What Is Aesthetics?

In a world that tells us that truth is relative and subjective and self-expression is king, aesthetics teaches us to draw meaningful distinctions, to make value judgments, to admire form and reject formlessness. Aesthetics helps us understand what is unique, beautiful, and pleasing in the things that surround us.

Aesthetics is generally understood to be a philosophical discipline that examines the meaning and purpose of beauty. Most regard it as a subdivision of philosophy, sitting on the philosophical shelf alongside ethics or metaphysics. Some would go so far as to identify these three branches of philosophy—metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics—with each of the “three transcendentals” of medieval scholastic thought: goodness with ethics; truth with metaphysics, and beauty with aesthetics.

For all this, I imagine “aesthetics” is a vague and esoteric term to many. We surely know what ethics is—it teaches us right and wrong. Although not quite as recondite a term as “metaphysics” (what does a metaphysician do, anyway?) “aesthetics” is rarefied enough. Used in common speech, “aesthetic” seems to approach the sense of “cosmetic”: “These walls may not be aesthetically pleasing, but they will have to do for now.” The popular use of the term often bears a hint of belittlement, as if to say “only aesthetic”—as if beauty is merely on the surface, not part of the core being of a thing. For those of us who believe beauty has great importance and dignity and substance, this is distressing.

One of the areas in which beauty is manifested is in art, in its many forms—painting, music, literature, etc. These tend to get the most attention in aesthetics; but some people, myself included, would make a distinction between the philosophy of art and the philosophy of beauty and say that the latter is more fundamental. Beauty exists prior in being to its manifestation in the human product called art. Beauty exists in nature and natural objects before it exists in art, which classically considered is an imitation (mimesis) of nature. So, aesthetics can examine the experience of the beautiful in natural objects, too, and not just in art.

Thus, common textbooks like Philosophies of Art and Beauty stumble by blurring the distinction between philosophizing about beauty and philosophizing about art, even implying that art comes first. That is putting the cart before the horse. In my view, aesthetics is firstly a theory of beauty, secondarily a theory of how beauty informs art. It is not solely the “philosophy of art.”

Webster’s hits the mark when it defines aesthetics as “the branch of philosophy dealing with taste and the study of beauty in nature and art.” This definition includes both nature and art, and it identifies taste as one of the subjects of aesthetics. Theories of how we form taste and judgment abound in works of aesthetics. One thinks of Burke’s Introduction on Taste, Hume’s Standard of Taste, Kant’s Critique of Judgment.

I am also at one with Roger Scruton in his article on aesthetics for Encyclopedia Britannica: “Aesthetics is broader in scope than the philosophy of art, which comprises one of its branches. It deals not only with the nature and value of the arts but also with those responses to natural objects that find expression in the language of the beautiful and the ugly.”

Another author who gets things right is the Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand, in his valedictory work, Aesthetics. Here are some of the chapter headings from the book, which give a good idea of the wide range of topics considered by aesthetics:

-The Role of the Senses in Apprehending Beauty

-The Beauty of the Visible and the Audible in Its Relation to Expressed Metaphysical Beauty

-The Three Antitheses to Beauty: Ugliness, Triviality, and Boringness

-Beauty in Nature

-Elegance

-The Comical

-Beauty and Truth

-The Bond of Beauty with Morality and with Love

As this menu suggests, Hildebrand attends to the entire universe of aesthetic experience, both artistic and natural—what he describes as “the rich, colorful, shaped, resounding world.” The objects considered include everything from sounds, colors, and tastes to symphonies, paintings, and the streaked colors appearing in a clear sky at dawn. His approach recalls the words of St. Thomas Aquinas defining beauty as that which pleases on being seen. All the things aesthetics examines are things which please, are attractive, and therefore draw us toward that which is good and true.

And here we glimpse the close inner relationship between these transcendentals: An action that is morally good attracts us; likewise, a true proposition attracts us. But this quality of attraction is none other than beauty (which results in love). Aesthetics is thus a dimension of reality that interpenetrates with truth and goodness. We experience them together, in alternation, and in such a way that we sometimes cannot distinguish them.

But just a moment. Why is beauty an object of inquiry at all? Why is it a theme in philosophy? Why don’t we just enjoy it without thinking about it? Perhaps because, just like moral concepts such as goodness, evil, and virtue, and metaphysical concepts like existence and essence, it is something we all experience and which is deeply mysterious to us. We crave an explanation.

Thus, beauty—and hence, aesthetics, the thoughtful reflection on beauty—is for everyone, whether they are aware of it or not. It is not the sole province of artists or philosophers. Think of the way that beauty, the experience of beauty, colors and penetrates everyday life. Think of how a beautiful building or well-adorned interior space affects your mind or spirit if you live and work there. Think of how music accompanies our days, especially today when electronic reproduction of music is so pervasive. Hildebrand says that beauty enters into our pores even when we are not concentrating on it.

“Aesthetics” may be a lofty word, yet it affects all men, women, and children on a gut level. Everyone makes aesthetic judgments, even if they do not recognize them as such. We recognize that food is improperly seasoned, and comment on it. We notice if a room is dreary in color or poorly organized. Hildebrand states that beauty has a “fundamental significance…for the human person for his happiness, his character, his moral growth, and his spiritual development.” Man is an aesthetic being, a being oriented toward beauty.

He is also a rational being, someone who analyzes and forms judgments. As mentioned, many aesthetic philosophers have emphasized the importance of taste and judgment. The forming and molding of taste is indeed an essential part of aesthetics. Beauty does not simply “come naturally.” The appreciation of the beautiful can atrophy. If we are to be people who recognize what is beautiful, our senses and our sense of judgment must be cultivated. This is done preferably by absorbing beautiful things from a young age and participating in activities that have the quality of the beautiful, which could include anything from playing an instrument to cultivating a garden. Appreciation of both nature and various art forms should be built up early on and continue throughout life.

In a world that tells us that truth is relative and subjective and self-expression is king, aesthetics teaches us to draw meaningful distinctions, to make value judgments, to admire form and reject formlessness. Aesthetics helps us understand what is unique, beautiful, and pleasing in the things that surround us, and in doing so gives us “the capacity to see things as intrinsically valuable, irreplaceable, or ends in themselves” (Scruton). Through the study of the beautiful we are made more conscious and contemplative; more attuned to the highest goods and values, to love, and to the goodness of being itself.

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The featured image is “Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo,” by Leonardo da Vinci, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.