Ccording to Plato How Does One Judge the Value of a Piece of Art? Site 1
Throughout the ages philosophers accept wrestled with the notion of fine art at every possible level. From Plato to Marx, Aristotle to Hume, Kant to Danto, history'southward great minds have theorized most the nature of art, testing the depths of human being understanding. With art i tin can easily detect discussion delving into ontology, epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, sociology, psychology, and even politics without even scratching the tip of the iceberg. Yet fifty-fifty with the enormous breadth of conceptions of art on which to meditate philosophers and theorists have concocted numerous opposing view points which have helped to shape and focus each other throughout the centuries. This newspaper will focus on the particular theories of i of the outset nifty thinkers to tackle the enigmatic nature of art; Aristotle. While Aristotle did not have the vast wealth of art theory to respond to that later philosophers would have, he did immediately follow the first and one of most emphatic philosophers to annotate on the nature of art; Plato. Equally was often the case with ancient philosophers, both Plato and Aristotle were forced to establish a theory of art based heavily on their metaphysical views about the nature of the world. It volition exist shown subsequently, in contrast to Aristotle, that many thinkers, such equally Kant, Hume and Freud developed theories of art grounded in their artful, sociopolitical, and psychological theories. Finally, in gild to exemplify the conceptions of art examined in the showtime function of the newspaper, two pieces of art from a genre which Aristotle was nigh passionate near will be examined critically in order to see how specific artwork tin fit into the complex framework of philosophical theory. In keeping with the aboriginal Greek traditions of fine art Sophocles' two tragedies, Oedipus the King and Antigone, will be investigated.
In guild to understand Aristotle'south perspective on art it is important to first have a moderate understanding of Aristotle's metaphysics. Still, since Aristotle'south metaphysics can best be understood as a response to the theories of his teacher nosotros must first accept a look at Plato's theories of the nature of the universe. Plato believed that all things that be in reality are mere representations of perfect metaphysical constructs which he called the Forms. This doctrine which permeates through all of Plato'south philosophy reveals several of import problems with the nature of art which shall be examined in response to Aristotle'south theories. Aristotle, in opposition to Plato adult a metaphysics which was grounded much more in the real world. For Aristotle the notion of grade was really a part of all thing and the distinction between the form and the actual substance that made up an object was only an intellectual one. This bears a relation to art considering for both Plato and Aristotle art is an faux of the actual globe (Palmer, pp 447-452). The two thinkers still, interpret the nature of this faux in opposing manners. While Plato condemns art considering it is in effect a copy of a copy - since reality is simulated of the Forms and art is then imitation of reality - Aristotle defends art by maxim that in the appreciation of art the viewer receives a certain "cognitive value" from the experience (Stumpf, p 99). This is to say that through the perception of art one gains a sure understanding about the nature of reality. This brings us to the question of the epistemological concerns relating to fine art.
For Plato, since art is an imitation of an fake information technology is in effect three times removed from the truth. As a consequence, Plato interprets this to mean that art cannot give the viewer whatsoever real knowledge almost the world (Palmer, p 438). Aristotle's objection to this can be about easily seen in his favor for verse and drama. While Plato would contend that nosotros can obtain no truth from the study of fine art, Aristotle would say that fine art really theorizes a great deal about what is possible in human guild. His famous example compares poetry to the study of history. Aristotle argues that history is only concerned with specific instances while poesy deals with "basic human being, and therefore universal, feel." Aristotle reasons that "poetry … is a more philosophical and higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the detail" (Stumpf, p 99).
Plato's final objection to fine art which Aristotle responds to is a claim of a moral nature. Plato argued that art appeals to the passions which tin can exist wild and dangerous. Aristotle, different Plato, believed that while art does appeal to the more unruly side of humanity, the encouragement of these animalistic characteristics is benign to lodge because through experiencing art, particularly tragedy, the people would experience a catharsis, or a purgation, which would rid them of their dangerous emotions (Palmer, p 450). This issue of purgation is the outset instance where parallels can be drawn between Aristotelian theories of fine art and a more modern realm; that of psychoanalysis. Surprisingly, Sigmund Freud would concord with Plato'due south moral objection to fine art. According to Freud, art is used by both artists and fine art viewers akin as a class of escapism. Like Plato, Freud would argue that indulgence in art is akin to removing oneself from reality. He would suggest that art "has the upshot, and therefore probably the purpose, of forcing the patient out of existent life, of alienating him from authenticity" (Palmer, p 446).
Another aspect of fine art that Aristotle commented on was its sociopolitical connotations. It is in this area that we can find connections between the theories of Aristotle and Karl Marx. Aristotle believed that guild could exist cleaved up into two groups. Members of the first group were "gratuitous and educated," while the 2nd group was "made up of mechanics and general laborers and other such people." He described the latter group as being vulgar and "perverted from their natural state." In this way art provided an efficient way of "pacifying the masses" (Palmer, p 451). In that location are clear similarities in Aristotle's theories with those of Marx's socioeconomic view virtually the nature of art. On a Marxist interpretation art is simply another mode in which the wealthy upper grade tin oppress the proletariat through pacification (Palmer, p 458).
The concluding concept of fine art that should be investigated, before moving on to Aristotle's interest in tragedy, is his ideas of beauty and taste. Though it is difficult to find concise references to beauty in the Aristotelian texts he does seem to support the notion of an objective dazzler. That is to say that there are sure universal characteristics which a work of art must accept in lodge to be beautiful. From his periodic reference to mathematics in relation to beautiful objects it is often extrapolated that Aristotle believed there to be a certain order to beauty. In the Metaphysics he says that "the chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness." (Copleston, p 359). Empiricist David Hume had a very different thought of what could allocate every bit beautiful or as skilful fine art. Co-ordinate to Hume the criterion for skillful fine art was completely subjective. On his theory there are sure educated members of club who "he felt, somewhen [would] reach consensus, and in doing so, [would] set up a 'standard of taste' which [would be] universal" (Freeland, p ix). Immanuel Kant, on the other hand, had a conception of dazzler which, though it did not completely coincide with Aristotle's criterion, was at least in a similar spirit. At this bespeak a treatment of Kant'southward metaphysics would be helpful, merely for the sake of brevity a consummate i will not be given. Kant believed that reality consisted of 2 worlds: the neuminal world and the phenomenal world. Think of the neuminal earth as a world containing only essences of individuals. In the neuminal world there is no space, no time, no substance, none of the normal paradigms which we associate with reality. The phenomenal world then is the way that nosotros interpret the neuminal globe through a set up of Categories which nosotros have congenital into our psyches. These Categories allow one to conceive of time, space, and sure plenty, beauty (Silverstein). For Kant then, beauty is not something which is completely objective since our perception of beauty is part of our heed. It does, however, take a certain level of universality to it which gives it a much more than objective status than that of Hume'southward taste-arbiters.
Now that the reader has a off-white thought of Aristotle'southward conceptions of art and some of the supporting and opposing viewpoints of his swain philosophers it is fourth dimension to consider the particular genre of art known every bit tragedy, which Aristotle was so fond of. He defined tragedy as "the false of an activeness that is serious … with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to attain its catharsis of such emotions" (Copleston, p 363). Notice the use of the discussion "faux" in the definition. Recall that Aristotle thought that by imitation of action ane could go insight into the nature of the universe. Also, think that for Aristotle 1 of the primary objectives of art was to induce a purgation which would rid the citizens of their less pleasurable emotions. For Aristotle, a successful tragedy would be one in which the main graphic symbol was neither too virtuous nor too villainous. The plot should showtime out well for the main character and then through no more than fault of his ain, other than a possible mistake in judgment, he should come to a demise which instills feelings of pity, sadness, and anger in the gallery thereby inducing catharsis.
Aristotle's favorite tragedy was Oedipus the King past Sophocles. The play begins with the Laius and Jocasta, the king and queen of Thebes. Upon the birth of their son, Oedipus, an oracle proclaims that he will impale his father and marry his mother. Petrified the male monarch and queen abandon their son to die in the wilderness, but he is picked up and cared for past a shepherd. The shepherd takes Oedipus to the town of Corinth where he is adopted past the king and queen. I mean solar day when Oedipus is grown he learns that he has been adopted and goes to an oracle in search of answers. Instead the oracle tells him the prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Non believing that he was truly adopted Oedipus leaves Corinth and then as to avert killing who he thinks is his father and marrying who he thinks is his mother. At an intersection in the road he gets into a scuffle with a group from Thebes and ends up killing Rex Laius who was traveling in disguise. Not knowing what he has washed he continues on to Thebes and eventually ends up marrying Queen Jocasta and becoming the king. He rules well and he and Jocasta stop upwardly having four children together. Then one 24-hour interval a soothsayer reveals to them the truth of their state of affairs and Jocasta commits suicide. Meanwhile Oedipus gouges out his eyes and banishes himself from Thebes, destined to get a wandering beggar.
For Aristotle, Oedipus the King is the perfect tragedy. Information technology has a worthy master character and a complicated plot. Through a sequence of coincidences and unforeseeable events Oedipus is reduced to a pitiful end because he committed a horrible deed without knowing it. The ability for such an unavoidable fault to crusade such catastrophe is meant to illustrate the frailty of the human being life. Since the drama "shows how a good person confronts adversity, it elicits a cleansing … through emotions of fright and compassion" (Freeland, p 32). Somewhen, after many years of wandering the country equally a blind beggar, Oedipus attains sort of a saintly stature in the eyes of his boyfriend Greeks. On Aristotle's more general conception of art Oedipus has worth as an imitation of what could conceivably happen to anyone in the Greek society.
The third tragedy in the Sophocles' Oedipus trilogy is chosen Antigone. The setting is a few decades after the tragic downfall of Oedipus in the midst of the Thebean civil state of war. The two sons of Oedipus, Polyneices and Eteocles, have been killed in battle and Creon assumes the thrown of Thebes. In order to insult his opponents Creon orders that Eteocles be buried honorably but that Polyneices exist left on the battleground to rot. Oedipus' two daughters, Antigone and Ismene, plot to disobey Creon and coffin their brother Polyneices. Under the threat of decease Ismene decides not to aid her sis in the task. Later burying her brother Antigone is captured and brought before Creon to face judgment. Though Antigone proclaims her sister innocent Creon imprisons the pair of them. Haemon, Antigone's fiancé and Creon's son comes to show his back up to his father while at the aforementioned fourth dimension beg him to spare his helpmate. Creon refuses and Haemon vows never to meet him once more. Though he does make up one's mind to spare Ismene, Creon orders that Antigone exist locked upwardly in a cavern forever. Along comes the bullheaded soothsayer Teiresias who warns Creon that the gods wish him to release Antigone and bury Polyneices body or else they volition have away 1 of his children and all of Greece will turn against him and Thebes. Frightened Creon agrees to release her, but alas it is too tardily. A messenger arrives and tells him that Haemon and Antigone have both committed suicide and soon after Creon's wife too takes her ain life. Broken past self-blame the drama ends with Creon slinking back into his home and the chorus offering an exclamation that the gods punish the proud but the lessons learned will make the punished wise.
Antigone was another of Aristotle's favorite tragedies. Sophocles was the third tragic playwright who revolutionized drama in Hellenic republic with his add-on of more master characters and a lesser presence of the chorus. Before Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles there would have just been one character in the play and a large chorus. The chorus would be so active in the story that plays were more similar narratives than bodily dramas. The audience might take been surprised at the cease to find out that the main tragic character in Antigone was not Antigone herself, merely rather information technology was Creon. This drama illustrates the second way in which a tragic graphic symbol can achieve his downfall. In the case of the first play in the trilogy Oedipus suffered from a hamartia; a tragic mistake rather than an evil intent (Freeland, p 34). In Creon's example his tragic flaw is an example of hubris; an overbearing pride or arrogance. In the end the audition certainly feels compassion for Creon and experiences catharsis, since information technology was actually more than of a blindness than a malicious intent that caused him to make the decisions that resulted in the loss of his entire family. As art this tragedy certainly fulfills its duties in Aristotle'south optics.
As has been illustrated Aristotle had a very concise idea of the nature and the purpose of fine art, especially as it relates to tragedy and drama. While many of the philosophers who came before and afterward Aristotle had opposing philosophies of art ane cannot deny that his theories fabricated very expert sense in his historical context and many of them yet accept some merit today. If one steps back and attempts to look at philosophy of art as a whole over the centuries one cannot deny that the applied merit that his theories independent and cannot aid but be impressed at how early they came in the history of philosophy of art.
____________________________
by Christian Ketelsen Major: Mathematics and Philosophy Expected
Graduation Engagement Baronial, 2003
Hometown Battle Footing, WA
Before condign a math major I spent ii semesters equally a double major in Philosophy and English. During this time I wrote a large number of belligerent essays and literary critiques. Since becoming a Math major I accept had to learn to write technical papers.
Source: https://public.wsu.edu/~kimander/aristotleart.htm
0 Response to "Ccording to Plato How Does One Judge the Value of a Piece of Art? Site 1"
Post a Comment