The World Viewed by Stanley Cavell
It was when I came to see that these are not separate questions—that the answer to the question “What is the importance of art?” is grammatically related to, or is a way of answering, the question “What is art?”— that I came to an understanding of what Tolstoy was talking about, and came to comprehend further ranges in my caring about art. Tolstoy knew its saving importance; that is how he knew that whatever importance the rich are likely to attach to art, it is not the true importance of art; and why he cared that the poor (most people) attach no importance at all to it. I assume that what Tolstoy saw was there to be seen, and that it is more evident now than when he wrote, if less apparent.
