Banishing Political Blindness: The Necessity of Beauty for a Flourishing Political Society

Using the thought of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, this paper will analyze the way in which this loss of the transcendentals has permeated society. Particularly through the distortion of the human person, I will show that this problem is affecting the very root of our society. More importantly, the way to reclaim the transcendentals and work towards rebuilding our society is to recognize the need for beauty. What beauty does is open the door to truth and goodness, and allows us to see the reality of who we are as human persons. In order to address the problem impeding the flourishing of American society, we must recognize and promote a correct understanding of beauty.