On the objective side, and apart from the subjective distinction just
set forth, the sublime and the beautiful are not essentially different.
In both cases alike, the object of aesthetic contemplation is not the
single thing, but the Idea that is striving towards manifestation in it.
Whatever is viewed aesthetically is viewed out of relation to time and
space: 'along with the law of sufficient reason the single thing and the
knowing individual are taken away, and nothing remains over but the Idea
and the pure Subject of Knowledge, which together make up the adequate
objectivity of the Will at this stage.' There is thus a sense in which
everything is beautiful; since the Will appears in everything at some
stage of objectivity, and this means that it is the expression of some
Idea. But one thing can be more beautiful than another by facilitating
aesthetic contemplation. This facilitation proceeds either from the
greater clearness and perfection with which the particular thing shows
forth the Idea of its kind, or from the higher stage of objectivation to
which that Idea corresponds. Man being the highest stage of
objectivation of the Will, the revelation of his essence is the highest
aim of art. In aesthetic contemplation of inorganic nature and vegetative
life, whether in the reality or through the medium of art, and in
appreciation of architecture, the subjective aspect, that is to say, the
enjoyment of pure will-less knowledge, is predominant; the Ideas
themselves being here lower stages of objectivity. On the other hand,
when animals and men are the object of aesthetic contemplation or
representation, the enjoyment consists more in the objective
apprehension of those Ideas in which the essence of the Will is most
clearly and fully manifested.
Of all Schopenhauer's work, its aesthetic part has met with the most
general appreciation. Here especially he abounds in observations drawn
directly, in his own phrase, from intuition. To make a selection of
these, however, is not appropriate to a brief sketch like the present. I
pass on, therefore, to those portions of his theory of Art by which he
makes the transition, in terms of his system, to Morality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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