AESTHETICS:
theory of beauty, the philosophy of art, recently it has broadened to include the careful analysis of different aspects of art
WHAT!?!?!
It has multiple meanings and theories!?!?! Here we go!!!
Philosophically Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that questions what is art? What counts toward something being art?
It's the systemic training in "right thinking" and "right feeling" in the matters of art that have developed in time. Art, culture, artifacts have all become one.
Plato (4th cent BCE): the essence of beauty is attainable through philosophical reflection
Plotinus: Being is desirable because it is identical with beauty, and beauty is loved because it is being.
We ourselves possess beauty when we are true to our own being, ugliness us in going over to another side, knowing ourselves we are beautiful, in self ignorance is ugly.
Immanuel Kant... oh but you can!!
18th century
thought the the CONTENT is not of AESTHETIC VALUE
Art was IMPURE bc
Aesthetic Attitude
what light/lens/perspective are you going to approach the work?
Beauty
Objective approach: asserts that beauty can be located in or is an INTRINSIC part of the object. Something POSSESS BEAUTY, IS BEAUTIFUL.
subjective approach: identifies the beautiful as that which pleases the observer or in an INTRINSIC part of the OBSERVER"S experience ( Beauty is in the eye of the beholder)
QUESTION: Is beauty IN the OBJECT or in the OBSERVER of the object?
Immanuel kant believes Beauty is neither objective or subjective, it is the combination of the human observer and the observed, crating a new meaning together.
5 reasons to regard Beauty
1) Existence is analogous to the good and truth it symbolizes.
This means...
2)Looking at a beautiful thing for its beauty, foster in us certain intuitions that other faces don't
3) Encourages contemplatives, appreciative and Patient attitude
4) The appreciation of beauty in nature and art not only the easiest spiritual exercise, it is also a completely adequate entry into the good life since it is the checking of selfishness in the interest of seeing the real.
5) One of the intrinsic qualities of beauty is that it cannot be deconstructed into contingent parts. Beauty cannot deconstruct itself, cannot have itself broken down into elements or allow its forms to become a possession of pure consciousness.
Socrates 3 aesthetic categories:
Ideal beauty: Montage of preferred parts (physical)
Spiritual beauty: expresses soul through the eyes, how the characteristics of soul is charm, sweetness, amiability, pleasantness, attractiveness...
Functional Beauty: all things capable of being used by man are considered at once beautiful and good with respect to the things they happen to be useful for
Mathematical theory : beauty in proportion, idea that harmonious proportions and ratios communicated directly to the human psyche and the power of transformationa nd transcendence (body and mind connected and effeted by look/ beauty)
QUESTION: Sound vs. vision-- can sound be beautiful???
Critical Lens:
https://sites.google.com/a/seq.org/yearbook-2015-2016-frivold/critical-lenses