Philosophy of Art

The Beautiful and the Sublime

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten

·         “…the purpose of art is to produce beauty, defined in terms of the ordered relationship between the parts of a whole. The point of beauty is to give pleasure and arouse desire.”

·         “the finest beauty is to be found in nature, and therefore the highest aim of art is to imitate nature”

·         Sensual art – human form and perfection of nature

Hume

·         Art gives pleasure and satisfaction to the soul. Pleasure and pain constitute the essence of beauty and deformity.

·         Standard of taste + aesthetic judgments à ascertaining which features of art were most highly pleasing to qualified and impartial connoisseurs

Edmund Burke

·         “The sublime, as well as the beautiful, can be the aim of art: a feeling of beauty is a form of love without desire, and to feel something as sublime is to feel astonishment without fear.”

·         Sublime: “of high moral, aesthetic, intellectual, or spiritual value; inspiring deep veneration, awe, or uplifting emotion because of its beauty, grandeur, or immensity.” (Dictionary.com)

·         The sublime à must destroy to create

·         Derives from need for social contact, self-preservation, and instinct to propagate the race

Kant

·         “Taste is the faculty of judging of an object or a method of representing it by an entirely disinterested satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The object of such satisfaction is called beautiful.”

o   Sensual delight = gratification

o   Disinterested enjoyment = pleasingness

·         “What gratifies a person is called pleasurable; what merely pleases him is called beautiful; what he values is called good.”

·         Judgments of value are related to purpose

·         Beauty is subjective, not universal

·         Beautiful objects exhibit “purposiveness without purpose” à relative importance to individuals, subjective interpretations of beauty

o   Free beauty = nature, natural things, life

o   Derivative beauty = art, interpretations of life and nature  

·         Production of beauty is the purpose of art 

Surrender

"If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it." - Song of Solomon 


The Road goes ever on and on
     Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
     And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
     Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
     And whither then? I cannot say.

- J.R.R. Tolkien  


All that is gold does not glitter,
     Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
     Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
     A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
     The crownless again shall be king.

- J.R.R. Tolkien 

Significant Songs

Adam’s Song by Blink-182 + A Better Place, A Better Time by Streetlight Manifesto

            At the beginning of my high school years I felt entirely isolated. I did not fit in with anyone I tried to hang out with; I fought my shy nature to test the social waters and eventually my hope dwindled as I was unable to establish bonds. Convinced I was destined to be the strange child that wanders the hallways during lunch and never to share my feelings, I turned towards certain music that encompassed my feelings of ever-lasting isolation. It was primarily Adam’s Song and A Better Place, A Better Time that spoke to me. The magnificent thing about music was its ability to forge a connection with me that seemed impossible with my peers. These songs spoke to me as the confidant I lacked about the depression I repressed in my other encounters. I learned that I was not alone. Still at times, I return to these songs for advice and as a reminder of my imperfect, but wonderful existence. Beauty is what I am able to connect to and take away from: this is my personal aesthetic. Adam’s Song and A Better Place, A Better Time are beautiful to me because every time I hear them, I have a release of tension. I am able to look at life in broader lenses, giving me perspective. I understand the isolation Adam felt, but I have found such beauties in this world that ending my existence seems an impossibly cruel punishment that I have not deserved. A Better Place, A Better Time has helped show me that there are those in my life willing to help me when hope fades and depression sets in. I will never again be alone.

Rest Of My Life by SOJA

            I truly listened to the lyrics of this song while in the parking lot of a McDonald’s with one of my best friends. We talked from midnight to four in the morning about anything and everything over a couple of peppermint hot chocolates. My senior year has been the most fulfilling year of my life and I owe that entirely to the friends I have made. At last I have found my people. My people are the ones who will accept each facet of my personality as I have or will accept theirs’. Faced with the inevitable graduation, I have realized the truth of the matter that, “If I could spend the rest of my life with my people, I would do it over and over again.” I will make every second of our friendship the most meaningful and memorable because we do not have the rest of our lives. Life continues but for the moment, I will not focus on the rest of my life, I will simply focus on this moment. Once again my sense of beauty stems from the ability to connect and impart wisdom. This song has shared with me the truth of great friends and has presented a sentiment that I hold very dear to me, “If I could spend the rest of my life with my people, I would do it over and over again.”