ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author argues that the liberalism of flourishing aims at creating the conditions that will allow individuals to develop their intellectual and moral capabilities, and then engagement with art is a primary means for doing that. He then discusses studies that have repeatedly indicated that the experience of engagement with art is confined to the middle and upper classes, to the exclusion of the lower classes. The author also argues that this situation creates a deficit of flourishing in the lives of the lower classes, and that this objectionable deficit needs to be remedied. The primary means of developing one's intellectual and moral capabilities is formal education. The liberalism of flourishing leads to the insight that developing one's intellectual and moral capabilities is a never-ending, lifelong project. The author argues that the issue of intellectual and moral development should be made a question of political philosophy, a question about the relationship of citizens with their states.
