Part 2 (1/2)

What is the form of reflection for the Absolute, the Idea?

It would appear to be a combination of Unity and Totality-- self-completeness An object, then, which should be self- complete from all possible points of view, to which could be applied the ”form of reflection” for the Absolute, would, therefore, alone truly express it, and so alone fulfill the end of Beauty The Idea would be there in its form; it would be shown to sense, and so first full expressed

With this iel's definition of Beauty, which brings it into line with the point of view already won, I believe the way is at last opened from the traditional philosophy of aesthetics to a healthy and concrete psychological theory

But ive rise to the aesthetic experience? An object is absolutely self-co subject; it is so, in other words, only when it produces a self-complete experience for that subject If reconciliation of the warring elements of the universe is the end of Beauty it must take place not for, but in, the human personality; it must not be understood, but immediately, completely experienced; it should be realized in the subject of the aesthetic experience, the lover of beauty The beautiful object would be not that which should show in outline form, or remind of, this Unity of the World, but which should create for the subject the moment of self- completeness; which should inform the aesthetic subject with that unity and self-completeness which are the ”forms of reflection” of the Infinite The subject should be not a mirror of perfection, but a state of perfection Only in this sense does the concept of reconciliation co Not because I see freedom, but because I am free; not because I think of God, or the Infinite, or the one, but because I ay and unity, does the aesthetic experience constitute such a reconciliation

Not because I behold the Infinite, but because I have, myself, a moment of perfection Herein it is that our theory constitutes a conificant”

theories of the Beautiful, and does aith the necessity those theories are under of reading sermons into stones The yellow primrose needs not to remind us of the harnificance whatever, if it gives by its own direct simple stimulation a moment of Unity and Self- completeness That immediate experience indeed contains in itself the ”forh this that we so often pass, in the enjoyht is a corollary, a secondary effect, not an essential part of the aesthetic moment There is a wonderful bit of unconscious aesthetics in the following passage fro the ”secret of relation” we have just analyzed

”It was dark and rather cold I was gloo to do I passed by soh upon a wall A jonquil in blooest expression of desire: it was the first perfume of the year I felt all the happiness destined for man This unutterable harmony of souls, the phantom of the ideal world, arose in reat or so instantaneous I know not what shape, what analogy, what secret of relation it was that made me see in this flower a limitless beauty I shall never inclose in a conception this power, this i will contain; this ideal of a better world which one feels, but which it would seem that nature has not made”<1>

<1> Translation by Carleton Noyes: _The Enjoyment of Art_, 1903, p 65

Our philosophical definition of Beauty has thus taken final shape The beautiful object possesses those qualities which bring the personality into a state of unity and self-cohtly to case aside such a definition as abstract, vague, Ehted than to treat the idea of the Absolute Will, of the Transcendental Reason, of the Eternal Love, as mere intellectual factors in the aesthetic experience

It should not be criticised as giving ”no objective account of the nature and origin of Beauty” The nature of Beauty is indicated in the definition; the origin of Beauty may be studied in its historical develop is simply the desire of the hu unity and self-completeness into the personality By whatabout this effect? When we enter the realround of philosophy, and it is fitting that the concepts which we have to use should be adapted to the empirical point of view The personality, as dealt with in psychology, is but the psychophysical organism; and we need to know only how to translate unity and self-coical organism is in a state of unity either when it is in a state of virtual congealment or emptiness, as in a trance or ecstasy; or when it is in a state of repose, without tendency to change Secondly, the organishest possible point of tone, of functional efficiency, of enhanced life Then a combination of favorable sti

But it may be said that stimulation and repose are contradictory concepts, and we must indeed admit that the absolute repose of the hypnotic trance is not aesthetic, because empty of stimulus

The only aesthetic repose is that in which sti in impulse to onistic i upon itself, co of tone But this is TENSION, EQUILIBRIUM, or BALANCE OF FORCES, which is thus seen to be A GENERAL CONDITION OF ALL AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE The concept is familiar in pictorial composition and to some extent also in rounded in the very demand for the union of repose with activity

Moreover, this requireical concepts of unity and totality, as translated into psychological teranic life It was the perfect ht, and we found it in the immediate experience of unity and self-co CAN only be equilibriueneral nature of an organism makes it ”so built, whether on mechanical principles or not, that every deviation from the equilibrium point sets up a tendency to return to it”<1> Equilibriureater or less excursions froanic life The perfect equilibriuive the perfect moment

<1> LT Hobhouse, _Mind in Evolution_

The further steps of aesthetics are then toward analysis of the psychological effect of all the elements which enter into a work of art, with reference to their effect in producing stimulation or repose What colors, forms, tones, emotions, ideas, favorably sti to repose? All the ical aesthetics, into the emotional and other--especially motor-- effects of color, tone-sensation, melodic sequence, simple forms, etc, find here there proper place

A further ination of the aesthetic state, is now suggested Some authorities speak of the aesthetic attitude or activity, describing it as ”sympathetic imitation” or ”absorption;”

others of the aesthetic pleasure But, according to our definition of the aesthetic experience as a combination of favorable sti ”a distinctive feeling-tone and a characteristic trend of activity aroused by a certain situation,”<1> can be no other than an emotion This view is confirmed by introspection; we speak of aesthetic activity and aesthetic pleasure, but we are conscious of a coence from pure pleasure The experience is unique, it seems to defy description, to be intense, vivid, and yet--like itself alone Any attee special, already known e music, is often in vain, in just those moments when our excitement is most intense But the hypothesis of a unique emotion, parallel to those of joy, fear, etc, and with a psychological basis as outlined, would account for these facts The positive toning of the experience--e call aesthetic pleasure--is due not only to the favorable stionishtens tone while it inhibits action Thus the conditions of both factors of aesthetic emotion tend to induct pleasure

<1> Baldwin's _Dict Of Phil And Psychol_ Art ”Emotion”

It is, then, clear that no specific aesthetic pleasure need be sought The very phrase, indeed, is a misnomer, since all pleasure is qualitatively the same, and differentiated only by the specific activities which it accompanies It is also to be noted that those writers on aesthetics who have dwelt most on aesthetic pleasure have come in conclusion only to specific activities, like the ”iht of the just-won definition of aesthetic e to examine some of the well-known modern aesthetic theories

Lipps defines the aesthetic experience as a ”thrill of sy,” Groos as ”sy that pleasure accos of sy to the aesthetic realm In the same way, not all ”imitation” is accoenerally accepted aesthetic field If these definitions were accepted as they stand, all our rejoicings with friends, all our inspiration fronetic presence must be included in it It is clear that further limitation is necessary; but if to this syh in sympathy, we add the demand for repose, the necessary lieneral, or the instinctive ieneral FAVORABLE) movements, is pleasurable, indeed, but the experience is not aesthetic,--as is quite clear, indeed, to common sense,--and it is not aesthetic because it is the contradiction of repose A particular case of the transformation of pleasurable physical exercise into an aesthetic activity is seen in the experience of symmetrical or balanced form; any moderate, smooth exercise of the eye is pleasurable, but this alone induces a state of the whole organis repose with stimulation

The theories of Kulpe and Santayana, while they definitely round, seem to me in need of addition ”Absorption in the object in respect to its bare quality and conforive the needed information, for objective beauty, of the character of this conforht be said that the content of beauty ical conditions of absorption In the same way, Santayana's ”Beauty as objectified pleasure,” or pleasure as the quality of a thing, is neither a determination of objective beauty nor a sufficient description of the psychological state

Yet analysis of those qualities in the thing that cause us to make our pleasure a quality of it would supplement the definition sufficiently and coard pleasure as the quality of a thing? Because there is so that makes us spread, as it were, our pleasure upon it This is that which fixates us, arrests us, upon it,--which can be only the elements that make for repose

Guyau, however, comes nearest to our point of view ”The beautiful is a perception or an action which stimulates life within us under its three forence, and will) and produces pleasure by the swift consciousness of this general stieneral stimulation that Guyau explains the aesthetic effect of his faeneral stiht accompany successful action of any kind, and thus the ether That M Guyau is so successful in his analysis is due rather to the fact that just this diffused stimulation is likely to come fro of antagonistic i an equilibrium The diffusion of stimulation would be our formula for the aesthetic state only if interpreted as sti action

<1> _Problemes de l'Esthetique Contemporaine_ 1902, p 77

The diffusion of stimulation, the equilibriuh repose!--this is the aesthetic experience

But how, then, it will be asked, are we to interpret the teh this formula, but hardly a drama or a symphony If the form of the one is symmetry, hidden or not, would not the forht line? That which has beginning, middle, and end is not static but dynamic