THE FIELD OF AESTHETICS Aesthetics may roughly be defined as the theory of the beautiful. If the beautiful were a clean-cut term, and one yielding itself readily to an interest not to be distracted, a field of inquiry could easily be marked off. The beautiful is a term of several meanings; and even when taken in its widest sense it offers no more than the high spot of an interest which includes art, as it appears in the cultural history of the race, as it is created and enjoyed, as it reflects many impulses, aims, and ideals, as it gains its effects through different media, and as it seeks the disciplined expression of patterns and types. It is then not to be wondered at if writers on aesthetics differ on the question of range. While some affect the simple exclusive lines of an intensive study of beauty, others go far afield in the realms of anthropology, sociology, archaeology, and genetic and descriptive psychology, intent on gathering a varied mass of intellectual merchandise; others allow themselves to be carried far into details and problems of technique. Historically its growth has been haphazard—a matter of uncontrolled accumulation and shifting interests and affiliations. It has taken its problems, materials, and inspirations from philosophy, psychology, and the social sciences; and has gained strength and scope alike from the penetrative insight of the reflective artist, the acumen of the critic, and the patient, circumscribed work of the scientist. Because of this, its place in the system of intellectual disciplines is ill-defined and open to controversy. |