Philosophy of Humanity

Aesthetics (Philosophy of Beauty)

The Middle Ages and the Modern Era

The Middle Ages represent a unique period in the development of European culture. While Antiquity was the era of the flourishing of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Middle Ages were shaped by new peoples. The beginning of the Middle Ages was incredibly complex and multifaceted. Despite their high cultural achievements during their formative years, the Greeks and Romans failed to preserve their civilization. Moral decay and the loss of a sense of their historical mission led to the fall of the Roman Empire, along with the cultural accomplishments of Antiquity. On the map of Europe emerged new peoples—the Germanic and Slavic tribes—who could not boast the level of culture attained by the Greeks and Romans. There was only one path to salvaging European culture: to preserve at least the ruins of the old world and instill a love for this culture in the new European peoples. This mission was undertaken by Christianity, probably because there was no other force in contemporary Europe that valued civilization as something worth fighting for. The Christian Church laid the aesthetic foundation for Medieval culture by bringing culture to the new European peoples. Everything related to culture in the Middle Ages was the work of the Church. Priests and monks established scriptoria, schools, artistic workshops, built churches and monasteries, and more. Without the Christian Church, the old European peoples (Greeks and Romans) would not have had an institution to unite them around the idea of preserving the cultural heritage of previous generations, and the new peoples would not have had a guide.

However, the cultural role of the Christian Church was not only to preserve the achievements of past generations but also to form new cultural foundations and a new type of aesthetic taste. Christianity emphasized not external and physical beauty, but spiritual beauty. Beauty is that which brings one closer to God, morally and spiritually perfects, and ennobles. The central anthropological idea of Christianity is that there is a divine seed embedded in human nature that should grow and bear abundant fruit—humanity’s resemblance to God. This understanding of humanity also dictates the aesthetics. A monk, whose body is marred by asceticism but whose spirit is uplifted to God, is more beautiful than an athlete, whose body pleases the eye but whose spirit is distant from God. This ideal of beauty is in some ways similar to the ethical-aesthetic ideal of the ancient Stoics.

The aspiration to cultivate the ability to see the invisible through the visible, the spiritual through the physical, the divine through the human, pervaded all medieval art. It was rich in symbols: every stroke, color, and detail of an icon carried some symbolic meaning; every tone of church music also symbolized something; every detail of architecture pointed to something special. The use of symbolism in art aimed to cultivate the ability to see truth through appearance.

The Renaissance era brought a new surge in the development of aesthetics. Artists and philosophers of this time sought to revive all that was connected with Antiquity. Anything remotely related to Antiquity was proclaimed as an ideal and model for imitation. Philosophers of the time were fascinated by Plato, sought to reinterpret Aristotle, and translated ancient philosophical texts. Literary figures translated classical works and attempted to recreate their style in their own writings. Artists and sculptors revived the artistic canons of Antiquity. Renaissance art demonstrated the heights of cultural development that humanity could achieve. The figures of this era adopted not only the skills of their ancient predecessors but also their aesthetic principles. Since ancient artists paid much attention to mathematics, symmetry, and harmony, these ideals became defining for the Renaissance as well. Numerous works dedicated to exploring the foundations of ancient art emerged. For instance, the Italian mathematician, monk, and creator of modern accounting principles, Luca Pacioli (c. 1445—1517), in his work "On Divine Proportion," thoroughly analyzed the "golden ratio," influencing the revival of this ancient principle in Renaissance culture. The German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471—1528) wrote "Instructions for Measuring" and "Four Books on Proportions," which influenced painting.

The philosophy of the Modern era was based on the elevation of reason. The rationalist philosophy of René Descartes and other Modern thinkers proclaimed reason as the highest ideal. Correspondence with reason became the criterion for any evaluation. What was true was that which conformed to the laws of reason. Reason was also proclaimed as the criterion for morality. Even religion was assessed from the standpoint of reason: theologians sought to depict all aspects of religion as conforming to reason. This criterion also played a role in aesthetics. Beauty began to be considered what is rational and consistent with reality. Artists were expected to replicate reality perfectly: painting and sculpture should closely match the original; works of literature should accurately reflect the time, place, and circumstances of the events described. Art of this time had a clearly defined task—to educate people, teach them, and instill in them a love for high culture. Enlightenment thinkers, who represented one period of Modern philosophy and culture, believed that the cause of all societal woes was a low level of education and knowledge. To enable the happiness of the people, it was necessary to raise their educational level. All human activities, including art, should serve this goal. Thus, the criterion for aesthetics in the Modern era was rational-enlightenment usefulness.

The year 1750 marked a turning point in the history of aesthetics. That year saw the publication of the first volume of "Aesthetics" by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714—1762). This publication led to the differentiation of aesthetics from the general context and the establishment of the name of this discipline. In this work, Baumgarten presented his own aesthetic views. He believed that there are two ways of knowledge: the higher or rational, and the lower or sensory. The higher way of knowledge is studied by logic, while the lower is the subject of aesthetics. Thus, aesthetics is the science of sensory knowledge. It should consist of three parts. The first part’s task is to study beauty as an abstract philosophical concept. Within this task, aesthetics is closely related to other philosophical disciplines. The second part’s task is art, as it is the expression of beauty in the human world. In this task, aesthetics is connected with art history. The third part’s task is the study of artistic symbolism, linking aesthetics with semiotics.

In 1790, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724—1804) published "Critique of Judgment," dedicated to aesthetics. In it, Kant presented his own view on the problem of aesthetics. Kant defined aesthetics as the science of sensory knowledge of beauty. Unlike his predecessors, who mostly saw aesthetics as a means of education and instruction, Kant believed that the content of aesthetics is inherent in itself. Humans have the ability to feel beauty, distinguish the beautiful from the ugly, and derive pleasure from the beautiful and sublime. This ability is not conditioned by anything. According to Kant, what is beautiful is what appears so, independent of any external factors. If people recognize something as beautiful not because it is fashionable or accepted but simply because they derive aesthetic pleasure from it, then it is truly beautiful.

By the end of the 19th century, several philosophical movements emerged that influenced aesthetics. These included positivism, established by Auguste Comte. Positivists focused on the problems of the philosophy of science: they managed to convince the cultural environment of their time that the only true method of knowledge is science, based on experience. Anything that cannot be empirically perceived is not scientific and thus not worth attention. Having achieved the status of the principal creator of cultural trends of their time, positivism extended its ideals to all areas of culture: if the only truth, according to positivists, is scientific, then all other forms of knowledge and activity are true only to the extent that they resemble empirical science. Positivist ideals were also applied to art. The criterion for aesthetics became what was empirically perceivable, the same as for scientific validity. Under the influence of positivism, artists sought to depict reality as accurately as possible. The task of art was reduced to reflecting and interpreting reality. The French scholar Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (1828—1893), combining Auguste Comte's positivism with Charles Darwin's evolutionism, developed his own theory of aesthetics. He believed that there are no eternal and unchanging foundations of aesthetics. Aesthetic sensations, notions of beauty, tastes, and art are constantly changing. The driving force behind these changes is the historical era, cultural environment, biological needs, and so on. Conceptions of beauty vary with each era, cultural environment, race, nation, and economic circumstance.

Aesthetics continued to develop in the 20th and 21st centuries. During this time, numerous philosophical schools emerged, many of which included aesthetic issues in their interests. Thus, it is appropriate to discuss existentialist, psychoanalytic, structuralist, phenomenological aesthetics, and others in 20th-century philosophy.