If at any time, from the period 1750 - 1930, you were to ask the cultured people of that time, "What is the purpose of poetry, art, or music?", they would answer you: "Beauty!".
If you were to ask them, "Why beauty?" they would answer, "Because beauty is a value as important as truth and goodness." Later, in the 20th century, beauty ceased to be important.
At that time, art was more about causing concern and breaking moral taboos. As such, art was not about beauty, but about originality, regardless of how it was achieved and its moral costs. Not only has art turned ugliness into a cult, but architecture remains equally sterile.
Today, not only are the things that surround us ugly, but our language, music, and behaviors are also harsh, self-centered, and selfish, as if beauty and good taste no longer have a place in our lives.
There is only one word written in capitals on these things, and that is: ME! - my benefits, my desires, my pleasures. Art has no answer left to this except to say: "Yes, give! Go on!" I think we are losing beauty, and the danger that arises from this loss is that along with beauty, we will also lose the meaning of life.
I am Roger Scruton, a philosopher and writer. My profession is to ask questions. In recent years I have been asking questions about beauty. Beauty has been central to our civilization for almost 2,000 years. Since its beginnings in ancient Greece, philosophy has been concerned with the place of beauty in art, music, architecture, and our daily lives.
Philosophers have argued that through the pursuit of beauty we shape the world as a whole. This also helps us to understand our own nature and our spiritual being. But our world has turned its back on beauty. Because of this, we find ourselves surrounded by ugliness and destruction.
Source: BBC Documentary
I want to convince you of the importance of beauty, that it is not just something subjective, but a universal need of the human being. If we deny ourselves this need, then we will find ourselves in a spiritual desert. I want to show you the way out of this desert. It is the path that will lead you home.
