Philosophy

Art is defined by Monroe C. Beardsley as something produced for the purpose of aesthetic pleasure. Unlike an artist, a craftsperson creates artifacts for the purpose of function. The 20th-century “new criticism” movement saw aesthetic appreciation as having its own value and “good” art as representing the common human experience through Western history (Beardsley, 25).

Aesthetics is the area of philosophy that studies the nature of beauty and art. Aesthetic appreciation, then, is the admiration of beauty, such as valuing the fine arts of music, literature, dance, and visual art. What is considered beautiful and even what is considered art are not always agreed upon by everyone in the same culture, much less across different times. Recognizing what is appreciated aesthetically for a given group can help us understand the values that inform their decisions, how individuals interact with each other, and even how advanced a past civilization was according to how art was incorporated into their tasks. Much of what we know about ancient civilizations in Egypt, Greece, South America, and China, for example, comes from the art and artifacts that have been uncovered by archaeologists. The word aesthetics comes from the Greek word aisthanomai, which means to perceive. Theories of aesthetics fall under the study of philosophy and other disciplines concerned with how we value what we perceive.

Artifacts are objects created for human use, such as tools, weapons, clothing, utensils, and individual works of art. The word art usually refers to the intentional process of creating something to fulfill an aesthetic purpose. Because there are choices in how artifacts are designed, they can be artistic and carry an aesthetic quality. While some people share reactions to certain objects of art, the aesthetic properties themselves are usually subject to individual interpretation. That a painting is square, framed in gold, and brushed with blue and yellow pigments are aesthetic facts; they are not questionable. That the square represents perfect order, the gold depicts the prestige of royalty, and the vibrant blue and yellow convey the peace, warmth, and contentment of the sun shining in the sky are aesthetic determinations that could be interpreted differently. They are judgments. Aesthetic properties often have the power to inspire emotional response, and such a response is not likely to be consistent.

Whether or not there is a universal concept of beauty is a question philosophers have asked for centuries. Nevertheless, the beauty and aesthetic properties found in ...