This is my blog for the year I'll be spending in Germany doing research. I'll be poring over thousands and thousands of documents searching for an answer to why I decided to do a PhD. You can follow my musings and adventures here.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Shaftesbury and Beauty
"All beauty is truth, just as all truth can be understood basically only through the meaning of form, that is, the meaning of beauty...Sense as such is not capable of perceiving this phenomenon, let alone understanding it in its ultimate origin. Where sense only is involved, where the relation we establish between ourselves and the world depends merely on our instincts and appetites, there is as yet no acces to the realm of form. The animal that is affected by the objects of its environment merely as stimuli which awaken its instincts and occasion certain reactions, is ignorant of all knowledge of the form of things. This knowledge does not spring from the force of desire as a direct sense reaction but from the force of pure contemplation, which is free of all desire for possession and of any act of direct seizure of the object. In this faculty of pure contemplation and of a pleasure which is not motivated by any 'interest' (is) the fundamental force behind all artistic enjoyment and all artistic creation." (Cassirir on Shaftesbury and Beauty)
I think Shaftesbury is making a very important point here. One understanding of beauty is often connected with the immediate effect on the eyes or senses. I think Shaftesbury points to animal instincts here and sees that such instincts correspond to an immediate action or desire to partake, touch, taste, or own the object. I think he is searching for a deeper understanding of beauty where contemplation is first required to appreciate what makes the object pleasing to the senses i.e. the process of creation and development and/or work involved to bring it to this point. He sees this undestanding as leading to the greatest possible aesthetic enjoyment. I see it as important because it removes the possibility of false motivations for considering beauty and instills a desire to acquire the traits of the beautiful object.
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2 comments:
Great comment Timmy, This meaning of beauty adds more understanding to the phrase beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. I don't know if you were thinking about "beautiful" people when you placed this but I would agree that "beautiful" people become more beautiful when thought,effort, and action are placed into them.
Word.
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