Aboriginal Aesthetics

ancient-greek-aestheticsIt could be argued that 'ancient aesthetics' is an anachronistic term, since aesthetics as a discipline originated in 18th century Germany. However, there is considerable prove that ancient Greek and Roman philosophers discussed and theorised about the nature and value of aesthetic properties. They also undoubtedly contributed to the development of the later on tradition because many classical theories were inspired past ancient thought; and, therefore, aboriginal philosophers' contributions to the discussions on art and beauty are role of the traditions of aesthetics.

The aboriginal Greek philosophical tradition starts with the pre-Socratic philosophers. In nigh cases, at that place is little evidence of their engagement with art and dazzler, with the one notable exception of the Pythagoreans. In the Classical menstruum, two prominent philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, emerged. They correspond an of import phase in the history of aesthetics. The bug they raised and the concepts they introduced are well known and discussed fifty-fifty today.

The three major philosophical schools in the Hellenistic period (the Epicureans, the Stoics and the Sceptics) inherited a certain philosophical calendar from Plato and Aristotle while at the same time presenting counterarguments and developing singled-out stances. Their contributions to aesthetics are not every bit famous and, in some cases, are significantly smaller than those of their predecessors, yet in certain respects, they are just as important. In late artifact, the emergence of Neoplatonism marks another prominent indicate in the aesthetic tradition. Neoplatonists were self-proclaimed followers of Plato, yet starting with the founder of the school, Plotinus, Neoplatonists advocated many distinctly original views, some of them in aesthetics, that proved to be enduringly influential.

The history of ancient Greek aesthetics covers centuries, and during this time numerous nuanced arguments and positions were developed. In terms of theories of dazzler, however, it is possible to allocate the theories into iii singled-out groups: those that attribute the origin of dazzler to proportion, those that attribute it to functionality and those that attribute the Form as the cause of beauty. This nomenclature ought not to be understood equally a hard-and-fast distinction amidst philosophical schools, but as a way of pinpointing some major theoretical trends. Oftentimes, philosophers apply a combination of these positions, and many original innovations are due to the convergence and interaction among them.

Aboriginal philosophers were also the authors of some of the more than notable concepts in the philosophy of art. The notions of catharsis, sublimity and mimesis originated in antiquity and have played a office in aesthetics e'er since then.

Table of Contents

  1. Ancient Aesthetics: Methodological Issues
    1. Aesthetics in Artifact
    2. To Kalon
  2. 3 Types of Theories near the Origin of Dazzler
    1. Proportion
      1. Pythagoreans
      2. Plato and Aristotle
      3. The Stoics
    2. Functionality
      1. Xenophon
      2. Hippias Major
      3. Aristotle
      4. The Stoics
    3. Course
      1. Plato
      2. Plotinus
  3. Philosophy of Fine art
    1. Mimesis
      1. Plato
      2. Aristotle
    2. Criticism of Arts
      1. Plato
      2. Epicureans
    3. Catharsis
    4. Sublime
  4. References and Further Reading
    1. Primary Sources
    2. Secondary Sources

ane. Ancient Aesthetics: Methodological Issues

a. Aesthetics in Antiquity

1 of the most important foundational bug about aboriginal aesthetics is the question of whether the very concept of 'aboriginal aesthetics' is possible. It is generally considered that aesthetics as a discipline emerged in the xviiith century. To speak of ancient Greek and Roman aesthetics, therefore, would be an anachronism. Furthermore, there are certain differences between aboriginal and mod approaches to the philosophical study of beauty and fine art that make them distinct projects. These differences were outlined and discussed by Oskar Kristeller, an influential critic of ancient aesthetics, who suggested that the ancients' interest in moral, religious, and practical aspects of works of art—combined with their lack of group the fine arts into a single category and presenting philosophical interpretations on that basis—means that aesthetics was not a philosophical discipline in antiquity (Kristeller 1951: 506).

Kristeller'south critique is notwithstanding oft quoted and discussed in works that bargain with the ancients' ideas on arts and beauty. The question of how uniform ancient and modernistic methodologies are remains a relevant issue. At the same time, Kristeller's view has been challenged by a number of compelling arguments in xxth and early-21st century scholarship.

A number of arguments against Kristeller's interpretation of the aesthetic tradition have been raised. These arguments likewise pinpoint some of the central concepts that ancient philosophers used. Stephen Halliwell criticised Kristeller's argument by pointing out that, start, the notion of mimesis was a much more unified concept of art than Kristeller allows (see below for a more detailed explanation of mimesis). Second, the 18th-century category of fine fine art, established in such works as Batteux'due south Les beaux arts réduits à un même principe (1746), relied on the mimetic tradition, although later the focus shifted towards different conceptions of fine art (Halliwell 2002: vii–viii). Peponi afterward refuted Kristeller's claims by pointing out that ancient Greek thinkers grouped activities we call fine arts and, moreover, were interested in the effects produced by the cute properties of, for instance, verse (Peponi 2012: 2–half-dozen).

James Porter has also criticised Kristeller's premises and conclusions on iii different grounds: Kristeller's historical account is non the simply ane possible; "the modernistic system of arts" is not as lucent a category as Kristeller makes information technology out to exist; and it does non follow that the existence of the concept of fine arts indicates the emergence of aesthetic theory (Porter 2009). In improver to this, it has been argued that the ideas of Plato and Aristotle are not only relevant to the preoccupations of modern philosophers but also address the foundational questions of aesthetics and philosophy of fine art (Halliwell 1991).

b. To Kalon

Another methodological issue concerning ancient aesthetics is a linguistic ane, namely the translation and conceptualisation of the term to kalon (honestum in Latin) whose meaning contains some ambiguity. The event at pale is the question of when this term tin and cannot exist read and translated as an artful one. The Greek language has a rich vocabulary of terms that are uncontroversially artful, but to kalon, a fairly popular term in philosophical texts, has a range of meanings from 'beauty' to 'existence appropriate.' The problem arises especially in upstanding discussions, when the context does not make it articulate whether the usage of the term to kalon ought to be understood equally aesthetic or not.

It has been customary to translate to kalon in ethical contexts as 'fine' or something like. Early on 21st-century thinkers have argued, however, that to kalon and like Greek and Latin terms (to prepon in Greek; honestum and decorum in Latin) ought to exist read every bit aesthetic concepts. The translations that ignore the aesthetic aspect of these terms may not capture their meaning accurately (Bychkov 2010: 176). Or, more specifically, the use of to kalon in Aristotle's works oft has aesthetic meaning and, therefore, can be translated every bit 'beautiful' (Kraut 2013). At the same time, some studies of Aristotle's employ of to kalon accept argued that the conceptualisation and translation of the term depend on the context in which it is found. In the context of ethical discussions, more neutral or upstanding translations ought to be preferred over artful ones (Irwin 2010: 389–396).

2. 3 Types of Theories about the Origin of Dazzler

a. Proportion

The thought that beauty in any given object originates from the proportion of the parts of that object is 1 of the most straightforward ways of bookkeeping for beauty. The virtually standard term for cogent this theory is summetria, pregnant not bilateral symmetry, but good, appropriate or plumbing fixtures proportionality.

The idea that beauty derives from summetria is unremarkably attributed to the sculptor Polycleitus (5th cn. B.C.E.), who wrote a treatise entitled Canon containing a discussion of the exact proportions that generate dazzler and and then fabricated a statue, besides entitled Canon, exemplifying his theory. Little is known of Polycleitus' piece of work and ideas, just when the famous Roman architect Vitruvius used this notion in his De Architectura, he explained information technology in terms of specific numerical ratios. For case, in the man confront, the distance from the mentum to the crown of the head is an eighth role of the whole acme; the length of the pes is a sixth part of the top of the body, while the forearm is a fourth part. And so Vitruvius adds that aboriginal painters and sculptors achieved their renown past following these principles (Book 3.1.2). Information technology is likely that Polycleitus' treatise had like contents, such as a discussion of specific ratios that produce beauty in a human body, and was therefore useful for making sculptures of idealised human being forms.

i. Pythagoreans

Equally, if not more, pregnant for the philosophical tradition are Pythagorean ideas nearly the fundamentality of numbers. Of course, Pythagoreanism was far from a unified school of thought; diverse philosophers were given that name during artifact. The Pythagoreans referred to here are the philosophers active during the fiveth and fourth centuries B.C.Due east., such as Philolaus and Archytas.

Numbers, according to this strand of Pythagoreanism, underlie the basic ontological and epistemological structure of the world and, as a result, everything in the world can be explained in terms of numbers and the relationship between them, namely, proportion. Beauty is one of the properties that the Pythagorean philosophers use to support their doctrine, considering they claimed its presence can be fully explained in terms of numbers or, to be more precise, the proportion and harmony that is expressed in numerical relationships.

Sextus Empiricus recorded the Pythagorean argument that sculpture and painting achieve their ends past means of numbers, and thus art cannot exist without proportion and number. Art, the argument continues, is a system of perceptions and the system is reducible to a number (Sextus Empiricus Against the Logicians Volume 1.108–9).

The Pythagoreans had a well-known interest in music. The prove on this topic is wide-ranging: from the reputation of Pythagoras every bit the first one to pinpoint the mathematics underlying the Greek music scale to Socrates' remark in the Republic attributing to Pythagoras the claim that music and astronomy were sis sciences (Rep. 530D). Music is besides said to have a positive influence on a person's soul. Co-ordinate to a testimonial from Aristoxenus, music had an effect on a person's soul comparable to the effect that medicine has on a person's trunk (Diels, II. 283, 44). Arguably this part was attributed to music due to its existence an expression of the harmonizing influence of numbers.

ii. Plato and Aristotle

Although generally speaking, Plato is best classified as a Form Theorist, a small number of passages in the Ideal corpus propose a viewpoint derived from summetria, that is, a expert proportion or ratio of parts.

In the Timaeus, lacking summetria is associated with lacking dazzler (87D). Similarly, both in the Republic and the Sophist, beauty is said to derive from arrangements (R. 529D-530B and Sph. 235D–236A respectively). Plato's utilize of summetria raises the question of how this theory was supposed to part alongside the idea that beauty derives from the course of dazzler. Nigh probable, withal, there was no contradiction for Plato. Summetria is i of the properties that beautiful things have, rather than the crusade of beauty, which is its class. Summetria, also as such properties equally colour and shape, is one of the aspects that an object gains past partaking in the form.

The case is similar in the Aristotelian corpus. Aristotle named summetria one of the chief forms of beauty, alongside social club and definiteness (M 3.1078a30–b6). The context for this definition is the refutation of the view put forth by the sophist Aristippus who argued that mathematics has aught to say nigh the good and the cute (Chiliad 3.996a). Since the causes of aesthetic properties are describable in mathematical terms, mathematics does, in fact, accept something to say about these things. Similarly, in Physics, bodily beauty (kallos) is named as one of the excellences that depend on particular relations (Ph. 246b3–246b19), and in Topics, it is said to be a kind of summetria of limbs (Topics 116b21). The beautiful (to kalon) is also identified with beingness well arranged in On Universe (397a6).

At the same time, Aristotle did not think that summetria was a sufficient condition for beauty. He claimed that size was also necessary for dazzler. In Nicomachean Ethics four.3, beauty is said to imply a good-sized body, so that fiddling people might be well-proportioned, but non beautiful. The city also is required to be of a certain size before information technology tin can be called beautiful (Politics 7.4).

iii. The Stoics

Summetria assumed a much more pregnant function in Stoicism. The Stoics defined beauty as originating from the summetria of parts with each other and with the whole. Galen (On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato 5.3.17) attributes this definition to Chrysippus, the third head of the school, just all other testimonials describe information technology simply as the Stoic definition. This definition is meant to apply to both the beauty of the body and the beauty of the soul (Arius Didymus Epitome of Stoic Ethics 5b4–5b5 (Pomeroy); Stobaeus Ecl. 2.62, 15). Some sources suggest that in that location are additional conditions: for the former, colour, and for the latter, the stability or consistency of beliefs (Plotinus Ennead one.six.1; Cicero Tusculan Disputations  four.13.30). In many respects, the Stoics inherit this agreement of beauty from their predecessors, but it is worth noting that they also often invoked the notion of functional beauty. Stoics aesthetics, therefore, was likely a combination of functional and proportion theories.

b. Functionality

The theory of functional beauty is the idea that beauty originates in an object when that object performs its functions, achieves its end or fits its purpose, peculiarly when it is done particularly well, that is, excelling at the task of achieving that end. In an ancient philosophical context, this idea is besides oft associated with the notion of dependent beauty, which means an object is beautiful if it excels at functioning every bit the kind of object information technology is. It is also noteworthy that the Greek term to kalon, often—merely not e'er—used as an aesthetic term, can be used to announce beingness fitting or well-executed. The functionalist theory of dazzler might have been more linguistically intuitive to ancient Greeks than information technology is possible to convey in English language.

i. Xenophon

It is hard to aspect this theory to one particular philosopher, since functionalist arguments are fairly common in ancient philosophy texts. An example of functional theory can exist found in Xenophon's Memorabilia. Socrates commencement makes a point about dependent beauty by saying "a beautiful wrestler is dissimilar a beautiful runner, a shield beautiful for defense force is utterly unlike a javelin beautiful for swift and powerful hurling" (3.8.iv). And then he further develops this point by adding that "it is in relation to the same things that men's bodies look cute and good and that all other things men use are thought beautiful and good, namely, in relation to those things for which they are useful" (3.viii.5).

It is not obvious that the term to kalon employed hither is used in an aesthetic sense, merely a few lines down, information technology is said that "the house in which the owner can find a pleasant retreat at all seasons and tin can store his belongings safely is presumably at once the pleasantest and the most beautiful. Equally for paintings and decorations, they rob i of more than delights than they give" (3.8.ten). This remark highlights that the outcome at stake is artful phenomena, and that a much greater pleasure is to be gained from perceiving functionality rather than perceiving pleasing, yet artificial, colours (paintings) and structures.

2. Hippias Major

A functional definition of beauty is also found in Plato's dialogue Hippias Major. In this dialogue, Socrates engages in a give-and-take with Hippias, a sophist, in order to discover the definition of beauty. They each give a number of possible options, and one of them, proposed by Socrates, was a functional definition.

It is argued that stone, rather than ivory, is more beautiful as fabric for eye pupils in Pheidias' statue and that a fig woods ladle is much ameliorate suited and beautiful than a gold ane for making soup. Socrates proposes these two cases as objections to Hippias' proposal that dazzler is gold. By presenting 2 cases in which a dazzler-making property is not some inherent belongings of an object, only that object's functionality, Socrates rejects Hippias' suggestion. This move also leads to examining the possibility that all beauty is to be divers every bit deriving from functionality, only this option is ultimately rejected as well on the grounds that it appears to rely on a kind of deception, considering it prioritizes how things appear over how things truly are (290D–294E).

iii. Aristotle

In Aristotle'southward work, there are many instances of excellence in functionality described by the term to kalon. In fact, Aristotle states outright that plumbing fixtures a function and to kalon are the same (Top. 135a12–xiv). Since this term can be used both aesthetically and non-aesthetically, information technology is a matter of contention whether in some specific cases the reference for this term is meant to be an aesthetic miracle or not.

If to kalon is read aesthetically, some of the virtually pertinent passages for the functionalist understanding of aesthetic properties would come from Aristotle's descriptions of natural phenomena. For instance, according to Generation of Animals, the generation of bees reveals a kalon arrangement of nature; the generations succeed one another fifty-fifty though drones practise non reproduce (760a30–b3). In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states that dogs do non enjoy the scent of rabbits equally such, only the prospect of eating them; similarly, the lion appears to delight in the lowing of an ox, simply only because it perceives a sign of potential food (1118a18–23).

4. The Stoics

A certain kind of functionality and aesthetic language too appear in sure Stoic arguments, most notably in the works of Panaetius who used the term to prepon ('fitting', 'condign', 'advisable' in English) in certain ethical arguments. Probably the most elaborate discussion of to prepon (or decorum in Latin) is recorded in Cicero's On Duties, which represents Panaetius' views.

Here, an analogy between poetry and human behaviour is drawn as follows. The poets "discover propriety, when every word or action is in accord with each individual character." The poets depict each character in a manner which is advisable regardless of the moral value of the character's actions, so that a poet would be applauded even when he skilfully depicts an immoral person saying immoral things. To human being beings, meanwhile, nature likewise assigned a kind of role, namely that of manifesting virtues like steadfastness, temperance, self-control, then forth. This claim reflects one of the essential tenets of Stoic ideals, eudaimonia, which is living in accord with nature and pursuing virtue (Diogenes Laertius seven.87–nine; Long and Sedley 63C). Man beings, therefore, are functional entities every bit well in the sense that they have a certain function and end. The idea that achieving that end produces beauty is made clear when it is said that only as physical beauty consisting of the harmonious proportion of limbs delights the eye, and then likewise does to prepon in behaviour earn the blessing of fellow humans through the order, consistency and self-control imposed on speech and acts (ane.97–98).

c. Class

i. Plato

Plato'south all-time-known statement, the theory of forms, has much bearing on his aesthetics in a number of ways. The theory posits that incorporeal, unchanging, ideal paradigms— forms—are universals and play an important causal office in the world generation. Arguably the about important fashion in which the theory of forms has begetting on aesthetics is the account of the origin of aesthetic properties. Beauty, just like many other properties, is generated by its corresponding class. An object becomes beautiful past partaking in the course of Dazzler.  The grade of Beauty is mentioned as the cause of beauty throughout the Ideal corpus; see, for instance Cratylus 439C–440B; Phaedrus 254B; Phaedo 65d–66A and 100B–E;Parmenides 130B; Republic 476B–C, 493E, 507B. In this respect, the form of Dazzler is just like all the other forms. Plato does, however, say that the course of Beauty has a special connection with the form of Good, even if they are not, ultimately, identical (Hippias Major 296D–297D).

The form of Beauty is shown as having a pedagogical attribute in the Symposium. In Diotima'south speech, the acquisition of noesis (that is, the knowledge of the forms) is represented as the so-called Ladder of Love. A lover is said to first fall in love with an individual trunk, so notices that there are commonalities amidst all beautiful bodies and thus becomes an admirer of man form in full general. Then the lover starts appreciating the beauty of the mind, followed by the beauty of institutions and laws. The love of sciences is the adjacent step on the ladder until the lover perceives the grade of Beauty. The form is said to be everlasting, not increasing or diminishing, not beautiful at one point and ugly at another, not beautiful only in relation to any specific condition, not in the shape of any specific thing, such as a limb, a piece of knowledge or an animal. Instead, it is absolute, everlasting, unchanging dazzler itself (210A–211D).

ii. Plotinus

Plotinus, a cocky-proclaimed follower of Plato, was besides committed to the view that beauty originated from the form of Dazzler, calculation some further elaborations of his own. Plotinus presents this account equally a rival to the summetria theory. His treatise On Beauty (Ennead i.6) starts with an elaborate critique of the rival theory. Plotinus claims that accounting for beauty by means of summetria has a number of drawbacks. For case, it cannot explain the beauty in unified objects that do not have parts, such equally a piece of gold.

According to Plotinus' ain theory, an object becomes beautiful by virtue of its participating in the grade. He also adds that the Intellect (nous) is the cause of beauty. To be precise, information technology is the Intellect that imposes the forms onto passive matter thus producing beauty. Those entities that exercise non participate in the grade, and thus reason, are ugly (ane.6.2). The class is therefore capable of producing beauty by virtue of its being an instrument of the Intellect that creates guild and structure out of chaotic thing in the universe, and beauty is an expression of its designing powers.

Apart from being expressions of the Intellect, forms have another aspect that makes them the cause of beauty; namely, they unify disarrayed and cluttered elements into harmony. When form approaches formless matter, information technology introduces a certain intrinsic agreement, so that many parts are brought into unity and harmony with each other. The form has intrinsic unity and is ane, and therefore, information technology turns the matter it shapes into ane likewise, as far as it is possible. The unity produces beauty which 'communicates itself' to both the parts and the whole (1.6.2).

Plotinian metaphysics and aesthetics converge in the analogy between Intellect shaping the universe and a sculptor shaping a piece of stone into a statue. At the beginning of his Ennead 5.8 (On the Intelligible Beauty), Plotinus asks his readers to envision two pieces of stone placed next to each other, one plain and another 1 sculpted into the shape of an especially cute human or some god. Then he argues that the latter will appear immediately beautiful, not because of the fabric information technology is fabricated out of only because information technology possesses the form. The beauty is caused by the intellect of the sculptor, which transmits the form onto the stone. The visible form that the sculptor imposes onto the stone is an inferior version of the actual form that can only be contemplated. The actual forms are purely intellectual, 'seen' with mind's eye. The intellectual beauty of reason, argues Plotinus, is a much greater and also truer beauty (En. 5.viii.1.).

Plotinus follows Plato in arguing that visible beauty is junior as it is simply a copy of the true dazzler of forms. There is, nonetheless, a meaning difference between them in terms of their attitude towards the value of artistic beauty. Plotinus warns against devaluing creative activities and, in an argument very much different those found in Plato, states that (i) nature itself imitates some things. (ii) Arts do not simply imitate what is seen past the eye but refer dorsum to the principles of nature. (iii) Arts produce many things not by means of copying, but from themselves. In society to create a perfect whole, they add what is defective, because arts contain dazzler themselves. (iv) Phidias (i of the near famous Greek sculptors) designed a statue of Jupiter not by imitation, simply past conceiving a class that a god would have if he were willing to show himself to humans (5.8.1).

three. Philosophy of Art

a. Mimesis

In older scholarship, it is common to discover a claim that a Greek term for fine art was techne, and as this is a much narrower term than the gimmicky concept of fine fine art, it is claimed that ancient Greeks did not have a concept of art. This interpretation, however, has been challenged. It has been argued that, if there were a concept of fine fine art in Greek thought, it would be mimesis. In the most literal meaning of the term, mimesis refers to imitation in a very wide sense, including such acts equally following an example of someone'southward behaviour or adopting a certain custom. This word is widely used when discussing art and artistic activities, and it can be roughly defined every bit an imitative representation, where 'representation' is understood as involving not just copy-making, but also creative estimation. Aristotle grouped poesy with "the other mimetic arts" (8.1451a30) in the Poetics, in a remark that suggests the conceptualisation of a distinct group of artistic activities resembling the notion of fine arts. A similar group of "imitators" (mimetai), including poets, rhapsodists, actors, and chorus-dancers can be establish in Plato's Democracy likewise (two.373B).

i. Plato

Books 2 and iii of Plato's Republic contain an extensive analysis of mimesis in the context of the education of the guardian form in the ideal city-state. In Book 2, Socrates starts developing his account of the ideal city-land. The grade of guardians plays an particularly important role in its maintenance, and therefore, the question of how the guardians ought to be educated is raised. Apart from physical instruction, the education based on storytelling is quite important, as it starts early in childhood and precedes physical education (2.376E).

First, Socrates and the interlocutors hold to ban from the guardians' education and the ideal city-land more than generally sure stories based on their content, particularly stories depicting the gods committing evil deeds (2.377D–E). At the commencement of book 3, at that place is a longer list of the kind of stories that are undesirable in the ideal city, including ones with negative portrayals of the afterlife, lamentations, gods committing unseemly acts and portrayals of bad people equally happy (386A–392C).

And then in that location follows a word of the style (Gr. lexis) of narration. Socrates distinguishes straight oral communication, when a poet speaks in his own vocalisation, from imitative voice communication, when a poet imitates the speech of the characters in the story and suggests that if a verse form is written in the old style, it contains no mimesis (3. 393D). The poetry can be of iii kinds: dithyrambs (in poet's ain vocalism, no mimesis), tragedy and one-act (pure mimesis) and ballsy verse (a combination of the two) (3.394C).

The give-and-take turns towards the question of whether mimetic poets ought to exist immune into the city-state and whether guardians themselves could be mimetai. The respond to this question turns out to exist negative. The main statement against mimesis in the ideal city goes as follows. The guardians preserve the well-existence of the city, and thus the but things they ought to imitate are the backdrop of virtue, non shameful or slavish acts. The reason for this is that enjoying the fake of these things might lead them to actually pursuing them, as fake is addiction-forming (3.395D–Due east). Information technology is ultimately concluded that just a pure imitator of a skilful person ought to exist immune into the city-country (iii. 397D–398B)

two. Aristotle

Aristotle argues that verse originates from 2 causes. Both of these causes are grounded in human nature, particularly the natural proneness of man beings to mimesis. Mimesis is said to be (i) the natural method of learning from childhood and (ii) a source of delight for man beings.

In order to support the latter point, Aristotle notes that although such objects as dead bodies and low animals might be painful to see in real life, we delight in artistic depictions of them, and the reason for this is the pleasure humans derive from learning. People delight in seeing a motion picture, either because they recognise the person depicted and 'gather the pregnant of things' or—if they practice not recognise the discipline—they admire the execution, colour, and so on. (The distinction between mimesis and colour/composition is reiterated in Politics, where colour and figures are said to exist not imitations but signs with niggling connection to morality, and therefore, young men ought to be taught to look at those paintings which depict character (1340a32–39).) This principle applies non just to visual arts. The natural inclination to mimesis combined with the sense of harmony and rhythm is the reason why humans are drawn to poetry equally well (Poetics 1448b5–1448b24).

Aristotle's conceptual analysis of verse contains a revealing discussion of the differences between poetry and history. Poets differ from historians past virtue of describing not what happened, merely what might happen, either because it is probable or necessary. They do not, however, differ because 1 is set up in prose and another one in poetry, as the works of Herodotus could exist set in poesy and remain history. The fundamental divergence betwixt history and poetry lies in the fact that the former is concerned with statements most particulars, whereas the latter is concerned with universal statements. Some tragedies practice utilize historical characters, but this, according to Aristotle, is considering "what is possible is credible," which presumably means that plots involving historical characters are more than moving considering they might have really happened. Another notable conclusion is that the poet is a poet because of the plot rather than the poetry, as the defining characteristic of such action is the simulated of action (1451a37–b31).

b. Criticism of Arts

i. Plato

Different Aristotle, Plato saw potential dangers associated with mimetic activities. In Republic 5, "lovers of cute sights and sounds," people addicted to music, drama and and then on, are contrasted with true philosophers. The lovers of sights and sounds pursue simply opinions, whereas philosophers are the pursuers of knowledge and, ultimately, beauty in itself (v.475D–480A).

But perhaps the all-time-known argument criticising fine art comes from Book 10 of the Commonwealth. Here, the products of artistic activities are criticised for being twice removed from what is actually the case. Socrates uses the example of a symposium couch to contend that the painting of a couch is just a copy of reality, the actual couch. Yet the actual couch made by the craftsman is too merely a re-create of the truthful reality, the forms. The painters, according to this argument, portray but a pocket-sized portion of what is actually the case. For the most part, they are concerned with appearances. In that location are, thus, three kinds of couches: one produced by god, another one produced by a carpenter and the third ane past a painter. God and the craftsmen are called makers or producers of their kinds of couches, only the painter is only an imitator, a producer of the product that is thrice removed from nature. This category is also said to include tragedians and all the other imitators (596D–597E).

These and other passages have earned Plato a reputation of beingness hostile to art. Plato's theory of fine art, however, is much more complex, and criticism is only one aspect of his handling of artistic mimesis. An instance of a more than effective understanding of artistic false tin can be found in the same work where he famously criticises it, the Republic.

For instance, Socrates suggests that in that location is an analogy between the ideal political state they are discussing and an idealised portrait, arguing that no i would think the latter is flawed because the painter cannot produce an ideal person in reality and, therefore, there is no need to worry that their ideal country does not actually exist (5.472D–E). Socrates' remark indicates that at that place is much more to painting than the copying of appearances. Ideas like these can exist found throughout the Republic (see also six.500E–501C; three.400E–401A).

In fact, subsequently banishing poetry from the platonic city before, Socrates praises Homer, who is said to be the best of the tragedians, and a concession is made for hymns to god and eulogies to good people. Socrates also adds that fifty-fifty imitative poetry could exist welcomed in the metropolis, provided there is an argument showing it ought to vest to such well-governed places (x.606E–607c). The ancient quarrel betwixt poets and philosophers, as Plato called it, was neither unambiguous nor a settled matter.

ii. Epicureans

The Epicureans, members of the Hellenistic philosophical school notorious for its atomist physics and hedonist ethics, were also critics of verse. The Gluttonous upstanding views, especially the claim that death is not evil, played a major role in shaping their perspective on poetry. The extant works of the founder of the school, Epicurus, evidence him criticising muthos, stories told by poets. Epicurus was concerned with the dangerous influence that these stories could accept on those who hear them. The stories of poets are based on beliefs that produce the feeling of anxiety in listeners (for instance, the belief that life is total of pain and it is best to not to be born at all). The opposite of these are beliefs gained past studying nature and engaging in philosophical investigations. Such studies lead to the discovery that the greatest pleasance in life is ataraxia (the state of tranquillity) and abolishing the fear of pain and death (Letter to Menoeceus 126–vii; Principal Doctrines 12). Epicurus also notoriously argued against receiving the traditional teaching (paideia) that includes an educational activity in poetry (Letter of the alphabet to Pythocles ten.half-dozen; Plutarch 1087A).

Information technology is noteworthy, however, that Epicurus was not unequivocally opposed to poetry and arts. Some prove suggests that he maintained that simply an Gluttonous would hash out music and poetry in the right manner, although the Epicureans would non accept up writing poetry themselves (Diogenes Laertius, Lives x.120; Plutarch 1095C). It appears that for Epicurus, like Plato, arts were problematic because of their ability to impart incorrect behavior and emotions that pose risks to 1'due south ataraxia.

Lucretius, the author of the Epicurean epic poem De Rerum Natura, espouses a somewhat dissimilar attitude toward poetry. Written in the 1st century B.C.E. in Latin, the poem is an exposition of Gluttonous views including atomism, hedonistic ethics and epistemic dogmatism (specially confronting attacks from the Sceptics). As a whole, the verse form engages very footling with aesthetic issues, with the exception of the often-quoted passage from Book 1, in which Lucretius talks well-nigh the furnishings of verse. He compares himself to a physician who, administering unpleasant-tasting wormwood, covers the brim of the drinking glass with honey, not to deceive his patients, but to assist them take the medicine and become ameliorate. In the aforementioned way, Lucretius himself sweetens doctrines that otherwise might seem woeful to those who are new to Epicureanism (1.931–50).

c. Catharsis

Catharsis is a psychological phenomenon, often associated with the effects of art on humans, famously described by Aristotle. In that location is, however, no explicit definition of catharsis in the extant Aristotelian corpus. Instead, nosotros have a number of references to such a miracle. The 1 most pertinent to aesthetics is found in Poetics, where one of the defining features of tragedy is a catharsis of such emotions as fearfulness and pity (1449b22–28). Some other reference to catharsis can be institute in Politics. Here Aristotle writes that music ought to be used for instruction, catharsis and other benefits (1341b37–1342a1). The lack of Aristotle'southward ain definition combined with the long and rich history of later on interpretations of catharsis (run into Halliwell 1998: app. v) makes it hard to reconstruct a precise Aristotelian account of this term. It is arguably related to the influence that arts have on a person'due south emotions and judgements that derive from those emotions (Politics 1340a1–1340b18).

It has been argued that the concept of catharsis has both religious and medical connotations, although more recent interpretations favour the view that it is primarily a psychological phenomenon that has certain ethical aspects (though information technology is not a means to learn ethics per se).

d. Sublime

Another aesthetic term that originated in antiquity, but was made famous past subsequent adaptations, especially by Kant and Burke, is that of the sublime. The main source for the theory of the sublime is the handbook on oratory titled Peri Hupsous (De Sublimitate in Latin), although it is also noteworthy that a notion of the sublime was known and used much more than widely in antiquity (Porter 2016). The authorship of Peri Hupsous is disputable. The work has been attributed to Cassius Longinus, a Greek rhetorician in the 3rd century C.E., and an anonymous author in the anest century C.E. referred to as pseudo-Longinus.

Fundamentally, the sublime as described by Longinus is a property of style, "certain loftiness and excellence of language." It does have some more striking aspects, however. For instance, Longinus states that:

A lofty passage does not convince the reason of the reader, but takes him out of himself . . . Skill in invention, lucid organisation and disposition of facts, are appreciated not past one passage, or by two, but gradually manifest themselves in the general structure of a work; but a sublime idea, if happily timed, illumines an unabridged subject with the vividness of a lightning-flash, and exhibits the whole power of the orator in a moment of time (ane).

Longinus suggests that sublimity originates from five different sources: (i) the greatness of thought; (2) a vigorous treatment of passions; (three) skill in employing figures of idea and figures or speech; (iv) dignified expressions, including the appropriate choice of words and metaphors; and (v) majesty and top of construction. The final cause of sublimity is said to comprehend all the preceding ones as well (eight.1).

4. References and Farther Reading

a. Main Sources

  • Armstrong, A. 1966–88. Plotinus: Enneads. 7 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Arnim, H. F. A. von. 1903–1924. Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta. iii vols. Leipzig: Teubner.
  • Bychkov, O. and A. Sheppard, eds. 2010. Greek and Roman Aesthetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Cooper, J. and D. Hutchinson, eds. 1997. Plato: Complete Works. Indianapolis; Cambridge: Hackett.
  • Diels, H. and W. Kranz, eds. 1951–1952. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, griechisch und deutsch. three Vols. Berlin: Weidmannsche buchhandlung.
  • Dyck, A. R. 1996. A Commentary on Cicero De Officiis. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
  • Goodwin, Westward. 1874. Plutarch's Morals. Cambridge: John Wilson and son.
  • Hicks, R. D. 1925. Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers. London: W. Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
  • King, J. 1945. Cicero: Tusculan Disputations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Long, A. and D. Sedley, eds. 1987. The Hellenistic Philosophers. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge Academy Press.
  • Leonard, West. Eastward. 1916. Lucretius: De Rerum Natura.  London: Dent; New York: Dutton.
  • O'Connor, E. Thou. 1993. The essential Epicurus: letters, principal doctrines, Vatican sayings, and fragments. Buffalo, Due north.Y.: Prometheus Books.
  • Roberts, Westward. R. 2011. Longinus on the Sublime: The Greek Text Edited after the Paris Manuscript. 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

b. Secondary Sources

  • Asmis, East. 1991. "Epicurean Poetics." Proceedings of the Boston Surface area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 7, pp. 63–93. Reprinted in Philodemus and Poetry: Poetic Theory and Practise in Lucretius, Philodemus and Horace, ed. by D. Obbink, Oxford University Press 1995, pp. xv–34; and in Ancient Literary Criticism, ed. Andrew Laird, Oxford University Press 2006, pp. 238–66.
    • (A discussion of the evidence concerning the views on poetry institute in the works of Epicurus, Lucretius and Philodemus.)
  • Barney, R. 2010. "Notes on Plato on The Kalon and The Good." Classical Philology 105(four): 363–377.
    • (A give-and-take of functionality and its human relationship to beauty in Plato'due south works.)
  • Beardsley, Monroe C. 1966. Aesthetics from Classical Hellenic republic to the Present. New York: Macmillan.
    • (Relevant sections of this book contain a classic interpretation of ancient aesthetics.)
  • Bernays, J. 1979. "Aristotle on the Issue of Tragedy." In Articles on Aristotle, edited by J. Barnes, Schofield, and R. Sorabji. Vol. four: Psychology and Aesthetics, 154–165. London. (Originally in Abhandlungen der historisch‐philosophischen Gesellschaft in Breslau, vol. 1, 1857: 135–202; and Sonderausgabe, Breslau 1857.)
    • (A seminal paper for the study of Aristotle'south concept of catharsis; information technology argues that catharsis is the 'purgation' of emotions.)
  • Bett, R. 2010. "Beauty and its Relation to Goodness in Stoicism." In Aboriginal Models of Heed, ed. A. Nightingale and D. Sedley, 130–152. Cambridge: Cambridge University Printing.
    • (In this paper, the evidence for the Stoic definition of beauty as summetria is collected and interpreted.)
  • Boudouris, One thousand. ed. 2000. Greek Philosophy and the Fine Arts, Volume 2. Athens: International Heart for Greek Philosophy and Culture.
    • (A large collection of papers on various aspects of ancient Greek aesthetics.)
  • Bychkov, O. 2010. Aesthetic Revelation: Reading Ancient and Medieval Texts later on Hans Urs von Balthasar. Washington, D.C.: Catholic Academy of America Press.
    • (A broad-telescopic monograph; the central argument concerns the notion of the revelatory aesthetics and its presence in aboriginal (and later on) philosophical texts.)
  • Close, A. J. 1971. "Philosophical Theories of Art and Nature in Classical Antiquity." Journal of the History of Ideas 32(two): 163–184.
    • (A written report of the notion of creator/designer in antiquity.)
  • Need, N. 1975. "Plato and the Painters." Phoenix 29(one): 1–20.
    • (An commodity discussing Plato'due south attitude to painting and the human relationship between his views and gimmicky painting traditions.)
  • Denham, A. ed. 2012. Plato on Art and Dazzler. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
    • (A collection of papers on Plato'southward philosophy of art.)
  • Destrée, P. and P. Murray, eds. A companion to Aboriginal Aesthetics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
    • (A wide-ranging drove of extended entries, including such topics as mimesis, dazzler, sublime, fine art and morality, tragic emotions and others.)
  • Ford, A. 1995. "Katharsis: The Ancient Problem." In Performativity and Performance, edited past A. Parker and Eastward. M. Sidgwick, 109–32. New York and London.
    • (An interpretation of Aristotle's concept of catharsis with an argument that the relevant passages from Politics aid to shed light on the thin description in Poetics.)
  • Gál, O. 2011. "Unitas Multiplex as the Basis of Plotinus' Conception of Beauty: An Interpretation of Ennead V.8." Estetika: The Cardinal European Journal of Aesthetics 48(2): 172–198.
    • (A paper arguing that, for Plotinus, beauty derives from Intellect and unity in diversity.)
  • Golden, L. 1973. "The Purgation Theory of Catharsis." The Periodical of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 31(4): 473–479.
    • (An in-depth argument against Bernays' interpretation of catharsis every bit purgation; it contains a proposition that catharsis is better understood as intellectual clarification.)
  • Halliwell, Due south. 1991. "The Importance of Plato and Aristotle for Aesthetics." Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, vol.7, pp. 321–48. New York: Routledge.
    • (A newspaper arguing that Plato and Aristotle address issues that are pertinent to contemporary aesthetics.)
  • Halliwell, Stephen. 1998. Aristotle'due south Poetics. 2nd edn. London: Duckworth.
    • (An extensive study of Poetics, including a number of concepts key to Aristotle's aesthetics; besides includes appendices on the history of interpreting catharsis later Aristotle, dating of Poetics and others.)
  • Halliwell, Stephen. 2002. The Aesthetics of Mimesis: Aboriginal Texts and Mod Problems. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
    • (A seminal written report of the concept of mimesis in Greek philosophy and literature.)
  • Horn, H. -J. 1989. "Stoische Symmetrie und Theorie des Schönen in der Kaiserzeit." Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 36.iii: 454–472.
    • (A study of the Stoic definition of beauty as summetria.)
  • Hyland, D. 2008. Plato and the Question of Beauty. Blooming & Indianapolis: Indiana University Printing.
    • (An interpretation of Plato'southward notion of beauty in Symposium, Hippias Major and Phaedrus influenced by continental philosophy.)
  • Irwin, T. 2010. "The Sense and Reference of Kalon in Aristotle." Classical Philology 105(4): 381–396.
    • (An statement for fugitive an aesthetic translation of the term to kalon in Aristotle'southward works on ethics.)
  • Kraut, R. 2013. "An aesthetic reading of Aristotle'due south Ethics." In Politeia in Greek and Roman Philosophy, ed. M. Lane and 5. Harte, pp. 231–250. Cambridge: Cambridge Academy Press.
    • (An statement for translating to kalon in Aristotle'south work equally an aesthetic term.)
  • Kristeller, O. P. 1951. "The Modern Organization of the Arts: A Study in the History of Aesthetics Function I." Periodical of the History of Ideas 12(4): 496–527.
    • (An article containing arguably the most significant critique of the notion of ancient aesthetics.)
  • Konstan, D. 2015. Beauty: The Fortunes of an Ancient Greek Thought. Oxford: Oxford Academy Press.
    • (A wide-ranging written report of the ancient Greek conception of beauty; includes a give-and-take of translating problematic aesthetic terms.)
  • Laird, A. ed. 2006. Ancient Literary Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Printing.
    • (A collection of papers covering a wide range of topics including Aristotle's catharsis, the views of the Hellenistic schools on poesy and Plato'due south treatment of tragedy.)
  • Lear, J. 1988. "Katharsis." Phronesis 33: 297–326.
    • (An argument against the interpretation of catharsis equally 'purgation' of emotions; and the suggestion that it is, instead, a psychological 1 with sure upstanding connotations.)
  • Lear, Yard. R. 2006. "Aristotle on Moral Virtue and the Fine." In The Blackwell Guide to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ideals, ed. R.Kraut, pp.116–136. Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell.
    • (A study of Aristotle's use of to kalon with the argument that Aristotle used this term (with its aesthetic undertones) to put an emphasis on sure backdrop of goodness, namely, intelligibility and pleasantness to contemplate.)
  • Lobsien V. and C. Olk, eds. 2007. Neuplatonismus und Ästhetik: zur Transformationsgeschichte des Schönen. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter.
    • (A collection of papers on Neoplatonist aesthetics.)
  • Lombardo, Yard. 2002. L'Estetica Antica. Bologna: Il Mulino.
    • (A short monograph in Italian containing a give-and-take of views on aesthetics espoused by both major and lesser-known philosophical figures in antiquity.)
  • Nehamas, A. 2007. "'Simply in the Contemplation of Dazzler is Human Life Worth Living' Plato, Symposium 211d." European Journal of Philosophy 15 (one): 1–18.
    • (A discussion of the office that dazzler plays in Plato's Symposium.)
  • Nussbaum, Chiliad. 1990. Love'southward Knowledge: Essays on Philosophy and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Printing.
    • (The relevant sections of this book analyze the complex relationship between philosophy and literature in Plato's works.)
  • Pappas, N. 2012. "Plato on Poetry: Imitation or Inspiration?" Philosophy Compass seven (10): 669–678.
    • (An argument that in Republic and Sophist, poetry is treated every bit imitation, whereas in Ion and Phaedrus, it is treated as inspiration. The relationship betwixt the two views is explained by employing Plato's concept of drama in Laws.)
  • Peponi, A. -E. 2012. Frontiers of Pleasance: Models of Aesthetic Response in Archaic and Classical Greek Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • (A study of the representations of aesthetic properties of artworks and other objects in ancient Greek texts, including philosophical ones.)
  • Pollitt, J. J. 1974. The Ancient View of Greek Art: Criticism, History, and Terminology. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
    • (A seminal piece of work on ancient Greek philosophy of fine art, it deals with not simply philosophical but also literary, rhetorical and other kinds of texts.)
  • Porter J. 2009. "Is Fine art Modernistic? Kristeller's 'Mod System of the Arts' Reconsidered." British Journal of Aesthetics 49: one–24.
    • (An article containing a critique of Kristeller's dismissal of the possibility of ancient aesthetics.)
  • Porter, J. 2010. The Origins of Aesthetic Idea in Aboriginal Greece: Matter, Awareness and Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    • (The central argument claims that Plato and Aristotle established formalist aesthetics, which dominated the tradition and silenced alternative, materialist aesthetics.)
  • Porter, J. 2016. The Sublime in Artifact. Cambridge: Cambridge Academy Printing.
    • (A study of the notion of sublime outside Longinus' treatise.)
  • Rogers, K. 1993. "Aristotle's Conception of τὸ καλόν." Ancient Philosophy 13:355–71. Reprinted in L. P. Gerson (ed.) 1999. Aristotle: Critical Assessments, four. London: Routledge: 337–55.
    • (The analysis and interpretation Aristotle'southward use of the term to kalon, especially his merits that virtues are undertaken for the sake of to kalon.)
  • Sheffield, F. 2006. Plato'southward 'Symposium': The Ethics of Desire. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • (A monograph on Plato's Symposium; the central argument interprets the dialogue as concerned with moral didactics, but in a singled-out way, that is, by means of the analysis of desire.)
  • Tatarkiewicz, West. 1974. The History of Aesthetics. Vol. 1. The Hague: Mouton.
    • (A collection of ancient Greek philosophical texts on diverse topics in aesthetics accompanied by a commentary.)
  • Zagdoun, M. -A. 2000. La Philosophie Sto ï cienne de l'art. Paris: CNRS Editions.
    • (An extensive report of the notions of dazzler and art in Stoic philosophy.)

Author Information

Aiste Celkyte
E-mail: aiste.celkyte@googlemail.com
Yonsei University
S Korea