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Abstract

Vol. 65, No. 2, pp. 113-125 (2014)

“Ruskin's Triangle —Neither Wealth nor Beauty but Life—”
Yuichi Shionoya (Emeritus Professor, Hitotsubashi University)

Most of studies Ruskin deal with his art theory and economic theory separately. This article intends to interpret his both discourses in a unified way from the viewpoint of Romanticism. While his economic theory is famously summarized in the thesis ‘No Wealth but Life’, the theory of art he worked on can be formalized as a thesis ‘No Beauty but Life.’ Thus we have a unified thesis ‘Neither Wealth nor Beauty but Life’, which may be called ‘Ruskin's Triangle’. I argue that the concept of Life is vital for unified knowledge of Ruskin; it is identified with its three aspects (Capability, Composition, and Labour) and linked with its six symbolic determinants (Admiration, Hope, and Love; Air, Water and Earth).