking in that it creatively applies insights from the tradition to address contemporary challenges through various interdisciplinary projects. Fields as diverse as environmental studies, psychology, law, engineering, ethics, physics, art history, literature, and education can all be illuminated through reflection on beauty in particular, and the transcendentals more broadly.

In response to the degradation of our natural environment, some observe that things seen as beautiful are not often debased; instead, their beauty provokes the realization that they have an inherent value that must be preserved and nurtured. It is for reasons such as these that Pope Francis holds, "If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs" (Laudato Si', §11). In this understanding, beauty has utmost relevance for how one treats the natural world.

Within contemporary science, one finds recognition that beauty plays a crucial role in discerning scientific truth. As Nobel-Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman puts it, "You can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity." In addition to being a guide for scientific discovery, beauty offers a corrective to the much-bemoaned disenchantment of the cosmos that has taken place during modernity. The notion that beauty is one of the most fundamental features of the world stands to re-enchant contemporary cosmology and foster reverence toward the natural world.

The connections between ethics and aesthetics are particularly rich and multifaceted, and they aid enormously in cultivating the "culture of encounter" that is especially important at the University of St. Thomas. Some contemporary ethicists lament the modern separation of ethics from aesthetics, as it has led to a reductive view of the good as grim fulfillment of a duty that is imposed from without. The claim that beauty and goodness are intimately related, however, leads to the notion that the good, like the beautiful, is inherently desirable. One does good, in other words, not out of obligation, but because one deeply wants to bring it about. Other possibilities for integrating aesthetics and ethics begin with the idea that right ethical relations have symmetry (an aesthetic value) as one of their foremost elements. Such a view has implications for models of justice and the practice of law, among other things.

Within psychology, a growing body of research is finding that experiences of beauty and awe have a positive impact on emotional well-being. Awe often involves an encounter with vastness that leads to connection with a world beyond oneself. That movement outside of the self is regarded as a powerful counter to the isolation and narcissism that plague our age. Additionally, recent studies have shown that experiences of beauty play an important role for those struggling with anxiety and depression, further demonstrating its relevance.

In its essence, journalism is about making the world a better place. The very first principle in the ethics code of the Society of Professional Journalists is "Seek truth and report it." Journalism that is good and true is essential for public enlightenment, "the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy." But the very best journalism is also beautiful. It invites us into the story, connects us with its subjects, makes us think, moves us emotionally, and ultimately reveals deeper truths about the human experience. Beautiful journalism doesn't only change the world, it changes us.

Challenges facing universities today include the fragmentation of learning and the transactional view of education among students. However, when that which is learned is seen for its beauty, goodness, and truth, connections among various subjects come into view, and one gains an appreciation of the "circle of knowledge," as John Henry Newman describes the unity formed by the academic disciplines. Perhaps more importantly, the objects of one's study are appreciated for their inherent value, not because of the benefits they confer. Beauty has a particular ability to foster a deep love for learning for its own sake. Theories of education can therefore be valuably informed by reflection on the transcendentals.