Full Idea
To appreciate form we must consider how the parts relate to the whole, which needs some idea of what counts as a part. We must organise our perceptual data in some way, and our understanding of the object is an indispensable contributor to this process.
Gist of Idea
We can only understand form if we grasp the whole of which things are parts
Source
Tom Cochrane (The Aesthetic Value of the World [2021], 2.2)
A Reaction
Abstract painting is a tricky case. It seems to need a precise boundary or frame. But we might enjoy the form of some pattern in nature, while being ignorant of the nature of what we are observing. I see his point, though.
Book Reference
Cochrane,Tom: 'The Aesthetic Value of the World' [OUP 2021], p.32