Introduction
Beauty in public space is not an aesthetic addition, but the foundation of community. The neglect of visual order in Poland—from aggressive advertising to kitschy architecture—represents a systemic lesson in contempt for the citizen. This article analyzes why aesthetic disorder leads to indifference toward the quality of law, politics, and social life. You will learn how the concepts of Roger Scruton, Immanuel Kant, and Leon Battista Alberti can help rebuild Polish space and why aesthetic education is crucial for building a responsible society.
Beauty as an Infrastructure of Meaning and the Foundation of Order
Beauty is not a luxury for the wealthy, but an infrastructure of meaning. Just as a solid bridge connects two riverbanks, a well-conceived form connects people, giving them the sense that the world is in its proper place. In architecture and public life, concinnitas—a concept introduced by Alberti meaning the harmony of parts that builds appropriateness and order—is of key importance. Unfortunately, Polish public space often betrays its citizens; visual chaos and supermarket aesthetics breed cynics incapable of building a community, as a state that tolerates ugliness teaches that anything goes.
The solution is minimal beauty: daily attention to detail, such as sensible typography, a tidy school, or a green square. Local government tools, including aesthetic codes and the strict standardization of advertising, are not a muzzle on freedom but its necessary scaffolding. True spatial patriotism grows from shared principles of appropriateness that protect us from visual homelessness and restore dignity to our cities.
Kitsch, Profanation, and the Rigor of the Judgment of Taste
Roger Scruton pointed to two main threats to culture: kitsch, which is cheap emotions "on credit," and profanation, which destroys the sacred through mockery. Both attitudes avoid responsibility for the form of communal life. A similar mechanism of degradation is visible in religious kitsch, where plastic figurines and mass production compromise the sacred instead of making it present. According to Kant, a true judgment of taste must be disinterested—we are delighted by the form of an object, not its utility. Such a judgment is not a report on one's mood, but a responsible proposal for seeing the world, offered to everyone.
This rigor of form allows us to distinguish erotica from pornography. Art (as in Titian) defends the freedom of the person through the individualization of the face, while pornography is profanation—it reduces the human being to an object and pure fantasy. An important complement to aesthetics is the sublime. As Edmund Burke noted, the confrontation with the vastness of nature builds human dignity, reminding us of our fragility but also our uniqueness. Without these categories, we become defenseless against the mediocrity permeating public institutions.
The School of Seeing: Form as Content in Education
Educational reform must bring about a school of seeing. Instead of mindless paper crafts, students need perception training: learning to notice the rhythm of townhouse facades, the play of light, or the tensions in a musical composition. This teaches the courage to issue one's own judgments and responsibility for the shape of the shared world. In art and music, form is identical to content. Eduard Hanslick argued that the meaning of music flows from the precise logic of structures, not from the "gossip of emotions." Investing in craftsmanship and technique instead of buying cheap thrills is the only way to build a lasting cultural identity and resilience to kitsch.
Summary
In the pursuit of pragmatism and momentary profit, are we losing what truly binds a community together? Beauty is a responsibility that begins at the micro scale—from a tidied room to the quality of a sidewalk and the legibility of signs. If the state and institutions promote ugliness, we will not build a mature society. It is time to make aesthetics the foundation of politics and daily practice. Are we ready to undertake the effort of working on form to regain a sense of belonging and meaning in the world that surrounds us?
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