MofH

"...to how questions about abstract art and ways of coping with worries relate to left/right or authoritarian/libertarian."

My take on it (having been exposed to MUCH authoritarian teaching in my youth)----it comes from an acceptance of absolutes in aesthetics.

Therefore, if you agree with the premise it should score you some pretty heavy "authoritarian" points on the scale.

We in the arts (whether music or visual) have all been exposed to authoritarian thinking that doesn't stop at the borders of their own taste----they must also impune the tastes of those who claim to find beauty/value in things they(the authoritarian ones) don't understand.