Plato [Republic]
1. the generic idea of art (techne), whose principle is measure.
2. the special concept of imitative art (mimesis), its aim and its deficiencies.
3. the concept of poetic inspiration, enthusiasm or madness (mania) as a necessary condition for poetic creativity.
4. the concept of erotic madness and its connection with the vision of Beauty.
5. Tragedy in art acts against the inspired search for the Beautiful, which is the proper end of art.
(Plato)
1. Art (techne) presupposes a knowing and a making: knowing the end to be aimed at and the best means for achieving the end.
- When a maker commands his art he can judge the excellence of his product according to his insight into proportion and measure.
- Thus, if his is to work well, he must know the nature of Measure.
- Basic to any one art is the art of Measure, without which there can be no art at all.
Measure for Plato embraces the principles of the good and the beautiful, and (in our terms) the principle of taste as well.
[Teacher—Measure means the determination of appropriate relationships through knowledge of proportion and of the mean.]
2. Among the arts, the highest is that of the divine maker (the Demiurgos) who composed the universe as an imitation of Ideas or unchanging Forms. Like him, the Statesman (!), most exalted of human makers, envisages the human community according to the Ideas of justice, the good, courage, temperance, and the beautiful.
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Thus, within the State, various arts are practiced as imitations of an external order but..
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the literary or plastic artist, unlike the Demiurgos (and the Statesman), may fail to know the ultimate reality and instead may present the mere appearance of perceivable nature!
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Therefore, his art comes under the critical purview of the ruling statesman who excercises his legislative art in controlling production and use of ...(what we call today)... the fine arts.
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There must be true imitation in art (eikastike) and not false imitation (phantastike). The determination of what is fit and unfit (good) depends upon the moral ends of the polis (population).
3. There is something in imitative art that is different from, and not reducible to, techne (technique).
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The poet is inspired—a winged holy thing— filled with the power of the divine, hence mad in a noble way far above the ordinary knowledge and consciousness.
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It is this possession which enables him to achieve the authentically artistic that is more than techne.
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Conscious rational intellect cannot reduce this to a rule, nor can the man who commands techne raise himself to the genuinely poetic without divine assistance!
4. In short, all making (synthesis) is a kind of imitation.
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all that the gods or men may create is the re-presentation of a vision (idea) in a material medium.
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Only the man who understands the fundamental principle of measure can judge which imitations are worthy, which are debased.
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The arts of literature and painting (fine arts) are therefore properly subordinate to a generic principle of judgment, and the needs of the human community control the divine inspirations of art. (See Hegel dialectic.)
Aristotle
[Poetics]
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1. Applies techne as a credential of imitative art.
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2. Arts in general are valuable because they repair the deficiencies in nature.
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3. Tragedy is justifiable in art because of the moral contribution that it makes. Tragedy is a means of gaining knowledge, through its presentation of philosophic truths, and is a way of coping with the enthusiastic states common to all men.
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4. Beauty is a property of the art work and nature; rather than exclusively the province of the metaphysical.
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5. The imitative arts are of primary importance, as they are instruments of human learning and their effects upon the spectator are beneficial.
(Aristotle)
1. Applies techne as a credential of imitative art.
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makes a distinction between art and nature (and acting)
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In artistic making, the envisioned end determines the appropriate means for its realization.
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The well-made work has a perfection of form and a sureness of method which guarantees that it will be a satisfactory whole in itself and efficacious in its work.
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The elements in its (works) composition exhibit symmetry, harmony and definiteness.
Augustine
1. Whereas Plato and Aristotle approach art from a political and metaphysical point of view (where the question of truth is determined by reference to the human population [polis] and a doctrine of Being), Augustine begins his analysis of art from the foundation of faith (where scripture, not philosophy, is the arbiter).
2. The production and consumption of art are matters of interest to the Church (as opposed to the State-Plato), the degree to which the artist is said to be a knower is established by reference to the doctrines of the Christian religion.
3. The sensuous gratification of art is a problem in that perceptual objects tie the senses down to earthly things and prevent the mind from contemplating what is eternal and unchanging.
4. Art and the beauties of nature have their place in the ascent to God, but better guides for the sou's return are to be found in objects which do not require sight
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(those human arts which participate least in the sensible are the best mirrors of Divine order)
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thus, music is a higher art than painting. - (Augustine)
5. Human "making" when subject to Divine will can participate in "number," (numerus):
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mathemetical proportion
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rhythmic organization
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fittingness of parts (both in the elements of the object and the faculties of the human soul)
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the Divine—the plenitude, unity, law, and beauty of God.
(Augustine)
6. The nature of number is apprehended by man through three experiences.
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a. physical—the feeling of number and rhythm,
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then
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b. intellectual—the number of thought and memory, and finally
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c. innate number—the judgment of the soul by means of a harmony bestowed upon it by God.
Schelling transcendental idealism—man has grown distant from nature - begin with ego and work back towards nature. see stages of learning. Baby slides. Hegel Dialectic.
