The Sense of Beauty: Being the Outlines of Aesthetic TheorySantayana, George
Philosophy
The Sense of Beauty: Being the Outlines of Aesthetic Theory
Santayana, George
Aesthetics
and so we might say to the critic that sinks into the archaeologist,
show us the work, and let the date alone.
In an opposite direction the same substitution of facts for values
makes its appearance, whenever the reproduction of fact is made
the sole standard of artistic excellence. Many half-trained
observers condemn the work of some naive or fanciful masters
with a sneer, because, as they truly say, it is out of drawing. The
implication is that to be correctly copied from a model is the
prerequisite of all beauty. Correctness is, indeed, an element of
effect and one which, in respect to familiar objects, is almost
indispensable, because its absence would cause a disappointment
and dissatisfaction incompatible with enjoyment. We learn to value
truth more and more as our love and knowledge of nature increase.
But fidelity is a merit only because it is in this way a factor in our
pleasure. It stands on a level with all other ingredients of effect.
When a man raises it to a solitary pre-eminence and becomes
incapable of appreciating anything else, he betrays the decay of
aesthetic capacity. The scientific habit in him inhibits the artistic.
That facts have a value of their own, at once complicates and
explains this question. We are naturally pleased by every
perception, and recognition and surprise are particularly acute
sensations. When we see a striking truth in any imitation, we are
therefore delighted, and this kind of pleasure is very legitimate,
and enters into the best effects of all the representative arts. Truth
and realism are therefore aesthetically good, but they are not
all-sufficient, since the representation of everything is not equally
pleasing and effective. The fact that resemblance is a source of
satisfaction justifies the critic in demanding it, while the aesthetic
insufficiency of such veracity shows the different value of truth in
science and in art. Science is the response to the demand for
information, and in it we ask for the whole truth and nothing but
the truth. Art is the response to the demand for entertainment, for
the stimulation of our senses and imagination, and truth enters into
it only as it subserves these ends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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