"Norms and Ideals"
Every culture possesses a set of more or less compulsory rules aimed at organising social coexistence. These are expressed through a variety of media: religious or judicial texts, as well as art, literature, or philosophical discourse. Such medial representations range from religious, ecclesiastical, or secular judicial texts, to behavioural rules (e.g. catalogues of virtues) and notions of a good life, to concepts of an ideal king or the ‘ideal beauty’. Throughout these domains of artistic expression, authors have at times strived towards such standards, reinforced them, or put them up for discussion.
