--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: So is fighting incompleteness the source…" description: "\"So is fighting incompleteness the source of artistic neurosis? I doubt it. At most, this would apply to artists who deal with particular kinds of probl..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/297/philip-kitcher-4028_art_so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source_1266800.jpg" --- # So is fighting incompleteness the source of artistic… ![“So is fighting incompleteness the source of artistic neurosis? I doubt it. At most, this would apply to artists who deal with particular kinds of problems. I don't think we should think of Haydn or Mozart or Dickens or George Eliot in these terms.” quote by Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/297/philip-kitcher-4028_art_so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source_1266800.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/297/philip-kitcher-4028_art_so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source_1266800.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/297/philip-kitcher-4028_art_so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source_1266800.jpg) > “So is fighting incompleteness the source of artistic neurosis? I doubt it. At most, this would apply to artists who deal with particular kinds of problems. I don't think we should think of Haydn or Mozart or Dickens or George Eliot in these terms.” [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Artistic incompleteness can fuel creativity, but not all artists experience it as neurosis; context matters. **In simple terms:** Incomplete art can inspire, not always cause distress. Key Takeaway Embrace gaps as creative space. Themes art creativity incompleteness neurosis context Mood analytical inquisitive reflective Type philosophical critical exploratory When to use this quote - studio practice - creative writing - art criticism - personal reflection Key Concepts philosophy of art psychology of creativity Questions to Reflect On - Does incompleteness spark your creativity? - When does it become a hindrance? A Different Perspective Not all artistic fields respond similarly; some may thrive on completeness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Artistic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artistic/) [Artistic Neurosis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artistic-neurosis-4045872/) [Deals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deals/) [Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dickens/) [Doubt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doubt/) [Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eliot/) [Fighting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fighting/) [Fighting Incompleteness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fighting-incompleteness-4045875/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/george-eliot/) [Incompleteness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incompleteness/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Neurosis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/neurosis/) [Neurosis Doubt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/neurosis-doubt-4045873/) [Particular](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/particular/) [Problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problem/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Source](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/source/) [Term](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/term/) [Think Haydn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-haydn-4045874/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [Great literature has always been written in a like spirit, and is, indeed, the Forgiveness of Sin, and when we find it becoming the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/great-literature-has-always-been-written-in-a-like-spirit-and-is/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/love-never-dies-a-natural-death-it-dies-because-we-don-t-know-how-to-3/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [I am not a pessimist but a pejorist (as George Eliot said she was not an optimist but a meliorist); and that philosophy is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-housman/i-am-not-a-pessimist-but-a-pejorist-as-george-eliot-said-she-was-not/) [A. E. Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-housman/) > [At university, one of my areas of study was Victorian literature, so I decided to see if I could write a novel as carefully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-faber/at-university-one-of-my-areas-of-study-was-victorian-literature-so-i/) [Michel Faber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-faber/) > [“The golden moments īn the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; The angels come to visit us, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-white/the-golden-moments-n-the-stream-of-life-rush-past-us-and-we-see/) [Karen White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-white/) > [Writers in the nineteenth century - people like George Eliot and Flaubert - were accustomed to addressing particular communities with which they shared not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/writers-in-the-nineteenth-century-people-like-george-eliot-and/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [“When you asked me to speak about women and fiction I sat down on the banks of a river and began to wonder what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/when-you-asked-me-to-speak-about-women-and-fiction-i-sat-down-on-the/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [But you know, where did the Brontes go to college? Where did George Eliot go to college? Where did Thomas Paine or Thomas Jefferson…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamaica-kincaid/but-you-know-where-did-the-brontes-go-to-college-where-did-george/) [Jamaica Kincaid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamaica-kincaid/) > [I won't go so far as to say that novels sell in inverse proportion to their worth, for just occasionally, someone like Dickens or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/i-won-t-go-so-far-as-to-say-that-novels-sell-in-inverse-proportion-to/) [Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/) > [“The angels come to visit us,          and we only know them   when they are gone.     —George Eliot”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-brashares/the-angels-come-to-visit-us-and-we-only-know-them-when-they-are-gone/) [Ann Brashares](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-brashares/) > [“What then? Are we only to buy the books that we read? The question has merely to be thus bluntly put, and it answers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-bennett/what-then-are-we-only-to-buy-the-books-that-we-read-the-question-has/) [Arnold Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-bennett/) > [For me a Writing Day was an occasion for self-reproach and panic, a time to lament the passing of the years, stare out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/for-me-a-writing-day-was-an-occasion-for-self-reproach-and-panic-a/) [Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/) > [“Middlemarch is a novel that is diminished by being put on the screen. It can't help but be, because so much of what we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/middlemarch-is-a-novel-that-is-diminished-by-being-put-on-the-screen/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [“consciousness. Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton (1848) and North and South (1855), Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley (1849), George Eliot’s Silas Marner (1861) and many other such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-hegarty/consciousness-elizabeth-gaskell-s-mary-barton-1848-and-north-and/) [Neil Hegarty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-hegarty/) > [“Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another. George Eliot”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-canfield/blessed-is-the-influence-of-one-true-loving-human-soul-on-another/) [Jack Canfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-canfield/) ## More by Philip Kitcher > [I'm a fan of Hugh Kenner, Richard Ellman, Lionel Trilling and Frank Kermode. All these people have taught me how to read - but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/i-m-a-fan-of-hugh-kenner-richard-ellman-lionel-trilling-and-frank/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [Refined religion is aimed at realizing ethical values, including the fostering of human lives and human communities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/refined-religion-is-aimed-at-realizing-ethical-values-including-the/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [Many of the greatest works of philosophy seem to me to be valuable not because of their arguments, but because they offer us perspectives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/many-of-the-greatest-works-of-philosophy-seem-to-me-to-be-valuable/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [As I read Mann in German for the first time, the full achievement - both literary and philosophical - of Death in Venice struck…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/as-i-read-mann-in-german-for-the-first-time-the-full-achievement-both/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [Look at Mann's reading habits, his explicit comments on Nietzsche, and his copy of Birth of Tragedy, and it starts to seem doubtful that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/look-at-mann-s-reading-habits-his-explicit-comments-on-nietzsche-and/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [My ethical naturalism sees us as facing the predicament of being social animals without evolved adaptations that make social life easy. The fundamental problem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/my-ethical-naturalism-sees-us-as-facing-the-predicament-of-being/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [So my methodological approach is to draw on many different features in highlighting different facets of the novella (and the opera and the film).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/so-my-methodological-approach-is-to-draw-on-many-different-features/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [In my view, we ought to replace the notion of analytic philosophy by that of synthetic philosophy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/in-my-view-we-ought-to-replace-the-notion-of-analytic-philosophy-by/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [Philosophers ought to aspire to know lots of different things and to forge useful synthetic perspectives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/philosophers-ought-to-aspire-to-know-lots-of-different-things-and-to/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [The balance between literature and philosophy in Schopenhauer and Nietzsche is different from that struck in the novella, but, as Mann clearly pointed out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/the-balance-between-literature-and-philosophy-in-schopenhauer-and/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [I don't think that anything of any consequence is known a priori: all our knowledge is built up by modifying the lore passed on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/i-don-t-think-that-anything-of-any-consequence-is-known-a-priori-all/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [Because the problems are objective features of the human situation - social animals without the capacities for making social life come easily - ethics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/because-the-problems-are-objective-features-of-the-human-situation/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [I'm very concerned about the increasing distortion of research by the intrusion of the market. Universities are beginning to see science as a means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/i-m-very-concerned-about-the-increasing-distortion-of-research-by-the/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [There's a disciplined erotic component to it, so that the height of sexual contact is the embrace, the modest touch, a relatively chaste kiss.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/there-s-a-disciplined-erotic-component-to-it-so-that-the-height-of/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) > [The classical allusions and the Platonic disquisitions on beauty are no longer a form of cover, but integral to Aschenbach's complex sexuality. Moreover, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/the-classical-allusions-and-the-platonic-disquisitions-on-beauty-are/) [Philip Kitcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) [Explore all 117 Philip Kitcher quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "So is fighting incompleteness the source of artistic neurosis? I doubt it. At most, this would apply to artists who deal with particular kinds of problems. I don't think we should think of Haydn or Mozart or Dickens or George Eliot in these terms.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Kitcher" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source-of-artistic-neurosis-i-doubt/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source-of-artistic-neurosis-i-doubt/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/297/philip-kitcher-4028_art_so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source_1266800.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/297/philip-kitcher-4028_art_so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source_1266800.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/297/philip-kitcher-4028_art_so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source_1266800.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“So is fighting incompleteness the source of artistic neurosis? I doubt it. At most, this would apply to…” — Philip Kitcher", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Philip Kitcher", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kitcher/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "So is fighting incompleteness the source...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source-of-artistic-neurosis-i-doubt/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kitcher/so-is-fighting-incompleteness-the-source-of-artistic-neurosis-i-doubt/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```