Plato and Aristotle on Beauty and Imitation (comm 1tf 2:30-4)

By classical Art History @suite 101

Plato didn't think works of art deserved a place in society, yet his philosophy of beauty would become the cornerstone of western art.

One of the best known art works of the Italian Renaissance is Raphael’s School of Athens (1510-11) It is one of four frescoes in the Vatican apartment known as the Room of the Segnatura. The frescoes were commissioned by Pope Julius II to summarize theological and humanist ideals. The School of Athens depicts the two greatest philosophers of Antiquity, Plato and Aristotle, standing in the center of an impressive barrel-vaulted space. They are surrounded by other famous philosophers and scientists such as Socrates, Pythagoras and Ptolemy. The wise men are seemingly engaged in lively discussions, while statues of Apollo and Minerva – ancient gods of the arts and wisdom - preside over the scene.

Opposing Views

Although there is still some debate about the identification of some of the portraits, the figures of Plato and Aristotle can be easily recognized. Plato holds his Timaeus, a work that describes the origin and nature of the universe. Aristotle holds his Nichomachean Ethics, in which he stresses the rational nature of humanity and the need for moral behavior. In concordance with their thinking, Plato points upwards indicating that wisdom lies in the realm of the universe while Aristotle gestures in the direction of the world as the source of his observations. Both doctrines would become highly influential in western thinking. Leonardo da Vinci for example would pick up on Aristotle’s ideas in which he would find a philosophical rationale for his study of nature. (Ironically, Raphael would depict Plato instead of Aristotle in the guise of Leonardo da Vinci!)

Plato: Beauty is an “Idea”

Although neither Plato nor Aristotle formulated an art theory, there are elements in their thinking that are directly related to art and aesthetics. In fact, important concepts such as form and content were first introduced by Plato and Aristotle, most notably in their discourse on imitation (mimesis). There are several significant differences between Plato and Aristotle. One difference is that for Plato, imitation should be mostly concerned with Ideal Forms (“Ideas”) that rule the cosmos and are revealed in the order, harmony, and balance of the natural world.

Hostility To Art

Interestingly, Plato did not think artists would be capable of interpreting such divine ideas. According to Plato, it is the task of philosophy to find meaning. Works of art are deceptive and hold us back from finding the truth. Therefore, works of art were to be banned from the ideal society that Plato envisioned. Order in the universe, according to Plato, is based on mathematical principles and therefore it is a matter of rational thought. However, by asserting that one should only imitate the ideal Plato provided an important model for the discourse in art, as well as a solid foundation of the western idea of art’s function being that for imitating nature.

Aristotle: Beauty is a Function of Form

Aristotle on the other hand, believed that imitation involves human experience and in that sense he saw a role for the arts. According to Aristotle, the artist has the freedom to imitate aspects of nature, but he does insist on the unity of form (formal and structural qualities). Aristotle explains form in terms of its “causes” by which he means any external factor (apart from “matter”’) that explains why something is the way it is, and what function it can perform. In short, form is that which causes something to be the thing it is. So whereas Plato’s form relates to Ideal forms, Aristotle relates form to something inherent in the object.

Imitation and Beauty

Another difference between Plato and Aristotle is the way they discuss imitation in relationship to beauty. For Plato, beauty is an idea, something abstract that is revealed in the order of the natural world. Hence the importance he placed on mathematics as the key to understanding the natural world. For Aristotle, beauty is something real, it is also a function of form, it is not abstract as for Plato, but it is grounded in an object. In other words, it is bound to a context.


Influence on Western Art

So, although the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle provide the first clues as to the relationship between form and content, it also shows the first signs of a divide. Beauty (content), according to Plato, is the form by which celestial ideals otherwise hidden from mere mortals are made visible. Aristotle, on the other hand, cares a great deal about likeness (form) of real appearances here on earth. It is this separation between form and content that would greatly influence the development of art and aesthetics in modern times.

link: http://www.suite101.com/content/plato-and-aristotle-----opposing-views-of-beauty-a199293

Sources

Hartt, Frederick, and David G. Wilkins. History of Italian Renaissance Art 6th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2006.

Magee, Bryan, The Story of Thought. DK Publishing 1998.

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