Aristotle’s perspectives in art

Aristotle regards ethical values, e.g. justice similar to aesthetic, we doubt that he has a concept of art in the modern sense. His perception of art is more related to perception. His definition of art fits into mimesis/representation

He claims that pleasure happens because of our natural predisposition/natural capacity towards it under favorable conditions (Our response is a natural response, something’s innate; in other words, we’re inclined towards nature)

“When a well-conditioned capacity for perception reasoning or contemplation is exercised on the worthiest objects one has the most complete and most pleasurable activity” This shows why we enjoy art.
Where does this predisposition come from? It’s innate. (Full-stop)

Side notes: Factory Art (Reproduction of art)
For e.g. the Monalisa’s posters and souvenir, is it art?

Before we move one and quibble over technicalities,
‘Carbon copy’ in this discussion is assumed that
- it is a perfect imitation of an art piece, this would mean that there is no intent to express anything at all when reproducing the original artwork

A carbon-copy is still art! This is because it is still able to express and the originalities found in the original work assuming that the copier is perfect, the forms, shapes and colours.

Kant’s aesthetics

The Judgment of Beauty

1st Moments: Judgment of beauty are based on feelings
Judgment brings pleasure
Objective; “disinterested”

2nd Moment: ‘Universality of Beauty”
One feels that all feel the same way, no rules to compel

3rd Moment
Unlike judgment of the good, judgment not of a concrete purpose

4th Moment
Judgment of beauty involve reference to the idea of necessity , everyone ‘should’ believe that something is beautiful

The Deduction of Taste

Aesthetic judgment can actually be reasoned out
Our judgment can be used in judging aesthetic experience

Beauty has no real purpose: yet it is pleasurable to us

New principle of art being purposive in nature

When we look at art, we don’t look at it differently=>still using our minds and brain=>everyone is using the same concepts=>art can be reasoned and deduced

For art, there is no determinate concept

We know that art is beautiful because of ‘common sense’: how the mind perceives it

The Sublime:

A type of aesthetic exp.: something pleasurable to us all

Art can be overwhelming:

How we gain pleasure from this overwhelming exp.

Mathematically: we look at the form and totality of the object


Fine Art and Genius

Kant assumes that the thinking involved in judging fine art is similar to judging natural beauty
Fine art has to deal with how it is created
Fine art is an aesthetic idea
We distinguish art from nature, we know that there’s no ‘intention to it’, it happens naturally

According to Kant, Art is skill that distinguish itself from other abilities, it forms a different type of knowledge
Mechanical Art: Purpose

Aesthetic Art: Pleasure

Art is produced by a ‘genius’, not external factors

Idealism, Morality and the Supersensible

Purposiveness of nature is only an ideal concept
Connection between beauty and morality

Kant’s Aesthetics (Mr. Dio’s illustrations)

Judging art is different

It is universal (Our judgment) [American Idol e.g.]

Purposiveness of Art:

i) Beauty don’t seem to have ‘concrete’ purpose, judging art and beauty has nothing to do with a purpose

ii) Since we can judge, there’s reason for us (our own judgment); it gains purpose thanks to this ability we have, a new and unique purpose (judgment, evaluation, experience)

Beauty can be purposive because of our ability to judge it.

The Sublime: “Something higher than beauty”

‘For an e.g. explosions’

Sublime doesn’t make us judge in the same way

We don’t want to judge, it is made to transcend, so we don’t judge, it’s the ‘whoa’ feeling

Fine arts and genius

The more we think of an artwork (investigate beauty), at first we focus on the object, later we can’t help but think of the conditions that made it (artist)

He explains and describes how an artist makes beauty (a good artist)

Idealism, Morality and the Supersensible

All these beauty seems pointless, but we can still talk about it, there must a reason somewhere.

Nature vs. Art (Art- Genius, Nature-hidden substrate)