What does “art for art's sake” actually mean? How does Whistler's lawsuit change the very nature of art?

It means to make something beautiful for no other reason than to be able appreciate it for the beauty, instead of for what commercial value it might have. It is to art what pure-research in science is to applied-research. Even through the most fundamental breakthroughs for the advancement of society come from pure research, where it's just for the knowledge with no targeted goal of using the discoveries to make money, still it gets criticized by those MBA types incapable of understanding science themselves (which is why they became MBAs and not scientists) who think that all research should be applied-research where only results that can show a profit should be pursued.

If Edison had had that attitude, he'd have invented a bigger candle. Likewise, advances in modern art did not happen because they had commissions from churches or from businesses needing a sculpture for their lobby... it came from people who were truly willing to truly experiment.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.