The Arc of Justice

Traditionally, aesthetics is mainly associated with art. However, according to principles of pragmatist aesthetics, a new ‘theory’ of perceiving beauty, aesthetics does not have to be solely associated with art or artworks and aesthetic feelings that accompany them. According to the theses of pragmatist aesthetics, the de-aestheticization of art and the aestheticization of everyday life is progressing. Therefore, aesthetic needs that are not satisfied by art can be fulfilled in other ways, by means of objects and phenomena that surround the recipient. As a result, law, omnipresent in everyday life, has become an object of aesthetics. There is no doubt that in the history of painting, sculpture, literature and film we may find many examples of works in which the broadly understood problems of law were the source of artistic inspiration. Law may therefore be a medium for art and, like art, influence its recipients, shaping their perception of law precisely through the way it is presented in a given work. Stories about law and justice contained therein seem to have a special place here. Such stories are unique in that they can combine elements of different arts with elements of other arts, creating a unique vision of the world and law that cannot necessarily be described through art. One of these is the story of the arc of justice. L’arco della giustizia esemplare is a reflection of exemplary justice enchanted in the legend of love and death (Sect. 1). The exemplary justice associated with the arc of justice is all the more interesting because it is based on the ruthlessness of a settlement that may even frighten some people. People speak of this type of justice with mixed feelings, and lawyers currently rather reject it. However, the ruthlessness of ideal justice continues to fascinate (Sects. 1, 2). The law that is based on this concept is not unequivocally judged, and the experience of beauty associated with it does not lend itself to the traditional explicite or implicite aesthetic approaches, nor do analytical, hermeneutic, existential or phenomenological aesthetic approaches hold much promise. One cannot count on the Frankfurt School to define this kind of aesthetic experience either (Sects. 3–7). However, we may try to grasp the aesthetic experience as a dynamic combination of such elements as accumulation, tension, behaviour, expectation, fulfilment or emotional intensity. Certain perceptions and understandings are given to us directly without reflective distance or conceptual analysis. We experience meanings that are not linguistic in nature and we understand linguistic expressions without interpretation (Sect. 8). This approach makes art valued by itself and allows something that was not art before to become art (Sects. 9, 10).