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THE MIDDLE AGES:

Explore the objectivity vs. subjectivity of beauty in philosophical aesthetics from the Pythagoreans to Vitruvius the Roman Architect. Delve into the Middle Ages' perspectives on inherent beauty. Dive into ancient and medieval theories on beauty and perception.

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THE MIDDLE AGES:

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  1. THE AGE OF ANTIQUITYFrom the Pythagoreans to Vitruvius the Roman Architect & Engineer:An introduction to the objectivity vs. subjectivity of beauty in philosophical aesthetics

  2. THE MIDDLE AGES: When the philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages stated “X” was beautiful were they acknowledging a quality that X inherently possesses or did they confer “beauty” upon it?

  3. Consider the question this way: A bouquet of Tulips • When you claim that X is beautiful, do you simply mean that you find it pleasing? • Would you say that all things are by themselves aesthetically neutral, neither beautiful or ugly?

  4. Consider the following questions: • Would you agree with Plato: “There are things which are beautiful always and by themselves? • Would agree with Protagoras: “Man is the measure of all things: nothing else but the pleasures of the eyes and ear”? Plato ; School of Athens by Raphael

  5. Consider the following points. A bouquet of Roses • It is naïve to believe that the theory of beauty was “objective” until the impact of modern thought • Rather, the subjective theory of beauty has always existed in Western thought (e.g., the Sophists). • The objective theory of beauty was simply predominant in Ancient and Medieval thought.

  6. Middle Ages: • The Middle Ages continued the two views of the Antiquity with the objective view still dominant but more united than times past. • In sum, the Middle Ages believed that beauty is an objective property of things, but conceded that it is perceived by man by subjective means. Eleanor of Aquitaine

  7. Middle Ages: • Another notable difference is that while ancient philosophers considered objective beauty to be self-evident, the scholastics thought it was an arguable point. Eleanor of Aquitaine

  8. Middle Ages: “I have to ask whether something is beautiful because it pleases, or whether it pleases because it is beautiful. And I will receive, no doubt, the answer that it pleases because it is beautiful.” De vera rel. XXXII 59. St. Augustine: 354-430 A.D.

  9. Pythagoreans: Beauty is the property of the universe. • Argument: Aesthetic view of objectivity was cosmocentric: beauty is the property of the universe; man doesn’t invent beauty; he discovers beauty. • Pythagoreans, a named after the Pre-Socratic Philosopher Pythagoras (570?-495?) B.C. the most famous pre-Socratic philosopher, the “father of numbers.” They believed that everything was related to mathematics and that numbers were the ultimate reality. • Harmony, proportion, and number are the objective basis of beauty because harmony derives from order, order from proportion, proportion from measure, and measure from number. • “Order and proportion,” they said, “are beautiful and useful while order and lack of proportion are ugly and useless.” ~ Stobias, Ecl. IV. 1.40 H, frg. D 4, Diels.

  10. Next time:THE RENAISSANCE

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