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About this quote

What does it mean?
How we judge art depends on our view of life's meaning, which is shaped by religion's definitions of good and evil.
In plain terms
We judge art based on what religion says is good or evil.
What can you take from it?
Religious views shape how we value art.

Where it applies

  • critiquing art
  • moral reasoning
  • religious study

Putting it to work

  • understanding context
  • evaluating values

Questions to consider

  • How do you judge art?
  • Does religion influence art?

Another view

Not all art judgments rely on religious beliefs.

More from Leo Tolstoy

  1. Some teachers of mankind - as Plato... the first Christians, the orthodox Muslims, and the Buddhists - have gone so far as to repudiate art. ...[They consider …

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  2. Humanity unceasingly strives forward from a lower, more partial and obscure understanding of life to one more general and more lucid. And in this, as in every …

    Permalink to quote #64
  3. The activity of art is... as important as the activity of language itself, and as universal.

    Permalink to quote #61

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