Can Art Be Divorced from Politics?

摘要

An issue that has been debated since the time of Socrates is "Can art or philosophy be divorced from politics?" Self-proclaimed defenders of what they term "pure art" have selected as their favorite target the informal ban for many years of the music of German composer Richard Wagner by Israeli radio and television. Of course, one should not hold Richard Wagner guilty for the sins committed by the Nazis but these spokesmen of "true art" believe that one must distinguish the artist's political views from the aesthetic quality of his art and have often criticized any "censorship" of art for political reasons. They argue that the distorted use of Wagner's music for Nazi political goals is irrelevant to an appreciation of the qualities of "pure music," i.e., its sound, melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.