Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Metaphysics', 'The Nature of Thought' and 'works'

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3 ideas

21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 2. Art as Form
Beauty involves the Forms of order, symmetry and limit, which can be handled mathematically [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: The major Forms of the beautiful are order, symmetry and delimitation, and these are very much objects of the proofs of the mathematical sciences.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1078a31)
21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 4. Art as Expression
Objects can be beautiful which express nothing at all, such as the rainbow [Herbart, by Tolstoy]
     Full Idea: Objects are often beautiful which express nothing at all, as, for instance, the rainbow, which is beautiful for its lines and colours and not for its mythological connexion with Iris, or Noah's rainbow.
     From: report of Johann Herbart (works [1830]) by Leo Tolstoy - What is Art? Ch.3
     A reaction: A nice counterexample to Tolstoy's own theory. The example is one of a natural beauty, but it would be harder to find examples in human art. How much the artist may feel, though, has little to do with the success of a work of art.
21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality
The good is found in actions, but beauty can exist without movement [Aristotle]
     Full Idea: The good is always in some action, whereas the beautiful can also be in things without movement.
     From: Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1078a26)