Moral and artistic value, narrative and history, Bob Dylan, and more.

1: The autobiography of Charles Darwin.

Darwin on his education:

I have been told that I was much slower in learning than my younger sister Catherine, and I believe that I was in many ways a naughty boy. […]

As I was doing no good at school, my father wisely took me away at a rather earlier age than usual, and sent me (October 1825) to Edinburgh University…The instruction at Edinburgh was altogether by Lectures, and these were intolerably dull. […]

During the three years which I spent at Cambridge my time was wasted, as far as the academical studies were concerned, as completely as at Edinburgh and at school.

2: The Philosophy of Art by Stephen Davies, chapter 8: “The Value of Art.”

Why we care. Some art is good, and plenty more is bad, and the standards by which this is determined come from—where? It’s not crazy to think that people’s reasons for seeking out art help determine those standards. Section 4 of this book begins with the proposal that a big reason is pleasure. But Davies does not like this idea: