HISTORY OF AESTHETICS - PART 2 -PLATOS VIEW

Plato who is famous for his Platonic dialog or discussion approach to philosophy had much to say about art and aesthetics. His views were a mixture of admiration for the arts and serious concerns about the misuse and abuse of the imagination in the practice of the artistic life.

Much of what Plato worried about continues to surface in our own era even though many of contemporary critics know little about Plato. The reason for the on-going concern about the arts has to do with the impact of the arts on society when this influence seems negative as in the case of violence films and games which seem to dull the moral restraint of troubled people.

Here are some of Plato's ideas and issues:

1. Art is mainly skill, clever manipulation of paint or stone or in our era the film or digital media. 2. Sometimes the artist is much more than skillful and may be wise and able to say something of value through the arts which makes it more than skill alone. 3. Art is at its worse nothing more than a mirror of reality, passive and unmediated sense experience alone. 4. At its very worse art is fantasy and can corrupt the logical operations of the mind. 5. Music of all the art forms moves most directly out of the soul and follows the souls inner rhythms it therefore can calm the soul if the motions are complementary to the operations of the soul and has a beneficial influence on society at large if more Classical in nature. 6. Art's whole apparatus can, under ideal circumstances, serve a moral purpose for society if made by wise and moral makers. 7. BEAUTY is the realization of the visits of the Divine on humanity. 8. BEAUTY, LIGHT, MEASURE AND PROPORTION are observable in NATURE and point to a Divine maker and like good music move the soul to balance and joy. 9. In summation art may be poor philosophy according to many thinkers but philosophy at its best is excellent art. . . this apparent contradiction shows that art is powerful and not easily understood or easily dismissed by even one of humankind's greatest minds, namely Plato.

Bill

Historical View of Aesthetics-- Part One

The earliest discussion of aesthetics took place in ancient Greece some 500 years before Christ. We find fragments of discussion involving thinkers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle which reveal a tension between the arts of poetry and the early practice of philosophy. The tension surrounded the idea that a poet visionary like Homer who began to script Greek mythology was somehow inspired in a way that a logician/philosopher was not. Socrates and Plato who were great logicians were worried that a poet like Homer might be carried away with his fantasies and in this way mislead others either by giving them fallacious information or to encourage such free-wheeling visionary activities.

Art and Aesthetics as we have come to know them would evolve out of this early tension between philosophy and Poetry with each century adding some fresh insight to the debate. One century might look at the problem from the point of view of psychology and say hey--the poet can reveal unconscious insights so the poet/artist is valuable to society. This move toward psychic insight is where Aristotle comes into the picture. He will be one of the first of the ancient Greeks to point out that the poet, artist is one who is highly aware of his five senses and of the surrounding Cosmos or Universe. The skill with with Homer makes the world of nature appear before our minds eye through his gift of inspired language Aristotle considered a real benefit to humankind. The awareness itself was the portal to the Common Senses and to appreciation of the natural realm. Here is where science and philosophy are actually aided by the arts. The tension can be relieved between the arts and philosophy through the insights of Aristotle.

AESTHETICS 2011

Aesthetics students,

I welcome you to this blogsite for a new year of active participation in the matters of aesthetic experience. Please scroll down and open past years of dialog and postings to see just how rich a subject aesthetics is---notice the insightful comments your fellow students (many now graduated) have made.

I now ask you to make your mark, add your line and contribute to the ongoing discussion about the meta-esthetic world our five senses presents to us when we are consciously aware of our own states and modes of awareness.

Aesthetics means more than anything else being in touch with our marvelous faculties and refining our ability to access our sensory world, mindful that they are our bridge-- linking us to one another and to our external and internal worlds.

I also welcome Dr. Joe Ferguson who will also be posting and regularly participating in our weekly discussions.

Bill Havlicek PhD