Aesthetics

Aesthetics Definition: The Philosophy/Theology of art and beauty. Scope: Absolute Aesthetics studies what makes things, especially art, beautiful in themselves. No quarter is given to the subjective perception of beauty by the observer. Absolute Aesthetics is closely related to Ethics and Metaphysics. Key concepts in Absolute Aesthetics include the ideas of Medium Vocation, Concretization, and Identity. Aesthenosophy studies how the subjective response of the observer to a thing, especially to a work of art, can be good or bad. It is closely related to Ethics, Literature, Sociology, and Psychology. It can be made Socratic very efficiently by realizing that the betterment of the person that the Aesthenosophist seeks is akin to Socrates’ search for Wisdom and virtue. Key concepts in Aesthenosophy include Interestingness, Catharsis, and Innocence. Aesthetology studies how the artist exercises good or bad craftsmanship and how an artist goes about his creation. It is closely related to Rhetoric. The more one understands all the dimensions of an art, from Cultural Idioms to the principles of Absolute Aesthetics, the more one understands Aesthetology.