Dr. Seuss and Philosophy - Jacob M. Held [137]
What Do You Think? Will the Lorax Come Back?
Most readers seem to think of The Lorax as an environmental book—and it is, but it’s much more than that. Dr. Seuss gives us loving descriptions of “that glorious place” and its plants and animals and is clearly distraught at the harms done to them all. But what seems to be seldom recognized is that this book is also about the rights and responsibilities of businesses with regard to the natural environment. In this chapter, we’ve highlighted some key issues we think Dr. Seuss wanted his readers to consider when they read this story: Are there ethical limits to economic consumption? Can we replace our current focus on economic growth with a new emphasis on economic development? And can attention to the concept of long-term sustainability have positive impacts on both business and the environment? Dr. Seuss seems to have had some answers in mind when he wrote The Lorax, and his idea of the Lorax himself as someone who can “speak for the trees” might show us a way to address serious conflicts between business and the environment going forward—but, most importantly to us, this beautifully written and drawn book captures our attention and gets us thinking about these questions for ourselves.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Dr. Seuss Meets
Philosophical Aesthetics
Dwayne Tunstall
I can imagine some philosophers of art glancing at this chapter and thinking: Dr. Seuss is a well-known children’s book author, but for goodness sake, not a serious artist or aesthetic theorist. Choose someone more serious. Choose someone more scholarly. Just choose someone else. Besides, aren’t you contributing to the ghettoization of the field in the mainstream English-speaking philosophical community by introducing people to philosophical aesthetics using Dr. Seuss?
After getting reacquainted with some of the advertisements, children’s picture books, political cartoons, television adaptations of his picture books, and paintings Seuss created over the course of his lifetime, I realized that Seuss’s artworks are just the sort of art objects I should use to introduce people to philosophical aesthetics. Perhaps by introducing people to aesthetics using Dr. Seuss, they will see that philosophical aesthetics is not an esoteric discipline. Rather, philosophical theories of art can help people better appreciate artworks, some of which they’ve been acquainted with since childhood. After all, learning to better appreciate artworks enables us to be more sensitive to how the arts teach us to see the world differently than we normally would see it. For example, being mesmerized by the vivid reds of the Cat in the Hat’s hat and the bow tie worn by a cute humanoidlike cat takes us away from our everyday concerns. Reading books like The Cat in the Hat allows us to imagine ourselves watching an anarchist cat having fun juggling, violating virtually any and every household rule he can violate, causing trouble wherever he goes, yet cleaning up after himself once his fun is done. Exercising our imaginations this way is worthwhile in itself. Learning to appreciate things that exercise our imaginations in this manner is also worthwhile. If introducing people to aesthetics using Dr. Seuss further marginalizes philosophical aesthetics from the mainstream English-speaking philosophical community, then so be it. Introducing more people to philosophical aesthetics is worth that risk.
As a sign of respect to my colleagues in the field, I will introduce philosophical aesthetics using two of the more influential philosophies of art: Monroe Beardsley’s aesthetic theory of art and Arthur Danto’s philosophy of art. In addition, I will introduce a third influential aesthetic theory: cultural criticism.