• Steve
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    8 months ago

    That depends on what you mean by “worth”.
    Paintings and sculptures aren’t really “worth anything” in pretty much the same way.
    What’s a movie “worth” for that matter?

    • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      8 months ago

      Paintings and sculptures are individual artistic creations. You might be able to say such things about mass produced replicas, but not art itself.

      • Steve
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        Art itself could be considered the idea. The individual physical creation would be merely an expression of that idea. Does mass production dilute that idea or it’s “worth”?

        • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          8
          ·
          8 months ago

          It disseminates the idea and dilutes the worth, because worth is tied to scarcity.

          • Steve
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            17
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            8 months ago

            And I think that’s our primary point of disagreement. I don’t care how scarce something is.

            In fact not quite 30min ago, I flushed something unique down the toilet because it was worthless to me. While the toilet I flush it with, is worth quite a lot to me, even though it’s very common and and found everywhere in my country. In fact if it was scarce, even unique, it might be entirely worthless.

            • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              8
              ·
              8 months ago

              You can disagree all you want but value is absolutely and always associated with (at least perceived) scarcity.

              • Steve
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                9
                arrow-down
                3
                ·
                8 months ago

                Only sometimes. Not always. The value of many things comes with commonality. Social media for example would be worthless for only one person.

              • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                4
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                8 months ago

                I think this is a matter of terminology.

                You’re talking monetary value/worth only. They’re talking about value and worth in a broader sense.

                • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  4
                  ·
                  8 months ago

                  Even there, something gets MORE worth when it’s used again, even to sit on a shelf and look pretty.

                  • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    3
                    arrow-down
                    1
                    ·
                    8 months ago

                    That, my homie, is a matter of perspective. Things can have value/worth without that as well. It ascribes value a weight based on usage rather than money. Which is fine! Value is relatively relative ;)

                    Things can have value/worth without a connection to a human’s perception of that thing. It gets pretty nebulous and woo-woo, but the principle is valid.

                    I guess what I’m also saying is that utilitarian thinking isn’t the only way to approach the discussion. But I’m also saying that utilitarian thinking is a valid part of the discussion. But when it comes down to utilitarian versus non utilitarian, it isn’t a discussion, it’s an argument about being right. Which is what the thread turned into towards the end.