University philosopher Matthew Kieran, who kicks off a speaking tour at Tate Britain next month, has just published a book, Revealing Art, which poses the question: ‘Why do we care?’ The answer, he believes, lies in the ways in which art can cultivate insight, understanding and ways of seeing the world.

Revealing Art is a detailed discussion of art down the centuries, from Michelangelo to Gillian Wearing. “I love art, and see philosophy as a good means of trying to understand what makes one painting better than another,” Dr Kieran said.

His book considers issues including morality, aesthetics and disgust, and whether or not a work’s artistic value is linked to its moral value: “Sometimes a work can be a better piece of art by virtue of its immoral nature – for example some of the satirical cartoons by Gerald Scarfe can be very cruel, but that gives them their social bite.”

Beauty alone is not enough to make a work great, he concludes. “What matters is whether our responses are worthwhile. Is it banal, superficial or callow? If so, no matter how beautiful, then so much the worse for the work. Is it profound, interesting, suggestive, true to life or insightful? If so, all the better for it as art.”

Dr Kieran’s favourite piece of art is Michelangelo’s Pietà, which depicts Mary holding Christ when taken from the cross. “Earlier images of Christ were very disturbing – not only does this work display technical artistic development but it is beautifully redemptive rather than horrific.”

Dr Kieran will talk on The Value of Art at Tate Britain on April 20 with critic Professor John Carey and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, before setting out on a US tour.

For more information on Dr Kieran's talk at Tate Britain see their website.

Photo: Campus art – Dr Kieran with Eric Gill’s relief of Christ driving the money lenders from the temple. City leaders who commissioned the work as a first world war memorial were furious at the depiction of the outcast traders as contemporary industrial barons. The University intervened to save it from being destroyed and it is now pride of place in the Michael Sadler building