Classical aesthetics is a conditional term adopted to designate a period in the history of aesthetic thought until the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, from which a new and non-classical aesthetics begins. In everyday meaning, it can be used with an exceptionally positive meaning as a characteristic of some beautiful thing, from the point of view of the speaker.
One of the fundamental characteristics of classical aesthetics is the division of objects into subject and object. It is very important to keep in mind that which is contemplated or contemplative is anything.
The subject may experience an aesthetic relationship to the object, which in turn causes an aesthetic reaction. The latter leads to an aesthetic assessment.
One of the manifestations of classical aesthetic thought is a special perception and attitude to art. It is understood in a more familiar way to us: art as something that is intended to give pleasure (in this case, of course, it must be done by man). Contrasting this in the 20th century (non-classical aesthetics), ideas about art were developed as that which in itself leads to a reflection on art, an institutional and narrative theory of art.
Content
Classical Aesthetics in Antiquity
Although aesthetics as an independent field began to develop from the 18th century, and the term was introduced by Baumgarten, already in Antiquity they were interested in questions about the beautiful and aesthetic categories.
In the dialogue "Hippias the Great" Plato raises the question "what is beautiful ?". In the manner typical of all the dialogues of Plato, he first refutes the various opinions and arguments regarding beauty, and then comes to the conclusion that beauty is eternal, unchanging and absolute, eternal eidos, something that can only be known through eros.
Aristotle already includes Aesthetics in the section on creative sciences in his classification. He was also the first to become interested in the connection between enjoyment, pleasure and the aesthetic as a whole.
German Classical Philosophy
I. Kant
Kant considers aesthetics as already an independent field, since it corresponds to a separate group of the ability of the soul (feeling). In Critique of the Power of Judgment, Kant discusses aesthetic judgment, showing that it is a judgment of taste. Beauty is a special kind of judgment of taste. At the same time, there must be beauty (Kant gives 4 definitions): it is free from interest, it is universal, it is expedient without a goal, it gives aesthetic pleasure without a concept. Also within the framework of the classical aesthetic tradition, the concept of genius, which was created by Kant, is more familiar.
G. Hegel
For Hegel, aesthetics is also a separate area, but it is already inscribed, like art in the global spirit. It acquires its meaning and significance in the context of the development of an absolute idea. However, art is only the first step in the development of an idea, the formation of which is completed by philosophy and, as an area, the doctrine of the spirit.
Notes
Links
- I. Kant "Critique of the ability of judgment"
- G. Hegel "Lectures on Aesthetics"
http://esthetiks.ru/antichnaya-estetika.html