5. History of Aesthetics: Aristotle on Beauty

Aristotle was a student of Plato, but also eventually a teacher of Alexander the Great. As his student, Aristotle was influenced by the ideas of Plato, but they differed as well, and Aristotle criticizes some ideas and arguments of his teacher. Their approaches to philosophy were illustrated in the famous painting by Raphael, The School of Athens (1509-1511). In the center of this painting (see the image below) stand Plato on the left and Aristotle on the right. Plato points his hand upwards to indicate his emphasis on Forms that exist outside of the physical realm, while Aristotle points outward, indicating that he grounds the source of knowledge in the experience of physical reality.

Following his teacher Plato, Aristotle also wrote on a wide array of philosophical topics: metaphysics, ethics, logic, politics, poetics, and more. Aristotle’s logic was foundational for medieval theologians and philosophers. And it held dominion for about 2000 years. Aristotle not only was an early philosopher, but he was also an early scientist. He conducted empirical experiments; for example, he studied chicken embryos. And he established methods for empirical observation and study.

A Guiding Principle

One principle Aristotle declares in his book, Nicomachean Ethics, provides a helpful insight to our discussions about aesthetics. People may wonder what value aesthetics can have because it doesn’t hold the same degree of certainty as other fields of knowledge. Aristotle, speaking about ethics, addresses that concern. He writes: “Our discussion will be adequate if we make things perspicuous enough to accord with the subject matter; for we would not seek the same degree of exactness in all sorts of arguments alike, any more than in the products of different crafts.” He goes on to explain that we can only expect the degree of exactitude appropriate to a given field of study. In other words, the degree of certainty in math is not the same degree of certainty in aesthetics. So, we make things as clear as we can, using examples, ideas, and arguments from philosophy, science, experience, and elsewhere to further our understanding of aesthetics.