In an essay called Roberta, from a book called Chronicles of a liquid society, Umberto Eco tries to explain why we are angry when athletes succeed with the help of chemistry, but think it is OK when artists use it for creative purposes. It is elementary, Eco writes, in sports we are interested in the person behind the result, in arts we are interested in the result, not the person. Trying to leave nothing unexplained, Eco gives the following examples:
> if football was firing balls into the goal by a cannon, football would lose all interest;
> if a monkey could write The Divine Comedy, then the book would still be miraculous.
If we are willing to think a little more, we can reach other conclusions about:
Football
In football we are interested in the goals, not the persons, which is why we watch football regularly, but read biographies of football stars once every 10 years.
Art
Think about supply and demand! If monkeys could write books like The Divine Comedy, then (due to the abundant supply) no one would think that their writings are divine.
> if football was firing balls into the goal by a cannon, football would lose all interest;
> if a monkey could write The Divine Comedy, then the book would still be miraculous.
If we are willing to think a little more, we can reach other conclusions about:
Football
In football we are interested in the goals, not the persons, which is why we watch football regularly, but read biographies of football stars once every 10 years.
Art
Think about supply and demand! If monkeys could write books like The Divine Comedy, then (due to the abundant supply) no one would think that their writings are divine.
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