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the United States on the use of the

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029098502

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES

'J^^y^'

JISTHETIC PRINCIPLES

BT

HENKY EUTGERS MARSHALL,


AUTHOR or
" VAIV, PLEASUBB,

M.A.

AND

a;STHBTICS "

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY


LONDON: MACMILLAN &
1901
CO., Ltd.

AU
rights reserved

-f

0^

COPTBIGHT,

1895,

bt macmillan and CO.

Set up and electrotyped April, 1895.


1895.
;

Reprinted December,

November,

1901.

Norbiootr "^xtSS
3. 9.

Gushing & Co. Berwick & Smith Norwood Masi. U.9.A.

PREFACE.
One
of

the kindly

critics

of

my

book

on Pain, Pleasure, and Esthetics has compared the task of


its

reading with the effort

required in walking over a ploughed field after

a heavy rain; although in the end, I

am
I

glad to say, he finds the labour healthful, and


looks back upon the effort with pleasure.

have thought

it

worth while to try to show

to such readers a
field

way

across this ploughed

which will not involve so much arduous


;

labour on their part


sible

and

I think this posfield is

because the explorer of a


to

often

able

guide others with ease

in

a path

already trodden and therefore familiar, being


able
in

places

to

take a straighter course


necessary, because
it is

than that at

first

no

longer needful to search for the path.

VI

PREFACE,

In this small volume I do not attempt to


cover
the

whole

subject

discussed

in
I

my
do

former work above referred to;

but

attempt to sketch out the results which are


of

greatest interest

and

of

most practical

value in reference to the study of Esthetics.


If this

book meet the eye of some

scientific

psychologist, I

must beg him to remember

that

it is

written for less critical readers, and

that I have at times, in the interests of clearness,

abandoned the

strictest

accuracy in ver-

bal expression

where

this accuracy

would have
I

involved too technical a phraseology.

must

beg him to judge

me
is

rather

by

my

larger

work.

The reader who

not a psychologist
;

find the second chapter tedious

if so, it

may may

be passed over without loss of the drift of


the argument so far as
it

relates to aesthetic
it

problems;

still,

I hope he will not pass

over without a

trial.

This

book, already under


to completion

consideration,
in consequence

was hastened

PEEFACE.
of the kind request

VU
of

by the Trustees

Colum-

bia College,
of lectures

New

York, that I deliver a course


subject of iEsthetics

upon the

under their auspices.

The reader who hap-

pens to have been present at those lectures,


delivered during

November and December,

1894, will notice that the substance of them


is

contained in the pages that follow,

al-

though the topics are here somewhat

differ-

ently arranged and are more fully treated.

New

Yobk, February,

1895.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
The Observer's Standpoint.
The Field
of Esthetics.
I.

FAQE

CHAPTER
The Obseeveb's Standpoint.
Pleasure and Pain.

II.

II

33

CHAPTER
The
Artist's Standpoint

III.

52

The Art

Instinct.

CHAPTER
The
Critic's

IV.

Standpoint

84

^Esthetic Standards.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER
AiGEDONic Esthetics.
1

V.
pAex

112

Negatiye Principles.

CHAPTER
Algedonic Esthetics.
II

VI.

156

Positive Principles.

Index

199

JESTHETIO PRINCIPLES.
CHAPTER
I.

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


The Field of Esthetics.

I.

The word

" Esthetics "

is

one which,

is

to

be used, in what follows, with a very broad


signification, to refer to the

whole realm of

Beauty.

Judged etymologically, the word

might seem properly to have a somewhat


narrower meaning than that which we thus
give to
it,

for

it

was derived by Baumgarten


aicrdr^TiKos,
it

from the Greek

meaning appre-

hended hy the senses ; and

was used by him


a whole, only

to describe the Beautiful as

because he thought the Beautiful could be

explained in some manner as arising from


B
1

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

the obscure perception of sense impressions


or of the relations between them.
his

Althougli

narrow view must be discarded, the word


no reason why

has become so firmly fixed with the broader

meaning that there


not be used, as
to-day,
it is

is

it

should

employed very generally


it,

and as we

shall here use

to indi-

cate the whole field of Beauty.


jEsthetics,

then,

is

the

science

of
of

the
this

Beautiful;

and during the whole

study
this It is

we must not
meant

allow ourselves to forget

broad meaning attached to the word.


to cover not only

Beauty proper,
Ludicrous,
enac-

but

also

the

Sublime

and the

which are
tirely

states

sometimes

separated

from Beauty, although generally


allied

knowledged to be closely

to

it.

As

the mental effects of the Sublime and Ludi-

crous are

more evanescent than those pro-

duced by what

we

call the Beautiful,

we

shall

naturally find ourselves discussing almost entirely the

problems of Beauty proper.

Esthetics, too, must take account of the

THE OBSERVERS STANDPOINT.

Beautiful in nature as well as in the works


of

man
is

for the thrill with which each affects

us

the same.

This

is

recognized unwit-

tingly in the habitual emphasis of the imitation

of nature in the practical work of the

artists

and in the teaching

of

many

philo-

sophical writers from Aristotle's^ time to this day.


cially,

But there
to

is

a tendency, of late espeits

speak of art and of

beauties

apart from the beauties in nature, a

mode

of thought too likely to carry one into dis-

cussions about special skill, or to limit ones

\dew by an emphasis of some special art

which

is

held to be higher
of the arts
is

than

another.

The hierarchy
determined
tions,

a matter to be
condi-

finally

by metaphysical
For
in

and one with which we need not conus,

cern ourselves here.

this

our

most general view, separation of the


altogether out of place
;

arts is

all of

them must be
is

M. Bosanquet thinks

this

emphasis of Imitation
is

not

properly attributed to Aristotle, as

done by many

of his

commentators.

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

gathered together without exclusion of any


one,

and

their effects

must be considered in
effects

conjunction with

the

produced

by

nature in bringing to us the impression of

Beauty.

The reader then


and "Artist"
if

will find

me

using the

words "Esthetics" and "Beauty'' and "Art"


in the widest possible way.

Even

we

ourselves get

no

aesthetic delight

from a

given impression,

we must
is

take

it

for granted

that the impression

aesthetic for others, if

they

tell

us that the

object

considered

is

beautiful

for them, either

by speech or by

in

other

mode than
it.

speech, viz.,

their action
is

iu relation to

The word "Art"

comaes-

monly used

to cover the

whole realm of

thetic endeavour,

and I know of no other word


worker in each and
is

as good as "Artist," that can be used to indicate the aesthetic


all of

the varied fields in which beauty

of

moit

ment.
is

I shall use the

word thus although

often employed to refer to painters

and

draughtsmen only.

THE OBSERVERS STANDPOINT.


So much for our broad use of terms.
let

Now
us conto be

us take a different standpoint

let

sider a distinction
of importance.

which seems to

me

There are two ways in which we maylook upon aBsthetic problems;


sider, first, the

nature of the

we may conimpression made

upon the

observer, and, second, the nature

of the instinct that leads to the production


of the art-work.

In

my

study of what has been done in

the past by thoughtful

men

in this depart-

ment, I

find,

very frequently, obscurities of

one kind or another which seem to

me

to

be caused by the failure to distinguish be-

tween these two ways of looking at the subject that

we have

before us.

We
first,

have, then, two different standpoints


the " Observer's
Standpoint," relating

to the field of

Impression, and, second, the

"Artist's Standpoint," which deals with the

Art

Instinct.

In one sense the " Observer's


is

Standpoint"

of

wider interest than the

AESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
Standpoint,"

"Artist's

because

the

former
na-

brings us into direct


ture, whicli

communion with
our
aesthetic

we have
a
part
latter,

seen furnishes us so
field;

important
whilst
phasizes
art, is

of

the
the

the
to

view

which

emin

impulse

creative

work

bound to nature

less directly,

but on

the other hand

gains in width and impor-

tance

in that it cannot

be

cut

away

alto-

gether from the "Observer's Standpoint";


for

the

artist

must alternately follow

his

creative instinct
critic of his

and become the observer and

In this
point
of

own work. chapter we shall take the stand= the observer; we shall consider
itself

Beauty as impressing

upon

us,

and

we

shall

ask what are the characteristics


this effective impression.

which produce

As soon

as

man

learns to feel the value of


art,

beauty in nature and in

he

is

most nat-

urally led to consider the aesthetic failure of

the great mass of objects that surround him.

THE OBSERVER

STANDPOINT.

As

naturally does he long to find some means


infuse this loved beauty

by which he may

into his surroundings;

some principle by the

application of which he
for

may

destroy ugliness
it

how

glorious,
all

how

noble,

would

be, will

he say, could

things that impress us be

beautiful whichever

So
the

it

way we turn happens that we find thinkers from


making research
for the

earliest times

principles of

beauty.

Few

persons, indeed,

who have
of

not undertaken the serious study

Esthetics

from a

historical

standpoint

have any notion of the enormous amount


of

human thought
been
given

of the higher type that


this

has

to

subject.

And

surely

we may look forward with keena renewal of the quest.


the pathway of our predecessors be

est anticipation to

For

if

filled

with signs of
strive

failure,
is

surely the end


to be

to

which we

shown

worthy

of our labour

by the large number

of impor-

tant thinkers

who have turned

their atten-

tion to strictly assthetic problems.

8
It is
is first

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.
most natural for man, when attention
given to sucli a problem as the one

we

are to consider, to turn to the objects which are impressing him,


special
selves,

and to seek for some


in

characteristic

the objects themshall

some objective quality, which

account for the special impression gained.

To explain what
that

I mean, let us suppose

we had

discovered that

many

beauti-

ful objects

were round; and had concluded

that roundness

was the element


is

essential to
if

beauty.
it

This, of course,

not true; but

were true we should have in roundness


I speak of here as

what

an objective quality

we always think of roundness as inhering in objects we project roundness into the outer world of objective things. To attempt to
;

identify beauty with


objective qualities
is,

some one or more such


I say, in line with the
;

most natural movement of thought


all

for

we

have an inveterate habit of objectifying


state.

every mental

The Greek philosophers had but begun

to

THE OBSERVER'S STANDPOINT.


see dimly the subjective aspect of things
it
is
;

and

not surprising to find that Aristotle


list

recorded a

of objective qualities, such as

order, symmetry,

a certain magnitude, upon


It

which he made the beautiful dependent.


is

evident, however,

upon the most

superficial

view, that beauty, in the wider sense in which

we

are considering

it,

cannot be bound within

any such narrow


have dared to

limits=

Few
;

other thinkers

list

the qualities of the object


its

which determined

beauty

but this

is,

in

my

opinion, not because the

method has not

occurred to them, but because they have be-

come

so soon convinced of the futility of the

attempt to gain satisfactory result by this


means.

The most persuasive


Idealist philosophers,

effort in the direction


is

of objective observation

that

made by

the

who

claim to find in

beautiful

objects

some

fixed
its

Universal or
beauty.

Absolute which determines

This

view has held strongly from Plato's time to


our

own

but the great

difficulty in the

way

10

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
any
and
of

of the acceptance of

the

many

sug-

gested schemes of Absolute or Universal -Esthetics is that they one


all fail to

account

for those differences of standard

which have
non

led the bewildered


est

man

to cry de gustibus

disputandum.

If there be

a fixed Universal or Absolute


ask,

Beauty,

we may well

How does
it

it

happen

that you and I do not both see


object
?

in the

same
sug-

Is this due, as

Bergmann has

gested, to real differences in the object seen,

which we mistakenly think to be alike for


each of us
?

Then

surely

we have gained no

fundamental principle.
Is it

due to differences of our


;

own
I,
?

developreader,

ment, as Lotze held


see a

so that you,

my
in

beauty in an object that

my

less

developed condition, cannot grasp

This will
less

indeed enable us to account for more or

of beauty, in proportion to our state of devel-

opment

but not, so far as I can

see, for

the

fact that

what

I in

my

childhood held to be

beautiful, I

now

find to be positively ugly

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


nor for the fact that what I
in

11

call beautiful

my

less

developed state, you with your

higher cultivation find to be distinctly bad in


aesthetic quality, the object thus not

merely

lacking something of a special characteristic,

but really possessing

its

opposite.

There

is

another difficulty about this notion


;

of a fixed Absolute of beauty


fails to
is

viz.,

that

it

make comprehensible

the fact which

well recognized, that some

men who
its

are

very sensitive to art in some of

develop-

ments are utterly incapable


its glories

of appreciating

in other developments of a diverse

kind.

The musician perhaps


But

cares little for

paintings; the sculptor perhaps nothing for

music

if

beauty were a fixed objective


striving to reach, or to
if

thing that

we were
of,

gain a glimpse

then

the glimpse were

obtained in the direction of the development


of one art, there

seems to be no reason

why

the capacity to recognize this beauty in connection with other arts should, in any case,

be lacking.

12

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

Now
view
led us
line

there

is

no objection to the objective


it, if

itself,

and we might well adopt

it

anywhere; but investigations on

this

have failed us in the past, and there


little

seems

reason to hope that they will aid


;

us greatly in the future


beautiful
is

and, in truth, the

too egotistic, too clearly beautiful

for me, to be considered as inhering in the


object itself,

and I wish now to ask the reader


to

to turn to the subjective view:


his or her

consider

mental experience at the moment


is

when he
an

or she

impressed by the beauty of

object.

Of subjective views there are many; theories

dependent upon attempts to analyze the

special state of

mind

iato

which we are thrown


of art or

as

we contemplate a work
There have been

some beau-

tiful object in nature.

men who have emphasized


impressed.

the importance of the kind of sensations re-

when we are thus Baumgarten we have spoken.


ceived

Of

In our genera-

tion Grant Allen stands as the special expo-

THE OBSEEVEE's STANDPOINT.


nent of such doctrine

13

There have been


the

men
e.g.,

who have emphasized


Alison,

strictly emotional

conditions aroused during the impression;

James

Mill,

Burke, Guyau.

There

have been others without number who have


thought that the
life

intellectual

forms of mental

arising as the result of the impression,


all

were

important.

Rationalism and for;

malism have developed into mysticism


is

which

itself

a form of aesthetic experience, that


doctrines

leads one to cling blindly to the

involved

even

if

their

ground be

shown

to be inadequate.

We
may
ure,

cannot stop here to examine these


detail.

doctrines in
refer to

The

interested reader

my

fuller

work, Pain, Pleasdiscussion of these


it is

and

^Esthetics, for

special theories.

I think

there

shown

that they all fail in their attempts at limitation;

and

it is

generally agreed to-day by


all

the best thinkers that

elements of our

mental

life,

whether sensational, or emotional,

or intellectual, or of will, are exercised in the

14
state of

ESTHETIC PBINCIPLES.

mind

which, gives us the notion of

the

beautiful.

This implies that there


subjective

is

some common
to all

quality

attachable
is

these mental states which

of the

very "essence of aBsthetic phenomena

To
that

indicate

what

mean,

let

us suppose

we had

noticed that a certain grade of

intensity of Sensation

was always
this

beautiful,

and that we had extended


Emotion,
Intellect,

thought to

and Will.

Then we should
this

be able to claim that intensity was of the


essence
true
;

of

beauty.
if it

Of course

is

not

but

were,

we

should here have

the essence of beauty placed in a subjective


quality
object
;

for intensity is
its

clearly not in the

(although

cause

may

be),

but

it

is

distinctly in us.

Now

such a quality as

we

are in search of I think

we have

in pleasure,

which
that
is

is

clearly a subjective quality,

and one

attached to Sensation, to Emotion, to

Intellect,

and to WUl.

To

this special char-

acteristic of the aesthetic


I

mental impression
reader's particular

wish

now

to

draw the

attention.

THE OBSERVEE's STANDPOINT.


Thinkers of varied authority and of
schools,

15
all

from Aristotle down, have acknowl-

edged explicitly or implicitly the connection

between beauty and pleasure.

Indeed,

we

might consider
the fact that
in

this

a commonplace but for

we

find doubt in the matter

the

minds of

many
who

art

workers, and
of certain

theoretical opposition

on the part
distinctly
:

formalistic thinkers

deny the

importance of the connection

Von Hart-

man,

for instance, takes


it is

this

position.

On
state-

the other hand,


thorities

not

difficult to find au-

from Epicurus to

Hume

whose

ments

may

be interpreted as decisive expres-

sions of

the view for which I argue;

and

there are some few men, the noted Fechner


for

example,

who

distinctly base Esthetics of

upon the science

pleasure.

But at the

very beginning of this consideration, from


the hedonic standpoint,

we

are

met by the

evident fact that, while all aesthetic phenom-

ena are pleasurable, not


held to be aesthetic.

all

pleasures

are

It seems, therefore, that

16
it

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
will

be necessary for us to indicate the

special kinds of pleasures


if

which are

issthetic,

we

are to
;

Esthetics

make pleasure fundamental if we are to treat the science


The problem
form of

to of

the beautiful as a branch of hedonics,


science of pleasure.

the

before us
this ques-

may be tion: What


then

stated in the

are the bounds of the aesthetic


field ?

within the hedonic

We

must, however, avoid making too

much
been
too

of the separation of

which we have

just

speaking

the distinctions, indeed,

are

easily emphasized, and the connections too

often

lost

sight

of

by

theoretical

writers.

But

if

one examine the literary work of art

critics,

and the more or

less philosophic

and

scientific writings

that deal with the facts

of -Esthetics rather find little

than

its

theory, one will


of pleasure-

more than descriptions


attempts
in a

getting

coupled with

to

arrange
If,

this pleasure-getting

logical

way.

on the other hand, one examine the writings


of those

who have

studied most closely the

THE observer's STANDPOINT.

17

psychology of pleasure, he will find aesthetic

phenomena treated altogether


exactly as the simplest
used.

as the

best

recognized data of the science of pleasure,


sense-pleasures
is

are

Evidently then

it

the connection

between the two

sets of

phenomena that we

must ever bear


follows.

in

mind throughout what

suggestive argument in favour of

this connection is

found

if

we

consider

any
if

average complex aesthetic object, which,

we

notice

its

characteristics

with care, we

find to be very wide in its effects

upon

us,

and yet embodying certain

special elements
If

that appear emphatically pleasant.

now

we
the
its

eliminate

in

thought

the

pleasurable

elements one by one,

we

find that while in


its

main the
aesthetic

object does not change

mass,

quality

gradually
still

disappears.

We may

acknowledge

that the object

has a right to be named

aesthetic,

because of

the opinions of others and because of our

own judgments

in the

past

but for ourall

selves, at the time, it

has lost

that makes

18
it

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
worthy of being
called

by

so honourable

a name.

We

are all familiar with the fact

that an object which but a


aesthetic for us,

moment ago was


unaasthetic

may become
the
special

by

the degradation into indifference or positive


painfulness
of

elements which
of

were giving us pleasure.


a painful
association

The suggestion
some

with

essential
all

element in an art complex will for

time

reduce for us the aesthetic value of the whole


form.

One

special
lost for

mountain

of great natural

charm has
compared

me

all of its

impressive-

ness, because a light-hearted


its

companion once
of

autumn colouring with that


It is

"corned-beef hash."
ess

by a
for

similar proc-

that the average art critic


aesthetic

makes and
the masses
ridi-

unmakes

objects

degrading one object of real merit by


cule,
it
;

always thereafter to be associated with

giving a fallacious value to another by


it.

the unmerited praise lavished upon


It thus

appears very clear,


of
aesthetic

think, that
is

the

state

impression

most

closely

bound to the

state of pleasure.

THE observer's standpoikt.


But
if

19

tlie

connection be so intimate, and

the aesthetic be no more than a part of the


pleasure-field,

one would say on the spur of


that
it

the

moment

should be no
to

diflS.cult

task, in

some rough way,


is

mark

off

that

part of the field which

assthetic

from that
is
it.

which

is

not.

The

task, however,

not

nearly so easy as

In

my

larger

we work

expect to find
I

have shown that we

cannot separate the aesthetic by the cutting


off of

sensational pleasures, a

view held by

no

less

an authority than Kant, but opposed


In

by other eminently authoritative observers,


e.g.,

Lotze and Lipps.

fact, there is

no

atsoall,

tempt whatever to cut

off

any but the

called " lower pleasures," and these, after

are judged
standards.

by

ethical,

and not by hedonib

Nor can we cut


intellectual;

off

the emotional nor the

nor again the active pleasures,

as

Grant Allen would have us do; nor can


limit the aesthetic to pleasures of a moral

we

or spiritual type ; nor to those attendant upon

20
the use
of

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
the imagination.

Neither

will

limitations to

immediacy of pleasure

effect, suffice

nor to width of pleasurable impression,


us.

All of these theories have been advanced

and stoutly defended, but have shown fatal


weaknesses upon close examination.

We
thetic

are brought, indeed, to see that in

aes-

impressions

there

are

no pleasures

whatever that cannot become part and parcel


of the pleasurable aesthetic effect.

The

ordi-

nary use of language confirms this view, for


notice

how freely we
The chUd

use the

word "beautiful"
pleas-

to describe the
ures.

most commonplace of
calls

his sweets

beautiful.

The

schoolgirl talks of having a "beautiful

time " at an entertainment,

and the patholo-

gist speaks of a beautiful preparation of

some

cancerous tissue.
in

" The Germans use " schon

much

the same

way

and

so

it is

with the

more varied expressions used by the Frenchman.

Now
cut

if

no pleasure of impression can be


rest

away from the

and held to be non-

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


aesthetic,

21
dis-

then

it

is

apparent that the

tinction between non-aesthetic pleasures


aesthetic pleasures

and

cannot arise by difference

between pleasures in impression, but must


arise in the process of judging about

them
to

in other words,

it

is

only

when we come
is

ask ourselves whether some special impression that


not, that

we we

call

a pleasure

aesthetic or
dis-

find ourselves

making the

tinction

between the two


This
is

fields in

an act of

judgment.

an important

distinction
shall refer

and must not be lost sight of ; we


to
it

again.

But at

this

point

wish to

refer

to

one special emphasis considered in the


part of
this

first

chapter.

We

there
of

observed

that a very large

number

authoritative

thinkers, not to speak of lesser lights, have

looked upon beauty as an objective quality;


as something fixed;
sal.

an Absolute or Univer-

This they could not have done had they

not in introspection found an appearance of

22

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
connection with aesthetic
at once arises,

stability, of fixity, in

phenomena ; and the question

may
and

not the difference between non-sesthetic


aBsthetic pleasures

be determined by the
aesthetic.

permanence of those which are called

But

this

can scarcely be true, for pleas-

ures are notably evanescent,


nize age,
this fact.

and we aU recog-

From

childhood to mature

we moment
ure
is

are found deploring the loss at one


of

a pleasure
;

we were but

lately

experiencing

the ephemeral nature of pleas-

the theme of the pessimist, and a fact

the optimist strives to


If,

make
sift

intelligent.

however,
it is

we

are

compelled to admit
out some certain

that

impossible to

class of pleasures

which are permanent, and


is

identify

them with what


at

aesthetic

still

it

does appear possible, on the other hand, to


arrive

relatively

permanent

field

of

pleasure

in various ways,

although experi-

ence and theory both deny the possibility of


there being
pleasure.

any permanency

of

any

specific

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


In the
first

23
if

place

we
the

should find,

we
the

stopped to study the nature of pleasure, that


the more powerful
pleasures

are

more quickly
apparent
degree.

their apparent strength


is

wanes
less

that the rapidity of the waning

much
of

when
If,

the

pleasures

are

low

then,

we can hold a
if

large

numsome

ber of

lighter

pleasures

together by

process of summation,

we may use
as
it

the term,

by adding them together

were,

we ought
would be
itself

to be able to reach something that


less

evanescent than any simple pleasure

could be.

That
sible, is

this

summation of pleasures
all of

is

pos-

evident to

us

when we think
to

of

certain

sensations

that yield

us

no

noticeable delight unless they are, at one and

the same time, widely

felt.

We may
we
find

touch

our finger-tip to satin or fur with none of


the noticeable pleasure that

when the

whole surface of our hand

is

passed over the


latter action

same

satin or fur,

by which

we

bring innumerable touch-nerve terminals into

24

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

activity at one time.

We may not
any

notice the

application of heat to

single spot

on our
stand
the

body

to be at all agreeable, but if


fire

we

before a

on a cool day the sum of

all

stimulations of the

many heat-nerve
I think that

terminals

gives us one of the most voluminous pleasures

we can

obtain.

Now

if

we
of

ob-

serve our experience of

what

is

beautiful in
art

natural objects

and in many types

work, we shall find that a great part of the


pleasurable efEect produced
is

due to the mass-

ing together of

many

delights,

which

indi-

vidually are not notably vivid.

We

will at

once recognize this truth,

if

we

consider the

varied pleasant stimuli of colour, of liae, of

form, that are involved in our perception of

a beautiful scene in nature

and

so

it

is

with the pictorial arts which directly follow


nature's leadings.

We

find the

same thing

strongly

marked

in the field of music, espe-

cially in its later

complex development

there

we depend
any

largely for our aesthetic delight,

one will admit,

upon the

fulness of the

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


background of aural pleasures,
less

25
distinct

in themselves than those called forth

by the

melodic progressions.
pleasure background

The same

fulness of
all

may

be discerned in

of the greatest art works.

Looking in another

direction,

we

find that
he

an appearance of permanent pleasure may


obtained, if

we

are able

to

bring about the

cessation of activities that are pleasant before


their pleasure

wanes and

is

transformed into

pain; such waning of pleasure, and transformation


rections

into

pain,

occurring

in

all

di-

under continuous stimulation.

To

explain what I
of sugar.
as a

mean

let

us take the example

We

are not compelled to eat sugar


;

matter of diet

and we take
so,

it

only so

far as
it

we

like to

do

and we stop eating


fail

just as

soon as our liking begins to

us.

Consequently we naturally think of the

taste of sugar as being pleasant,

and Mr. Herled

bert Spencer has actually been


in

to say
is

some one

of his writings, that sugar

taste that can never be experienced in

any

26

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.

disagreeable phase.

But I think a

little

exif

perimentation will prove to any one that,

he keep on eating sugar long enough,


taste will

its

become exceedingly unpleasant to


is

him.

This

proven in truth by the fact


not

that the shop-girls in candy shops are

put under restriction.

If

the candy before


its

them continued
sweetness,
of
it

to

bring pleasure with


to

some

restriction

the

eating

would have to be adopted by their

employers.

Now

let

us see whether this principle


artists

is

one which

naturally adopt.

It is at

once apparent that the stimuli obtained from


the beautiful
objects

created

by man are

imder control; that their special impressions

may
us.

be withdrawn

from

consciousness

at

our will so soon as they begin to pall upon


It is

most important,

if

we

are to retain

the notion of beauty in any special direction,

that

we avoid any continuous

attention to

the special impressions involved, after they

have sunk to indifference or have begun to


tire us.

THE OBSEEVER's STANDPOINT.

27

To make
grammes
for tiredness,
see,

this clearer let us illustrate this

point to some extent.


are

As our musical
there
in
is

pro-

arranged

at

times,

some people,

difl&culty

avoiding this
presently
degree,

although,
difficulty

as
is,

we
to

shall

this

a great

compensated for; but the arts that are dependent upon the organs of sight have here
a pre-eminent advantage, for a simple turn-

ing of the head or eyes, or closing of the


eyelids,

will

enable us
stimulation,

to

avoid continuaprotective ac-

tion of

the

this

tion indeed taking

place automatically just

as soon as a glimmering of painfulness begins


to appear.

With

the ear, however, stimula-

tion cannot be controlled

by any

si;ch

simple

movements.

We

must take ourselves bodily

from the

concert-hall, or else

we can

only

avoid the sound-painfulness,


to arise,
fully,

if it is

beginning

by the stopping

of the ears, or less

but more

graciously, distract our attenstill

tion

by conversation, or

more graciously
In
fact,

by watching those around

us.

what

28

ESTHETIC PRIKCIPLES.
call

we may
our
little

the

social difficulties

that go

with control of the stimuli to the ear, affect


theatre-goers
:

and

music-lovers

not a

we

learn

by experience that others

will

watch us at the theatre and opera house,


this goes far to account for the fact that
all,

and

we
to

but

women
finest

especially, feel impelled

wear

our
as

clothes

and

to

ourselves

attractive

as

possible,

make when

going to hear play or opera, at which conversational


distractions

are

less

allowable

than in the picture-gallery, where we find


dress
ate

much
of
is

less

considered.

The

inveter-

habit

the

eating of

sweets at the

plays

also a

means

of distraction,

which

has been in vogue ever since the time of the

Greek supremacy.
allowed to
cal artist.

Here perhaps

may

be

make
The

a suggestion to the musiskilled musician is far too

apt ence

to

misjudge the capacity of the audicalls

he

together;
of

too often does he


tiring
his

forget

the

danger

audience

with music which they cannot comprehend

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


SO

29
music-

well as he does himself.

Many

lovers

would attend symphonic concerts who


not, were
it

now do
the

not that under existing


are

social conditions they

unable to avoid
goes with
the

disagreeableness which

necessity of listening after they have


tired.

become
to

The German

habit of

listening

music whUst smoking and eating and drinking


is

much more
for thus

rational for the average

audience;
ability to

the

hearer retains his

change his

field of attention with-

out disturbance to his neighbours.

But there

is still

another means by which


he ob-

an apparent pleasure permanence may


tained:
viz.,

hy the shifting of the field of


;

mental elements

by the turning
same

of our atten-

tion successively to different subjects or dif-

ferent qualities of the

subject, so that

as one set of pleasures fades, another set will


arise to take its place.

That

this
all

kind of
assthetic

pleasure permanence belongs to


objects I think will be agreed.

In examin-

ing a picture or a piece of sculpture

we

find

30

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
our point of

ourselves constantly changing

view, either actually, physically, or

more often
that the

merely mentally.
Arts of

But

it

is

here

the Ear have a decided advantage

over the Arts of the Eye, for the playwright


or musical composer has
it

in his

power to
substi-

stop at will one series of effects tute for


it

and

another

series,

and

this process

he

may
that

continue almost indefinitely, in a


is

way

impossible for the pictorial artist as


:

he at present limits himself


sible that

it is

not impos-

some day, through the development


art,

of

the

panoramic

this

power may be

added to the resources of him


directly to the eye only.

who

appeals

think

my

reader will

now

agree to this

that while

we have found we have

that there are no

pleasures which are not evanescent;

on the

other hand,

discovered that there are

pleasure-fields that are relatively

permanent.
it is

But we have seen above that


act
of

in the
non-ses-

judgment that we separate

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


thetic

31

from

aesthetic pleasures.

It

seems but

a step, therefore, to the fundamental hypothesis

that I shall uphold, which

is

this

that,

as
all

we saw
that
is

in the early part of the chapter,

pleasure at the time

makes part

of
is

the aesthetic impression; but only that

judged to be

aesthetic

which appears to
in reyival,
i.e.

be permanently pleasant
the reflection that
is

in

necessary in an act of

judgment.

That which in memory appears thus


a stable pleasure,

to be
is

we

call

gesthetic;

what

indifferent in contemplation,

we

tolerate only

as

an adjunct; what
cast

is

painful in reflection,
field

we

out of the aesthetic

entirely.

We

do not always judge a work to be nona painful element in


its

aesthetic because of

revival, but
aesthetic.

we

exclude that element as non-

But what

shall

we say

of those

so-called

"pleasures" that are judged to be non-aesthetic?


to

I hold that in the recall necessary


all
;

judgment they are not pleasures at

32

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.

they are revived mental elements to which


the

name "pleasure"
entirely, the

persistently clings, al-

though the actual pleasure has gone out of

them

name

clinging because of

the strong pleasant emphasis of the original


state.

Thus the

so-called

"lower pleasures" have

been powerful pleasures in our original experience,

but in

memory
it

the experience
so closely

is

not

pleasurable, or else

is

bound up
the

with restrictive painfulness connected with


our ethical
life

that

we do not
to

find

experience as a whole
relatively
call
still

be

part of
;

our

we these states non-sesthetic, although we call them pleasures because the name
permanent
pleasure-field

hence

was

so closely attached to the original expe-

rience, of

which the revival only

is

consid-

ered in our aesthetic judgment.

Before

we

attempt to illustrate

this

view,

we

must

pause to consider to some extent the nature


of pleasure

and pain, which we

shall do in

the next chapter.

CHAPTER

II.

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


Pleasure and Pain.

II.

No

one of
the

my

readers,

believe,

will

regret that
aesthetic

study of the fundamental


fix

problem leads us to

our atten-

tion

upon Pleasure.
is

There

certainly

no more fascinating sub-

ject of investigation

among

the

many which
that
it

appeal to the
Pleasure and

psychologist
its

than

of
is

correlate

Pain; but
the

subject
is

about
all

which

psychological

world
just

not at

at ease;

it is

the centre
it

now

of polemical oppositions, for

has

been

until

very lately sadly neglected by

the present generation of psychologists, who,

with new methods and clearer observation,

have developed what they somewhat


o
33

egotis-

34
tically call

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
the "

new

psychology."

I shall
field

not ask
of

my

reader here to

enter the

contention, but shall rather

beg him
for

for

a moment,

and

assure

him

only a

moment,

to

stand with

me

aside

from the
drift

polemical turmoil
opinion.

and notice the

of

What
late

are the characteristics of pleasures


to re?

and pains by which we are enabled

them

to the rest of our conscious life


first

Let us consider

the answer of com-

mon

sense to

the

question.

In every-day

conversation

we

find ourselves grouping pleas-

ures and pains together;


states
;

they are different

states

in

a sense exclusive of one


in

another,

and yet

some way
This

so

bound

together that

we can

scarcely speak of
is

them

except in one
less,

breath.

due, doubt-

to the fact that, in

common

experience,

conscious states fade from pleasantness into


painfulness with no distinct line of
cation between the two,

demar-

and often with no

change in the mental elements, except th

THE OBSEEVEe's STANDPOINT.


pleasure

35
is

and

pain themselves.
it

It

evi-

dent, therefore, that

will be logically

and

psychologically improper to group pleasure

and pain apart from one another, the one


under one
class of

mental phenomena, and

the other under another class.


Still this

improper course

is

exactly

what

we do

find adopted

by plain people

in every-

day conversation, and by more thoughtful

men when
and
tions
of

they speak incautiously.

We

are

very likely to speak of pains as sensational,


pleasures
as emotional.

But sensa-

and emotions are certainly two very


Sen-

diverse species of mental phenomena.


sations

are

those

mental

states
all

that

are

determined, acknowledgedly in
pathological cases,
cial

but some

by the action by

of

some

spe-

organs terminating in the bodily surfaces,


activity
special

and brought into


ronmental

envi-

conditions:

for

example,

Sight,

Hearing, Touch, Pressure, Taste, Smell, Heat,


Cold.

Emotions, on the other hand, as we

shall see in the next chapter, are the

mental

36

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
whole

side of certain reflex reactions of the

nervous organism, dependent upon the perception of external objects.

Such

states are

Joy, Sorrow, Love, Fear, Surprise, etc.

A critical
many
but
it

examination leads us to see that

pleasures and pains cannot be sensations for

reasons which I cannot detail here


is

to be noted that there has been

no

natural claim that pleasures are sensations,


the claim being limited to pains, which are

most notable as produced apparently by the

same

actions,
;

which involve

special
cuts,

forms of
crushings,

sensation

viz.,

by

blows,

burnings, etc.

On

the other hand, a critical examination

shows us that pleasures and pains cannot be


emotions,
called out
jects

for

pleasures

and pains

are

not

by the perception

of external ob-

as

emotions are, nor can they for a


as the mental coinof

moment be looked upon


cidents
of
reflex

reactions
in

our
case

whole
of

nervous
emotions.

organism, as

the

the

These facts taken together, with

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


the
close

37

connection

between
first

the

words

"pleasure" and "pain"


naturally lead

noted, would

us

to

the

conclusion

that

pleasure and pain are in some

way

connected

both with sensations and with emotions, and


that pain
is

especially emphatic

in

sensa-

tional consciousness, while pleasure is

most

prominently noted in the

life

of emotion.

The importance
thus noted
is

of

the wide connection

emphasized when we consider

that purely intellectual operations and acts


of
will,

both of which are naturally sepastill

rated from sensation and emotion alike,

somehow have
to

pleasure and pain

attached
call intelis

them

also.

We

have what we
pains,

lectual pleasures

and

and there
is

no

doubt that in
cated

common

speech there

indi-

the conception of a close connection

between pleasure-pain and action of wUl.

The general connection with


every-day
least

all fields of

mental activity thus acknowledged by us in


life

may

be accounted for on at

one of three grounds.

38
1st.

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
It

has been held that pleasure and


the

pain

are

fundamental elements out of


mental
is

which
oped.

all else of

life

has been devel-

This view

fascinating to

any one

of a philosophic trend, because of its monistic

leanings; but evidence in favour of

it

fails,

and the view has not been defended by any

man who
the
first

is

acknowledged to be a master of

order.

2d.

The explanation

of

the facts, which

may
day,

in a sense be said to be orthodox in our


is

that of

Kant and

his successors, viz.,

that pleasure and pain are a mental series,


sui
generis,

brought into
all

activity
of

in

some

occult
action.

way by
This
fill

other forms

mental

hypothesis

was

constructed

originally to

out a gap in metaphysical


critical

systemization,
it,

and a

examination of

from a psychological standpoint, shows


its

that the evidence in

favour

is

exceedingly

weak.
3d.

There

is

another

theory,

however,

which seems to account for the facts more

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


satisfactorily, viz.,

39

that pleasures

and pains

are qualities either of which, under the proper


conditions,
sciousness,

may

belong to any element of concase

and one of which must in any

belong to each element.

This hypothesis seems to meet the psychological objections

which

arise in opposition to
is

the other hypotheses suggested above, and

favoured by
directions,

much

evidence reached in

many

which

I cannot detail here.

we turn away from common sense to a more scientific classification, we find ourselves led to the same view. If we examine
if

Now

the studies of psychologists and philosophers


in the past, in reference to this subject,

we
is

find in each case that the theory defended

based upon an emphasis of some special form


of pleasure or pain,
all

and an attempt

to relate

other pleasures and pains to this special

form, which, for one reason or another, has

become emphasized
theorist.

in the

mental

life of

the

We

are thus led to

see that in

40

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

general there are two wide classes of pleasures

and

two wide

classes

of

pains,

and

none which cannot be included in these four


classes.
1st.

There are pains and also pleasures


activities.

connected with cessation of

The pains
of despair.

of restriction, of disappointment,

The pleasures
2d.

of rest after strain.

There are pains and also pleasures con-

nected with active functioning.

The pains

of

excess, of strain, of hjrper-

normal and destructive influences upon the


tissues.

The pleasures
But
it

of vigorous exercise.
difficult to

is

not

show that unless

we

are to attack the

most generally accepted

notions concerning the physical basis of mental action, the first class

must in some way be


For
it is

subsumed under the second.

clear

that no consciousness can arise by mere 7ionactivity of

a nerve organ, and therefore that

the organs which cease to act in the case of

THE observer's STANDPOINT.

41

the pains of restriction, and where pleasures


of
rest arise, cannot

be the source of the

pain and pleasure which arise in consciousness.

Hence we may take


all

it

for

granted

that

pains and
to

all

pleasures will event-

ually be found
activity of

be statable in terms of

the nerve organs which are giv-

ing the consciousness at the


sideration.

moment

of con-

The

difference

between pleasure and pain

seems to be determined by some condition

which goes with


are
active
in

rest

to the organs which

coincidence with

pleasurable

states.

This leads us to surmise that pain


re-

and pleasure may be determined by the


lation
is

between the nutritive condition, which

affected

by
the

rest,

and the condition

of ac-

tivity

in

organs which are giving us


;

the pleasant or painful consciousness

the

pleasure being the accompaniment of the us-

ing up of surplus stored energy, and the pain


arising

when

the stimulus calls for an overif

draught of energy,

we may

so speak.

But

42

AESTHETIC PKINCIPLES.

these relations between activity

and nutrition

must hold
conscious

for all of the nervous basis of our


life
;

hence

we must

expect to find

pleasure and pain to be general qualities, one


of

which must belong to each element of con-

sciousness,

and

either

of

which, under the


ele-

proper conditions,

may

belong to any

ment.
is

The reader wiU remember that

this

the conclusion to which

we were brought

by our consideration of the common-sense


classification earlier in the chapter.

But

my

reader

may

protest, after

having

promised to touch so lightly upon psychology.

Why

have you led us through


discussion
?

this long,

distinctly psychological

Simply

because I feel sure that this conclusion as


to the general nature of pleasure will

and pain

make it very much easier for us to understand how it is possible to reach those
summations
which, as

and

successions

of

pleasures

we have

seen, determine

our

ses-

tbetic field.

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


If

43

pleasures are qualities attached to the


life,

elements of our conscious

then summa-

tions of those elements that are pleasurable

will

make

for us a total of pleasure


;

which we

could not otherwise reach


of the

and summations
to be
If

weaker pleasures we have seen


of so
field,

characteristic

aesthetic

impressions.

pleasure

is

related to

the
is

elements of
easy to con-

our mental

then also

it

ceive how, though the quality in

them may

be evanescent,

we may
to

reach a relative per-

manency
to

of pleasure,

which we have claimed


the

be

essential
field,

production

of

the

aesthetic

provided
give

we

shift

from the
at

elements which

us

pleasure

one

moment, and before

this pleasure wanes, to

others which in their turn give us pleasure


effects.

Now
first

let

us turn back to an examination

of the general aesthetic theory reached in the

chapter,

and

see

how

far
of

it

serves to ex-

plain the

most prominent

aesthetic facts,

44

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
it

and how far

accords with the theoretical

views held by the masters of thought in the


past.
If it be true that the aesthetic field is de-

termined by permanency of pleasure quality, then the sort and kind of mental elements
that are thus pleasurable must determine the

nature of what

we speak

of

as beautiful

and, as people differ in individu&lity just so


far as they differ in the sort

and kind
mental
that

of

elements which
so

make up
be
led
to

their

life,

we

should
the

expect

the

nature of

conception of

the beautiful
Clearly

would
this

differ as individualities differ.

means that we ought

to

expect indi-

vidual differences of judgment as to


is

what
a fact

beautiful

and, evidently, this

is

patent to

all of us.

Differences of race,
ilization in the

and

differences of civ-

same

race, are

determined by

differences in the

common

trend within the

mental lives of the individuals making up


the races compared.

Thus we should expect

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


to find,
us,
viz.,

45

what history most


a development of

certainly shows

the

notion of

beauty pari passu with the development of


racial
life.

The barbarian
of

rejoices in decora-

tions

by the use

brilliancy of colour

and

strength of contrast.
in
culture, his

As

his race

increases

mental

life

becomes

more
calls
deli-

subtle

and
is

delicate,

and that which he

beautiful

correspondingly subtle and

cate in its nature.

So far as individual and racial develop-

ment correspond, there


he
grows.

is

a similar change in

the notion of beauty in the individual as

The

child

of

civilized

parent-

age delights in

much

that the mature barba-

rian calls beautiful;

when he has developed


life;

towards youth, his beautiful objects are those

which appeal to the emotional

but

it is

not until later that he, with his

full

man-

hood, finds himself in sympathy with the

standards of beauty which are held by the


best-cultured

men

of his age.

The occupations

of

a race

also, as

they

46

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
fields,

determine mental

should thus be ex-

pected to influence the notion of the beautiful


;

and

so

do we find

it.

The

chase, war,

and actions determined by the coarser passions

which are so prominent

in

the

life

of the barbarian

make

the subject-matter of
beautiful.

his art, of
ples of

what he

calls

Exam-

this

we

see in the art

product of

Egypt and Assyria, and

in that of Greece.

As

the over-valuation of mere strength gives


art

way, the subjects of

change to those
life.

which emphasize wider interests of


poets sing of

The

nobler love

of

moral action
life,

under

difficulty.

Our modern
of

which has

become introspective and thoughtful, brings


with
it

a wider choice

subject

treated

with more refined intellectuality.

The forms

of religious belief, so powerfully


life's

influential in all of

products, as

they

change and develop, should also bring, as

we

find

they do, alterations


art.

of

the

ideal

forms of

The Gods, represented by the


give place to the Saints, repre-

Greek

artist,

THE observer's

STATiTDPOINT.

47

sented in the works of the masters of Italy.

The Greek temple, designed


the Gothic cathedral, with

to contain the

worshipped statue of a God, gives place to


its

spaces for the

masses within
If

its

walls.

our principle be true,


to
find

we should
theorist,

expect,

furthermore,

theory influenced

by

mental individuality in the

and we

are able thus to account for the sensational

emphasis by a

scientist

like

Grant Allen,

interested in neurology

and sensational theby the


phi-

ory

for the emotional emphasis

lanthropist

Burke, and by the Frenchman

Guyau
ling;
like

for the intellectual emphasis

by the
Schel-

philosopher, as with

Hegel,

or with

and

for the spiritual emphasis

by men

Cousin and Ruskin.


principle also

Our

enables us to explain

the fact that opposed opinions are held by

men

of the highest type under difEerent conof thought:

ditions

as

an instance

of this

opposition,
sis of

we may

note the Socratic empha-

usefulness,

which involves recognition

48
of

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
an end
of
;

in opposition to the

Kantian exprinciple

clusion

recognized

aim.

The

explains, also, the fact spoken of above, that

men who
direction

are most susceptible to art in one

may be dullards in another. The music-lover may take no interest in painting


the painter none in
this
tially

music or poetry; and

because their " faculties " are but par-

and narrowly developed.

It

explains

differences of

view held by the same


;

man

at different times in his life


of

as

an example

which we

may

refer to

Matthew Arnold,

who, in his essay on Emerson, says, "


not plain and concrete enough not poet
;

He

is

in other words, his

enough "
de

yet

in

essay

on

Maurice
" Poetry
tilings)

Guerin

we
it

find

liim

saying,
sense

can awaken

" {a full
it is

of

" in us, and to

awaken

one of the
in

highest powers of poetry."

The Arnolds

the two cases were

different individualities, different forces,

wrought into being by


expressing the
different

and

notions

of

beauty

as regards a special art as felt

by the two

individuals at the different

times.

THE observer's STANDPOINT.

49

The

scientist's

loss of delight in all that

he had once called beautiful, as confessed by


Charles Darwin,
is

also explicable

when we

consider that the very concentration which

has given to the world his magnificent work,


necessarily cut ofE
associations

from

his

mental

life

those

which make possible the appreci-

ation of pleasure of a relatively permanent


sort, in

connection with the objects which


call beautiful
still

he used to

and which

his

most

esteemed friends

called so.

He
his

surely

had not

lost all aesthetic sense,


field

but he had
youth,

truly lost the aesthetic

of

and had paid the

price

for

what he had

attained in narrower

fields.

In closing this chapter I would

call atten-

tion to the corroboration of this view

which

is

obtained

when we

consider that

it

enables us

to understand the basis of the principal theories that

have been presented to account for

the nature of the beautiful.


Sensualistic explanations are evidently due

50

ESTHETIC PRmCIPLES.

to an emphasis of the sensational inception of


aesthetic

phenomena

to the forcible presentais

tion of the fact that aesthetic impression

usually largely sensational in character

the

exclusion of sensation by other thinkers being

accounted for by the fact that the so-called

"lower" sensations are


pleasant in
is

so emphatically un-

memory

for those

whose thought

directed to ethical

considerations.

Emo-

tional theories

have their genesis in the everyidentification

day, careless
states

of

pleasure-pain
Intellect-

with emotional phenomena.

ual

theories are naturally accounted for


life

by

the fact that the mental

of deep thinkers

must, in

its

very nature, be largely made up

of rationalistic data,
fields

and that their pleasurenecessarily

must

therefore

tend
if

to

the emphasis of the intellectual aspect

the

thinker considers the relations between the

elements of his aesthetic

field

if

he take an-

other point of view and consider especially the

nature of the elements of his {esthetic


is

life,

he

likely to lay stress

upon the importance

THE observer's STANDPOINT.


of the imagination
:

51

while

if

he be impressed
reflective aspect,

with the importance of the

he

is

likely to lay the basis of his doctrine

in contemplation.

Formalistic

theories

are

based vipon the

grasp of the fact that beauty must be deter-

mined by some quality which runs through


all

of consciousness,

and such a quality we


be.

have seen pleasure to


Universalism, as

Absolutism and
already seen, find

we have
pleasure,

their explanation in the relative permanency


of

the

aesthetic

and

ethical

and
to

spiritualistic

theories

are

evidently due

strong personal bias in the theorists


selves can gain

who themin regions

no revival pleasures

that are not emphatically connected with


is

what

of ethical or spiritual import.

CHAPTER

III.

THE artist's standpoint.


The Art
Instinct.

In the

first

chapter

we noted

a distinction

between the nature of the impression made

upon the observer by a work of art or by a


beautiful object in the world in

which we

live,

and the nature of the impulse that leads to


the production of an artistic result.

The

for-

mer
this

we have been considering imtil time; let us now turn our thought to
subject
latter.

the

This,
entire

the

reader
of

wUl

note,

involves

an

change

standpoint.

No
do

longer shall

we

consider Art as those

who are impressed, but as those must who produce aesthetic works; that is, we now undertake the study of aesthetics from
the

standpoint

of

the

artist

rather

than

from that of the observer.

THE artist's standpoint.

53

The

true artist

is

driven to his

work by
may, of

an overwhelming impulse.
course, deliberately determine

A man

upon an attempt
some man-

to express himself aesthetically in


ner, to be
verses,
artist,

an architect

say, or a writer of

but this does not constitute him an

however much he may attain


profession

of skill

in

the

he

chooses.

He

shows

himself a true artist

when he appears comto

pelled to the production of his art expression

by an impulse that seems often


without himself,

come from

to be a voice calling him,

a muse inciting him.

Genius
artist

is

distinctly instinctive.

The

true
of

has a spark at least of the

fire

the genius, and for that reason must depend

upon

his instincts,

must be

led

by

his im-

pulses.

Intellectual

work and reasoned-out

processes

may

be his tools, but they cannot

take the place of the racial leadings which

command

his action in

ways unknown and

unexpected.

We

all

recognize that the genius

is

espe-

54

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.

cially subject to hallucinations as the result

of his

the reflective
activities.

absorption which precedes


is

He

liable

to

see

visions

and to hear voices that appear


he does.

to be real for

him, although none of his companions hears


or
sees

as

These hallucinations

are most
genius,

marked

in the case of the ethical


;

the prophet
to

but that they are not


is

unknown

the artistic genius

apparent

from the legends of the muse that speaks to


the poet, and of the vision that appears to the sculptor.
It is

said

of to

Puvis de Chathe

vannes,

who has given

world the

magnificent decoration of the large hall in


the Sorbonne in Paris, that before he began
his

work he spent days amidst the


and he

scaffold-

ings,

merely contemplating the wall surface


;

he was to work upon


that
before

tells his friends

he touched his brush he saw

clearly before

him the

decoration, exactly as

we
was

see

it

on the wall to-day.

This vision
specialist

certainly not far from

what a
call

in nervous diseases

would

an halluciua-

THE artist's standpoint.


tion,
it is

55

and with such examples

in our midst

not surprising that the artists should


cling to the notion of inspiration

still

from

without themselves.
If

we

turn, however,

from the poetical con-

ception of this inspiration from without, and,

taking a more

scientific

point of view, con-

sider the subject of the impulse

which guides
while
to

the

artist,

it

will

seem

worth

endeavour to relate this " art impulse " to


the other prominent impulses by which
are

we

from time

to time swayed.

To

those

who

accept the probability of a

developmental genesis in our race under the


laws of control and survival,
surprising
if it

will not

seem

our life-history show the gradual


of certain co-ordinated

dawning and growth


instinctive

reactions

of

the

whole system,

tending to the advantage and protection of


the individual

organism, and hence to the

preservation of the race to which this indi-

vidual belongs.

We

should be led to expect

56
to find,

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
still

existing in ourselves,

some gensuch as

eral correlated systematic reactions

were common amongst those of our progenitors,

whose

life

was almost passive

as related

to its environment, in so far as these reactions


still

remain of positive value, or with-

out disadvantage to us or to our race.

We

should expect, for instance, to experience (a) a

wide instinctive reaction determined by the


approach of an object, which has, in the past,

been advantageous to the individual of the


race, although it

may
;

not be

known
to

to the

individual to be so

a condition of receptive
reference
this

expansiveness

with

ap-

proaching object.

"We should look

(&) for

quite different, but equally wide, instinctive

reaction

arising

upon the approach

of

an

object which, in the past, has been disadvan-

tageous

a condition of general contraction


it

or shrinking, as
to
find

were.

We

should expect
phases

other corresponding mental


in

differing

quality

and

elemental width,
of

which would appear

(c)

upon the departure

THE artist's standpoint.

57

the advantageous and {d) upon the departure


of

the disadvantageous.

We

should expect

to find these reactions emphasized in our race,

because

it is

clear that a race

which did thus

react immediately, in the

manner and under

the conditions named, would certainly have an

advantage in the struggle for existence and

would

persist

when

other races without such

capacity to react would be obliterated.


if it

Now

be argued that there


activities

is

a coincidence be-

tween nervous

and mental changes,

we should

surely expect that, in connection


less definitely co-ordinated

with these more or

instinctive activities, corresponding

complex

mental states would appear, and these for


convenience

we may

call

" instinct feelings."

We

should

therefore

" instinct feeling "

expect to find

an

A. arising upon the approaxih of the advantageous;


another
B. appearing upon the approach of the disadvanta-

geous; another
C.

upon the departure


another

of the advantageous;

and

still

D.

upon the departure of the disadvantageous.

58

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

Now,
class

as a matter of fact,

we do

find cer-

tain complex mental states belonging to the

which we

call

the "emotions,"
reflexly,

that

arise spontaneously

and almost

and

apart from any influence of our reason or


will,

and which correspond to the conditions

above mentioned.
A.
B.

Joy, arising upon the approach of the advantageous.

Dread, arising upon the approach of the disadvantageous.

C.

Sorrow, arising upon the departure of the advantageous.

D. Belief, arising upon the departure of the disadvantageous.


If

we

follow out the same

argument

in

relation to our less passive

life,

we

shall be

led to a fuller comprehension of the nature


of the emotions as a whole.

I shall not ask

my

reader to enter into the details of a psy-

chologic argument to prove


shall

my

case here, but

merely ask him to note that of the more

varied emotions
E.

we

find

Love, which
out toward

is

connected with a tendency to go


object, in receptive

an advantageous

mood;

THE aktist's standpoint.


F.

59
flee

Fear, which

is

connected with a tendency to

from a disadvantageous object G. Anger, which is connected with a tendency to drive away a disadvantageous object

to act

and we might
H.

also expect to find

An

emotion connected with a tendency to act in

such a

way

as

would

attract

advantageous ob-

jects to us

for otherwise there

is

evidently a lack of sym-

metry in our scheme.

But

in fact

we

find

no emotion
this

such as

seems necessary to complete


This fact

symmetry.

may

be accounted for by supposing


if it

that this instinct to-act-to-attract,

exist,

may

be one which does not lead to any imme-

diate reactive spasm, so to speak;

and that

the reactionary effects, and the consciousness

corresponding thereto, would therefore be slow


to appear;

and

further,

by supposing that

these acts brought about

by

this instinct

may

be so varied that no fixed mental elements

would

result

from the instinctive reaction;

for with the

Emotions A, B, C, D, E, F, and

60

ESTHETIC PEIKCIPLES.

G, just considered, this immediacy of reaction,

and a certain

stability of the elements

involved in each successive reaction, must be

supposed to determine the attention

to,

and

the definiteness and fixity of, the "instinct


feelings "
ity
;

without this definiteness and


to

fix-

we could not expect them


For
the

have gained

emotional names.

attachment of
life,

names

is

a very late step in our racial


instinctive

whilst the

reactions

under con-

sideration are determined

by the experiences
man's

of untold generations of our ancestry before

even

the

semblance

of

form

had

appeared.

That

this supposition is not unreasonable

appears upon considering

the case of

the

well-recognized "imitation instincts," which

must have corresponding "instinct feelings"


but
if

our argument be true,

we should not

expect to find emotional names attached to


these latter, for the reason that the reactions

involved are not immediate, nor of a


nite fixed nature.

defi-

As a matter

of fact,

we

THE artist's standpoint.

61

have no emotional state corresponding with


the imitative activities, although the "imitation instinct"
is

recognized

by

all

to be

of fundamental value to us.

We

have now reached a point of inquiry

which seems, perhaps, far enough away from


the subject of our chapter, but which I think
will almost immediately

show

itself to

be of

importance and of very direct bearing upon


the subject of our thought.

What we

are

now

led

to

ask

is

this

whether there be
us, blind as

any impulses within us that lead

to the end in view, to undertake activities

that

wUl

result in the attraction of advan-

tageous objects to us.


If there be such impulses,

we

should expect

to find in the first place tendencies to actions

which would merely

result in the attraction


;

of attention to the individual

and such ten-

dencies, recognized in

marked degree amongst

the higher animals, are clearly found in the

human

race in

its

barbaric state ; nor can they

be said to be totally lacking in the

human

62
species
J.

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
of

higher types in our day.


suggests that

Prof.

Mark Baldwin
Secondly,

we

call these

activities the " self -exhibiting reactions."

we should

expect to find tenden-

cies to

produce objects or objective conditions

which should attract by pleasing; and thirdly,

we

should look for tendencies to act to attract


of results useful to the one
desirable.
is

by the production whose attraction

is

The
tifiable

third class of tendencies

easily iden-

with those impulses to disinterested

benevolence which are so prominent in mod-

em
the

life,

and

it

may be

noted here that neither

first

nor this third class of instinctive

tendencies result in immediate or definite reactions such as

would lead us to expect the

at-

tachment of emotional names to their psychic


counterparts.

What

shall

we say of

the second class


instinctive

Is

there any widespread,

tendency

within us which, with no knowledge on our


part of the end in view,
results
still

does

work

for

which

shall please others,

and which

THE artist's standpoint.

63

has no other raison d'etre than this pleasuregiving;


its

an

instinctive

tendency so slow in

reactionary development, and resulting in

activities of so varied a nature, that

no emo-

tional

name
?

should be expected to attach to

the reaction
I think

we have
;

it

in the blind instinct to

produce art works

in

what

is

usually called

the "Art Impulse," but which I shall speak


of generally in
stinct."

what follows

as the "

Art Inis

The Art
in

Instinct certainly

blind

to

any end

view except the expression of

the ideals which are present to the artist's

mind.

It

none the

less

does have the effect

of producing objects
attract
in this
;

which delight and which


certainly has

by pleasing moreover, it

a most valuable function, and apart


Further-

from this no evident raison d'Mre.


more, the impulse works
itself

out through

slow and diverse processes which in their


nature could not bring distinct and immediate
reactions such as are necessary
tional

where emo-

names are

to

become

fixed.

64

ESTHETIC

PKIKTCIPLES.

Now
for
it

I think

my

reader will see the drift


difl&cult discussion,

of this long

and perhaps

appears that our consideration of the

subject

from

the

artist's

standpoint

has

brought us to the same conclusion that


reached,
sidered

we
con-

when
it

in

the

first

chapter

we

from the standpoint of the obthat


pleasure-getting

server;

namely,

and

pleasure-giving
aesthetic

are

of the

very essence of
that

phenomena, and

we

should,

therefore, treat the science of aesthetics fun-

damentally as a branch of the science of


pleasure.

A
sider

discussion of this relation will appear

in the later chapters.

I wish

now

to con-

some points of

interest in connection

with the art instinct as here conceived.


1.

As

far

back as the time of the Greek


spoken of as

Stoics,

we

find the art instinct

a development of the play instinct, and in


later

days Kant and Schiller and Herbert

Spencer have emphasized this view.


indeed, could be

What,

more natural than that such

THE artist's standpoint.

65

an opinion should take hold of men, when we


consider that
it is

only during our leisure

moments, which are our play times, that we


are able to look for the delights of beauty.

When

one comes to consider play in

its

essence, however, he finds

many

difl&culties
in-

connected with the doctrine that the art


stincts are
It
is,

determined by the play

instincts.

of course, well to

enough with Kant and


emphasize
that both the

Schiller

note and
viz.,

bond

between the two,

arise

without

definite known aims, with no evident human

interests at stake

but

when we look

little

deeper

we

find

that by play activities

we

mean

those activities, usually thought of as

"spontaneous," which,

having

no

evident

objective reference, have apparently no other

function than the using up of accumulated

energy
tion
it

and upon a

little

further considera-

becomes clear that the simple " sponactivities

taneous"

tending to

the

use

of

accumulated energy must have formed the


starting-point of all developments of

complex

66
activities,

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
which were to subserve valuable
our more
complicated
life.

ends in

The

simple animal which was just able to meet


the
offer

requirements of
little

its

environment would
for

or no

field
;

developmental
rise

forces

to

work upon

but with the

of spontaneous activity in
tion,

some given

direc-

we have some chance


individual which

of gain or loss

to

the

might determine

survival or be the beginning of competition,

and the

basis of emphasis of special activities


to

which would eventually turn out


value to the race.

be of

Without these simple


see,

"fortuitous" actions, so far as I can

there would be no basis for the strengthening


of special co-ordinations of activity

by

elimi-

nation or contest, survival or heredity.


I think, therefore, that

we must
"play

hold that

from

this simple instinct to use

accumulated
instinct,"

energy,

this

so-called

we must
ties

derive all those instinctive activifirst

which we have considered in the


chapter,
e.g.,

part of this

love,

anger, the

THE artist's standpoint.


imitation instinct,
to do

67

the

instincts

leading us

what

is

known
what

to be useful,

and

also,

but with no special dependence, the impulse


to do blindly
viz.,

shall attract

by
is

pleasing,

the

"art
if

instinct."

It

apparent,
it

therefore,

this

argument be sound, that

does not suffice in considering the genesis of


the art instinct to look upon
it

as a devel-

opment

of play, but that


its

some other expla-

nation of

genesis

is

necessary, and such

an explanation we have just been considering.


2.

wish to ask

my

reader to emphasize

in his

mind the
above

fact that all the "instinct

feelings "

described

are

altogether

blind as to their end.

"We love and hate

and

fear

spontaneously, and without


that

any

notion

whatever
calls

we

are

doing what

nature

us to do for the protection of


;

the individual and race


ship exist between the

and

if

the relation-

art instinct

and the

emotions which I have sketched out, then

we
the

should find the art instinct

impelling
apprecia-

man

to his

work without any

68

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
is

tion whatever that he

really aiming to do

what
ours

shall attract others to him.

In other

words, the art instinct under this view of


is

totally unselfish. of ours

If this doctrine

taught that the


is

artist

works consciously for the pleasure he

to give,

and which he

sees will

pay him

in

one coin or another, truly this would be false


to the facts

and would take the glory out of But no such position


5

all

art effort.

is

involved iu

the theory

for the true artist, in so far as

he

is

an

artist,

has no end in view except

the working out of his impulse to produce.

So far as he learns to calculate and to mould


his

work

in order that

he

may

bring nearer
is

a preconceived benefit to himself, so far


led

he
so

by other than the true

art instinct;

far does
i.e.,

he crush down his "inspiration,"

the inborn tendency to produce aesthetic

results,

which, indeed, will bring pleasure to

his admirers

who

are thus attracted to him,

but this without any preconception of their


value in this respect by the artist himself.

THE artist's standpoint.

69

The

art instinct

is

blind in
all

its

simplicity,

with no end in view at


pletion of its work.
rior determinate ends

beyond the comulte-

In proportion as

become

fixed, the fire

of

artistic

genius

is

dimmed, although the

nobility of

the man's

work may perchance

be heightened by the intrinsic nobility of his

aim beyond the


3.

line of his art.

would emphasize in the third place

the fact, implied in the considerations above,


that the instinct which leads to artistic
is

work

common
e.g.,

heritage of man, as completely

racial as are the

more

distinct "instinct feel-

ings,"

the emotions of joy and sorrow,


fear.

love

and anger and

We

find

men,

indeed, of

whom we

say that they have never

known
dently

sorrow, others

who seem
;

to be inca-

pable of love, for instance

but very eviin

we speak
for a

relatively

such cases

we do not
fact

moment
and

lose sight of the

that

sorrow

love

are

emotions
so
it is

common

to all of

our race.
:

And

with the art instinct

there are those

who

70

ESTHETIC
superficial

PRIlirCIPLES.

upon a

view seem to be devoid

of all appreciative or productive capacity in


testlietic

lines,

but for

all

that I think

it

must be granted that the


if

aesthetic " faculty,"

we may

so speak,

is

a clearly defined racial

possession,

and
in

is

present to

some
as

small

extent

even

such a

man

we have

been describing.

The savage and the


to produce

child equally tend to

use up their surplus vigour in crude attempts

works such

as, in their

developed

form, give us our best art products.

Almost
to

every adult feels


verses, or to
ble

some tendency

write

compose melodies, or to dab-

with brush and palette, modelling-tool


But, strangely,
iis

or draughtsmen's pencil.
find a notion prevalent

we
in

amongst

that the

existence of the art instinct in the

young

any noticeable degree


that the one

is

a clear leading, and


is

who

thus feels this instinct

especially "called" to devote his or her life

to

the

production of

art

works;

and yet

who would

think, because he discovered in

THE artist's standpoint.


his
cies,

71

boy certain marked pugnacious tendenthat the boy

was "called"

to the pro-

fession of a soldier, with a large chance that

he would develop into a Napoleon

?
_

We

must remember that

certain impulses

that develop in childhood disappear entirely


in after
life,

this probably beiag

due to our
forms

individual

growth by steps through

that have belonged to our ancestors in the

dim

past.

Capacities

that appear to give


lost

promise in childhood may, therefore, be


before the adult age. pulses
in

The presence
is,

of

im-

the

young

therefore,

no sure

guide as to the capacities they will develop


in later years.

Adult age, with

its

experi-

ence,

must be reached before the man can


so
especially
skilful

become

that

he will
tal-

stand apart from his fellows as one of


ent
J

and

this is true in all vocations of life.

It

seems clear then that no one should


he
is

feel that

"called" to devote his

life

to aesthetic production, in

the face of the

knowledge that the

life

will be one of pri-

72

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

vation and pain, unless his artistic leading


is

overwhelming in

its

power.

Those of mod-

erate talent can always find

means of

gain-

ing a livelihood in the production directly or


indirectly of
Artistic

what
is

is

of use to their fellows.


it
is

work

essentially luxurious;

demanded
fied,

after the needs of

man

are satis-

and therefore only that which highly


can
be

attracts

expected to "pay."

The

man who
artist,

has not great endowments as an

although he

may have

acute percep-

tions

and high standards, cannot hope to

succeed in
of

making a

living out of art


if

work

high quality, and

this

view of ours be

correct, there is

no reason whatever why he


is

should

deem that he
aesthetic

called

upon to devote

himself to the production of


inferior

what must be
Far

works, merely because he

feels this

"art impulse" within him.


it

better were in directions

for

him

to guide his

energies
use-

which would lead to greater

fulness to the world at large,


at the

and

in

which
pain

same time there would be

less of

THE artist's standpoint.


for himself
thetic

73

and

less of

pain for the sympa-

who dislike to see the poor artist suffer as much as he dislikes the process himself. Were these facts given their full weight, many would hesitate, as
public,

they do not now, before

undertaking

art

work

as a vocation.

In bringing to a close our consideration

from the
to

artist's standpoint,

we must touch

some extent upon the subject of our next

chapter, in

which we are
;

to discuss the stand-

point of the critic


artist

for

it is

apparent that the


attitude of
if

must alternate between the


become an

the producer and that of the observer, and

he
his

is

to

effective

worker must be

own

sternest critic.

Critical ability is connected


lytic

with an ana-

habit of mind, with a technical and

theoretic
of the
all

knowledge, with a comprehension


artistic

aims and ends of

endeavour,

of

which are not uncommonly thought


the
artistic

to

be incompatible with

tern-

74
perament.

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

The moments
seen

of

production are

indeed moments of guidance by instinct, as

we have

but that this abandon to the

guidance of the art instinct stands in no

way opposed to the analytic life of thought is clear, when we consider that all artists do,
to

some degree, throw themselves into the


is

frame of mind which

typical of scientific

attainment in their study of technical methods,

and

in their consideration of the results

they wish to reach.

They must study

to

some extent ; they must learn the rudiments,


for instance, of perspective or of

rhyme and
;

metre, or of

harmony and counterpoint

they

must become

skilled in analysis of their fail-

ures; so that any thorough-going statement


of

an opposition between the


its

critical

and proad

ductive attitudes suggests

own

reductio

absurdum.

The most that can be


failure to

said

is

that the

combine in a high degree the two


is

mental attitudes in one person


of

a matter
is

capacity,

and that such capacity

not

THii artist's

standpoint.
of

75

often found.
critic

The more

scientist

and

the artist can become without losing

the

predominant habit of mind which leads


to

him

he

guided

by

his

art

instinct,

the

greater will he be as an artist.

The

exist-

ence of such
Vinci,
tists,

men

as Goethe

and Leonardo da

who were esteemed as eminent scienand who have made for themselves
artists,

enduring fame as

shows clearly

that,

where capacity

is

great, results of importance

may

be obtained by the same person in both

directions.

I think, therefore, that the


all

development of
analytical

that goes to

make a man
a

and

scientific

should be encouraged in the educa-

tion

of

an
will

artist

man whose
If

genius

is

artistic
tific

never be led

away by
is

scien-

concentration.

a student be thus
it

led

away, then

surely

evident
artistic
;

that

his talent is scientific

and not

and

as surely the world will be a gainer in the


sequel.

Artists

of

very
it

mediocre

talent

abound and multiply;

certainly

would be

76
well
if

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
some
of

them were brought

to see

that they can do more effective service for


the world and for art by devoting their energies to artistic investigation rather than to
artistic production.

In

my

view,

when

the descendants of our

race shall look back at the times in which

we live, they wUl see some great aesthetic movement which we ourselves, perhaps, do
not recognize, and will find some masters of
aesthetic genius

who wUl

be seen to have had

the force, as Shakespeare had in his day, to take hold of the main lines of the complex

developments of our time, with

all its

new-

born introspection and consciousness of aim,

and who

will appear, notwithstanding all this

width of view, to have been willing to listen


to the instinctive leadings within

them which
Artists they
treat

compel to noble art-expression.


will

be of noble mien,

who can
their

the

burdensome complexities of our

life

as

mere
shall

media

of

expression

and

work

surely enlighten the path of all those who,

THE artist's stakdpoint.


lost in the perplexity of this

77
life,

busy

have

failed to grasp the fulness of its meaning.

There

is

a danger to the artist

much more
loss

subtle than that of loss of the art impulse

through serious study.


of interest in the

I refer to the

end to be attained, in con-

sequence of concentration of thought upon


the means adopted to reach this end; and
it is

evident that a knowledge of the science


of

and

the philosophy of art in

its

fullest

and widest sense coming


real,

will be a great aid in over-

this

danger.

That
aesthetic

this

danger

is

and that much

endeavour

fails

on

this account to produce aesthetic result,

will, I think,

appear upon the most cursory

view.

This

danger, indeed,
all fields

is

one into which


fall.

workers in

tend to

All

men

are liable to become absorbed


in the intricate
selves

by

their interest

machinery which they themcer-

have started in order to attain a

tain end,

and are thus

led to forget the

end

78
itself.

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
In legislative
life,

the ordinary poli-

tician,
fails to

even when he

is

not a self-seeker,

grasp more than the mere processes

of

enactment of the laws which are brought


life,

forward for consideration; in business


the
his

man

is

rare

who

is

able to see beyond


artist

immediate transactions; and the

presents no exception to this rule.

The average musical virtuoso


fect his lose the
all

forgets his

musical art entirely in his anxiety to pertechnical


skill.

Orchestral leaders

very thought of the composer, take

"the soul" out of the music, in their


to

attempts

produce
of

accuracy

in

tempo,

and

perfection
is

special

instrumentation.

The painter
ment, the

particularly liable to

become
ele-

absorbed in the search for some special

"values"

perhaps, forgetful

of

composition or drawing or of other elements

which are needful for the


his

full perfection of

work.

Architects are liable to forget all

but the qualities of their drawings, of their


compositions upon
flat surfaces
;

oblivious of

THE artist's standpoint.


the fact that
these

79
merely
composi-

drawings

are

instruments to the production of


tions in the solid.

They draw

in black

and

white with pen and pencil, and thus come to

think in lines which can never be produced


in their buildings, losing all sense of the pro-

portions of the colour masses, which alone

can make a building permanently beautiful.

The great

artists,

indeed, are

those

who

do not lose sight of the fact that technique


is

but the tool by means of which they are

enabled to express those special conceptions

which come to them


which,

like

inspirations,

and

when thus

expressed,

produce that

permanency of pleasure which we caU an


effect of beauty.

I shall ask in closing, to

your attention for a moment,

what

I consider the

most im-

portant subject touched upon in this chapter,

and perhaps in the whole book.


In
all

that has preceded this,

we have

been considering Esthetics from an individ-

80

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
In the
first

ualistic point of view.

chapter

we

treated of the observer's standpoint, the

mental states of the individual as impressed.


In this chapter, in which, thus been considering the
far,

we have
our has

artist's standpoint,

thought also has been individualistic;


dealt

with the nature of the impulse that

guides the individual artist.

But the thought that has developed


enables us
vidualistic

itself

now

to take a wider

than

indiit

position.

Modern psychology,

seems to me, has here a distinct message to


give to the
art,

students of the philosophy of


latter
is

as this

a branch of the phiit raises

losophy of

life.

The question which

and answers

relates to the function of the

art instinct in the

development of our

race.

The
that
if

doctrine

of

development teaches us

an

instinct is deep seated in the in-

dividual,

it is

almost certainly because

it

has

been of service to individuals as members of


the race.

The

art instinct

is

evidently very

deep seated within us, and has become elabo-

"

THE artist's standpoint.


rated to a high degree
;

81

and

it is

exceedingly
occurred
instinct,

improbable that thia would have


unless,

in

the

following

of

this

mankind had been subserving some valuable


racial end.

In the scheme presented above, the reader


will

notice that
is

so far

as

the question of

function

concerned, the " self-exhibiting

reactions, the benevolent impulses,

and the
the

art instincts
instinct

are all
to

to be referred to

to act

attract,

spoken of under

above.

As we have no
the "
self-exhibiting

occasion here to discuss

reactions" nor the be-

nevolent impulses, I shall speak only of the


art instinct in

what
is

follows.
if

I think
hold, that
vidualistic

it

apparent,
pass

my

argument
indi-

we now

away from

considerations.

We

find

that

the

art

instinct

deals

with the attraction

of others to ourselves, unconsciously indeed,

but none the less certainly for


fact, it deals

all

that;

in

with the overthrow of isolation

82

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
witli the

and

growth

of sociality
I

and sym-

pathy.

And, although
that

cannot agree with


of

Guyau
towards
I think

the

production

sympathy

life is

the end of artistic endeavour,


surely say that the

we may

funo

tion of art in the development of

man

is social

consolidation}

Now,
Is
it

beg to ask you whether this

is

not

a noble and ennobling conception of Art?


not nobler

than

that

individualistic

view which for so long has taught us that


as

observers
of

of

aesthetic
is

results

the

final

end

our

activities

to

obtain

per-

sonal delight;
cially refined

delight to be sure of a spe-

and

so-called higher type, but


all

personal delight for


this

that.

We

see

in

view

of ours a higher in the

than individual

significance
pathies.
1

emphasis of social sym-

Since this was written


d.

has appeared B. Grosse's Dtc

Anfange from an

Kunst, in which the author, approaching the subject

entirely diverse standpoint, has

been led to what

is

practically this

same view.

In the words of the reviewer in

Mind

(Nov. '94), he claims to show that the function of Art

"is the strengthening and extension of social cohesion."

THE artist's standpoint.

83
artist's

And

taking our view from


is

the

standpoint,

not this

conception

also

nobler one than the oft-repeated doctrine of


individualistic values
its

which in our day

finds

best statement in the doctrine that the

aesthetic

end

is

" expression for expression's

sake " ?
that

Is it not nobler, I ask, to conceive


artist,

the

while thus
is

expressing his

instinctive leadings,

at the

same time the

unconscious servant of Nature in her efforts

towards social consolidation?

CHAPTER
THE

IV.

critic's standpoint.

Concerning jEsthetic Standards.

In the chapter which has preceded


have been considering Fine Art
field
;

this

we

that broad

of the
is

still

broader

field of .(Esthetics

which

brought into being by the creative

impulses of

man;

in other words,

we

there

considered --Esthetics from the standpoint of

the artist.

In this chapter we are to turn

again to the standpoint of the observer which

we
this

discussed in the
diEEerence, that

first

chapter, but with

then we considered the


impressed

observer

merely as

by

beauty,
as one

while

now we
judges
;

are to deal with

him
are

who

in other words,

we

now

to

study aesthetic phenomena from the point of

view of the

critic.

84

THE

critic's standpoint.

85
impres-

Beyond the consideration


sions as

of his

an observer, the

critic

undertakes

to

become an

arbiter as to the

worth and

the validity of standards.


of the nature of
fore,

To

the question

aesthetic

standards, thereoutset

must we from the

give

our

attention in this chapter.

We

have seen that consideration from the


observer,

standpoint of the

and

also

from

that of the producer, of beauty, leads to the

view that pleasure-getting and pleasure-giving are of fundamental


theory; and iq
view, our
first

moment to taking up this new


thought

aesthetic

point of

must therefore be

given to the relation which exists between


pleasure and the nature of aesthetic standards.

We

have

seen

that

from the

field

of

aesthetic impression

we

are able to exclude


its

no pleasure, whatever be
it

character, unless

bring with

it

at the time

an overbalance

of pain.

Any

pleasure. that can in any

way

be brought into connection with other pleas-

86

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

ures to the formation of a pleasurable com-

plex state, so that the several elements form


parts of a whole, or so that one follows the

others in

an

associative train,

by

this fact be-

comes part of the

field of aesthetic impression.


field

But with the


the
case
is

of aesthetic

judgment
field

quite

different.

The

of

aesthetic impression will include as part

and

parcel of its totality

many

impressions that

are pleasant in themselves, but that are not

pleasant in revival, and which on this very

account will be excluded from the


aesthetic

field

of

judgment which

is

determined by

the pleasant nature of remembrances.

The ephemeral nature


of the revivals

of pleasure,

and the

variation that this implies in the character

from which we are able to

gain pleasure would lead us naturally to look


for

an

(A) Individual Standard of the Moment.

Favourable judgment under standards of


this

type would be determined by the fact

THE
that
tlie

critic's standpoint.

87

mental phases of the special mothought

ment
vidual

of

under consideration are


revivals.

composed of pleasant

This indithat to
off-hand

standard of the
refer

which we

moment is when we make


In
variable,

judgments in
it

assthetic matters.

its

nature
it is

must be exceedingly

for

changed by each variation in our surroundings,

by each

alteration of associative train,

by every

difference in our physical condition.


first,

Taking up,
ings,

the influence of surround-

we may

note that patriotic songs, like


Georgia,"
or

" Marching

through

" Hail

Columbia," which appeal to us at a military


tournament, would seem crude at Bayreuth;

and that Parsifal, which


with
its

overwhelms one

aesthetic effects, under, proper con-

ditions, could

not be appreciated at

all at

county

fair.

Differences of

associative train determine


easily recognize the
full of

our " moods,"


difficulty

and we

one has who, being

joy and

gladness, attempts to catch the full beauty

88
of

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
an
Israel's

"Alone

in the World," or of
;

one of Millet's peasant studies


well are

and equally
failure in

we acquainted with the

the sad and

sorrowing of the capacity to

appreciate wit and humour.


ferences of physical

And
:

so of dif-

condition

the invalid

finds beauty in gentle, soothing


it is

music

but
fire

the vigorous

man who

craves the

of Liszt

and the surging, tumultuous stream

of

Wagner's creations.

But
is

this individual standard of the

quickly recognized to be

moment unreliable, and we


relates to

learn to appeal to a higher standard, which


is still

individual, but

which

less

variable field, viz., to

(B) The Relatively Stable Individual Standard.

Judgment under
by the

this standard is

determined
re-

fact that the fields of

momentary

vivals change not infrequently

from pleasure

to pain, or at least lose their hedonic quality


in indifference,
if
;

held for any length of time

in consideration

and we are therefore led to

THE

critic's standpoint.

89
fields

judge as to what

is

beautiful

by those

that retain their pleasantness after the en-

thusiasms of the
fields are

moment

are gone.

These

the basis of the judgments that

we

make

after reflection,

and they determine our


are cast out all

personal tastes.

From them

that reflection shows us to be painful in any


well-recognized case, or indiEEerent in all but

unusual cases.

To

these fields

we

look in the

careful comparison that goes with the analysis of

a work of

art, while, as

the Eesthetic fields of the

we have moment are the

seen,
basis

of our casual every-day judgments.

But

it

must be noted that we are

stUl deal-

ing with fields that are only relatively per-

manent; with standards that are


change from
degree,

liable

to

year to year, and, to a lesser


;

from day to day

for

it is

clear that

as these standards are determined

by the

in-

dividual mental constitution of the

man, they
fields,

must change,

as do the

man's mental

with growth and development and alteration


of environment.

The

aesthetic standards of

90

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

our youth are remembered with laughter in

middle age.

My

little girl

exclaims with de-

light, at sight of

a beautiful sweeping wave


!

" Oh,

how

beautiful
of

It

reminds

me

of the

most

delicious

desserts."

On

the other
decline

hand, in the sombre days of

life's

the enthusiasms of one's prime seem extrav-

agance

those of the child sheer madness.


effects

The

of

habit, too,

are here most

marked.

Habit changes the current of our


fields

thinking, and altering, therefore, the

that are recalled with pleasure, changes our


standards.

The

doctor,

as

have

noted

above, learns to call a fine

preparation of
artis-

cancerous tissue beautiful.


tic

The average

Parisian learns to think his modified clas-

sical
tiful,

Renaissance architecture to be
finds in the

all

beau-

Romanesque masterpieces

nothing but barbarity, and utterly despises


everything English.
It is because habit is so powerful

an agent
width

in the formations of our standards, that

of view

and

of education is so important in

THE
art matters.

CEITIC'S STANDPOINT.
If

91

we

individuals constantly sur-

round ourselves with objects which the race


of cultivated
lovely,

men

as a whole has declared un-

we

shall nevertheless all too soon learn

to forget their enormities,

and actually may

come
find

to feel a sense of loss

when we do not
some extent

them with

us.

We
we

are, to a large ex-

tent, responsible for, as

are to

the makers
ics as

of,

our own

standards in ^EsthetIt is because of this

well as in Ethics.

formation of bad standards through miseducation, that I

think the cultivated public ought

to take a deep interest not

now taken
is

in the

education of architects
the case

for in the nature of

the architect's work


;

often not

ephemeral

it

cannot nearly as easily as the

work

of

other artists be removed or oblit-

erated from thought


is

by

inattention,
it

when

it

found distasteful

and thus

must remain,

if it

be bad, a permanent evil influence, tend-

ing to lower the standards of those


to

who

are

come

after us.

As we have

said above,

we

are evidently

92
still

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
dealing with standards that are only
rel-

atively permanent, that are constantly liable


to change.

Few

of us ever realize this varia-

bility, this shifting

nature of individual taste


it

but as soon as we do realize


satisfied
;

we

refuse to be

we ask for something more certain and stable we do not care so much what a person's individual judgment is, as what it ought to be. To reach the aesthetic "ought" of the hedonist, of him who believes in this
;

dependence

of

beauty upon
is

so

variable

thing as pleasure,
in

not the simplest thing


is

the world

for

man, as he

ordinarily

constituted.
it.

The average man never reaches

He

is

unwittingly the most ardent of ab-

solutists.

His

own

personal taste he believes

to be a reflection, as it were, of a certain fixed

absolute,

and

if

others differ from him,

it is,

in his view, because they are thoughtless, or

are led

by other than

aesthetic influences, or

are not sufficiently cultivated to appreciate

what

is

good.

He

is

content to deal always


;

entirely with subjective standards

and when

THE

critic's standpoint.
less variable

93

he would have something

than

the individual taste of those

who surround
and makes

him, he canonizes his


that the standard.

own

taste,

But

it

is

evident that this individualistic

standard of personal taste can have no philosophic validity.


If

we

are logical hedonists,

when we
stable

feel the

need of some criterion more


tastes,

than our own

the consideration of

we must turn from our own special, limited,


which
is

individual, aBsthetic field to one


distinctly

as

objective
viz
,
.

as

any

absolutist

could

demand
(C)

to

The Esthetic Field of


tivated

the

highly

Cul-

Man

as

we

conceive him.

This
critic

is

the field which every philosophic


his

must acknowledge, apart from


taste, if

own

individual

he

is

to treat sesthetic

matters with any breadth.


peculiarities of his

The individual
whilst they must

own

field,

remain none the

less valid for himself,

must

be treated as individual rather than general

94

ESTHETIC PRIKCIPLES.
his

and

criticism

must be detennined by

reference to the broader than individual field

which contains
for

all

that

is

common

to those

whom

he speaks.

This standard,
still

my

reader will perceive,

is

really changeable

and unstable, but

rela-

tively

speaking,

it is

unchangeable and stable,

for its variations are determined

by processes
It

of wide

reach and

slow

development.

must vary with width


cation, of

of experience, of eduIt will

refinement.

change as a

person limits his notions of


universe, or as his views

life

and

of the

become broader and


alter

more
in the

sjonpathetic.

It

wiU

with variais

tion of his conception as to

what

worthy

world surrounding him, and as to the

sincerity

and value
it

of other people's beliefs

and in the end

will be

found to be largely
This
says,

determined by his ethical conceptions.


fact
is

expressed by

Wundt when he

"Effectiveness of higher aesthetic representations

depends always upon the arousal of

moral or religious ideas."

The same general

THE
conviction
is

critic's standpoint.

95
al-

expressed by Taine, who,

though no hedonist, would have us measure


a work of art by
cience, that
is,

its its

importance and benefi-

by

power to develop and


the group in
Simi-

preserve

the individual, and


individual
is

which
larly,

th'e

comprehended.

Fechner would have us make our own


standard of aesthetic valuation depend-

final

ent upon our conception of

what, on the

whole, has the best outcome for the well-

being of mankind, for time and eternity.

The
it

relative stability of this standard gives

objective

force

as a

real

existing Ideal.

Professor Royce

has lately emphasized the

view that our notions of reality in the world


about us are, to a great extent, dependent

upon the

possibility of

comparison by individothers,

uals of effects

upon themselves and


of

and by the perception


experiences involved
;

agreement in the

in other words, depend-

ent upon social recognitions, or, as he puts


it,

"it

is

social

community that

is

the true

differentia of our external world."

With

this

96

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
it

view in mind
ards that

becomes clear that the stand-

we

are

now

discussing

must become

objective in a sense, that aUies

them

closely

to the realities of the external world.

For
are

in the conception of these standards

we
in

taking

account

of

the

agreements

the
be-

experience of those whose judgment


lieve to be

we

most worthy of confidence, and


to

are

endeavouring

co-ordinate

our

own

experience with these agreements.

In emphasizing the value of the recognition of

other standards, however,

we must
it

not overlook the fact that individuality of


field is
is

none the

less

important, for upon

dependent
(D) The Ideal Esthetic Field.

This ideal

field,

from our standpoint, must

be a variable one, differing for each individual


;

no Absolute as usually conceived

no

fixed objective Platonic ideal, towards

which

we weakly

strain

but the

field

which in
field,

some direction

differs

from the normal

THE
and

critic's standpoint.

97

in this direction the individual feels that

the world ought to agree with him.

Each
sort of

one of

us,

however

prosaic, has

some

an

ideal field of
it

this

kind;

non-agreement

with

in others looks like aesthetic error.


is

So firmly rooted
ideal
artists
is

this belief in one's


is

that intolerance

proverbial

own among

and connoisseurs; intolerance which

often amusing to one

who

looks at the

subject
in

from a student's standpoint.


Ideal,

Once
ex-

a while an individual
enlightens

when
art,

pressed,

the

world of
;

and
the
field

then we have the


prophet

artistic genius

he

is

who shows

to others

an ideal

which they at once recognize as


for themselves, although but for

effective
it

him

would

have been unknown to them.


his

To express
work.

own

ideal

must the

artist

He

must indeed produce

effective results in the

field of presentative aesthetic


if

enjoyment, but
it

his

work

is

to be of importance,
effect;

must

go beyond the momentary

it

must
of the

compel recognition as part and parcel

98
stable
field

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
of pleasurable

revival (B), and


to

must not

stand
is

opposed

the

objective

standard which
the value
of

given by recognition of

the opinion of others, whose

cultivation entitles

them

to speak with au-

thority

(C);

if,

however, the work of an

artist is to
it

be recognized as that of a master,


ideal (D)

must express an

which the com-

mon

mortal, however highly cultivated, does

not and can not reach of himself, but which

he wUl
another,

recognize, as

when

it

is

reached by

an enlightenment of his own

duller conceptions.

Now

I wish

to

ask

my

readers to note

the nobility of this standard of relativity.

The conception
Universal

of

an absolute standard,
of

which we have discarded, the notion


fixed
strives
itself

Beauty,

which

the

artist

to conceive

and to represent, has in

great aesthetic value, altogether apart


its

from

philosophic value
it

it

attracts us

by

the relief

offers

from the distracting oppo-

THE

CEITIC'S STANDPOINT.

99
fact that

sitions of individualism,
it

and by the

arouses within us that certain


(itself

sense

of

sublimity

an

Eesthetic

state),

which

attaches to all things that are dimly felt to


exist,
all

and yet are but

indefinitely realized

to

that which on account of inscrutableness

invites worship.

But

if

we

lose

something in adopting the

standards of relativity, I think

we

are on the

whole gainers.
view
tells

For

it is

apparent that our


is

us that the sense of beauty


If

never

to be lost to us.

an absolute fixed beauty


if

existed and were once attained,


ples

its princi-

were once known so that they could be


all of life,

applied to

then surely with


attainment,

this, as

with

all else of

human

its

com-

monplaceness would involve


for us,

loss of interest

and in the end our race would be

de-

prived of one of the best gifts and of one of


the strongest of incentives to noble action
that
is

the capacity to appreciate and the ten-

dency to search for new expressions of beauty.

But the doctrine here defended enables us

100
to look

-ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

forward to an ever new and ever

higher conception of beauty, arising as


develops

man

towards

nobility

and

perfection.

As these standards are determined by subjective


states,

as

they differ with

human

attainment and enlightenment, so evidently

must they be determined by our character;


as that

develops

towards higher worth, so


of

will our estimate

Ideal Beauty continue

to develop, ever disclosing to our


glories,

view new

and bringing to us new enthusiasms

so will beauty continue to enlighten our path

and

alleviate the burdens of life,

and

still

re-

main

as

an incentive to nobler living and

higher thinking.
Before

we turn from

this subject of stand-

ards I will again remind

my

reader of a

point touched upon in the preceding chapter.

Hedonism

in

Esthetics

is

for

many
them

difficult to

accept, because it seems to


is

to

savour of what
If it

ordinarily called Epi-

cureanism.

were true that sestheticism

merely teaches

selfish pleasure-getting, if the

THE
artist

critic's

standpoint

101

were led to work merely to give pleaslie

ure that

might thus gain advantage to

himself, then surely


if

we

could not complain

our ethical masters were to renew ascetic

attacks
ure.

upon

all

emphasis of

aesthetic cult-

But as we have already

seen, there is for

no warrant under our theory


view.

any such

The

artist

follows, blindly as to the

end in view, the voice of a leader, the guidance of an impulse, and the one
rightly of beauty
istic
is

who
any

judges

as far

removed from egoof the

influence as

is

possible imder

circumstances of

life.

The very forms under


necessarily

which the higher


itself,

art

presents

force self-centredness to give place to

sympathetic width of view;


limitations of egoism break
thetic atmosphere.

the cramping
in the
aes-

down

I have spoken above of the development of

standards, of the fact that our standards do

and must change with our growth and


opment, and I wish to
point once more because

devel-

call attention to this


it

has an important

102

ESTHETIC PKINCIPLES.
If objects

bearing upon aasthetic pedagogy.

appear beautiful to us as they are able to

produce in us a sense of living, permanent


pleasure in revival, then
possible that
it

is

evidently im-

we should
it

perceive beauty in an

object unless
pleasures.

does produce these permanent


felt

The youth who has never


of

the

strong bitterness

human

suffering,

cannot be expected to appreciate the beauties

of

Shakespeare's King Lear, nor can

the child

who knows not

yet the fulness of

mature human love be expected to Wagner's Tristan and Isolde

enjoy

in its entirety.

Each person's perception


thought.

of beauty

must be

determined by his capacities of associative


It is useless to give

meat

to babes,

as valueless, indeed, as to feed vigorous

men

from the

breast.

We

too often expect youth,

or those of

low mental endowment, to appre-

ciate beauties

which can be grasped only by

men

of capacity,

to the

who have given their years acquirements which make appreciation


It
is

possible.

absurd to

expect

average

THE

critic's standpoint.
to gain anything but

103
ennui

young children
and a sense
certs of

of distress

and

dislike

from conall

symphonic complexities, and

such

attempts are in
failure.

my

opinion foreordained to

It

is

vain also to hope to revolutionize

the standards of taste of the people living


in the

"slums" by giving

to

them

exhibi-

tions of paintings of such merit as can only

be appreciated by mature

development.

men of There may be a

the fullest
lesson
of

sympathy

in

such action by the so-called

"upper
hope in

classes," but there is little gesthetic


it;

of that I

am

convinced.

It is altogether futile to

attempt to force

aesthetic

standards upon
is

others;

what we
and

should aim at

the development within the


of the capacities

young and the ignorant


mental
activities

which will not only enable

them

to appreciate art

work

of high value,

but will lead them spontaneously to go out


in search for
it.

To attempt

to force our

own

standards upon them, either produces

104

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

disgust or despair, most seriously- opposed to

the development of a refined aesthetic judg-

ment; or

else,

and

all

too often, an insincere


is

pretence of appreciation, which

evidently

immoral in

effect.

The most

fruitful lesson that is


is

taught by

this doctrine of relativity

one of liberality,

of tolerance of other's standards, of humility

as to our own.
field of

As we have
is

seen, the aesthetic

childhood

not that of the youth,

nor that of the youth the same as that of the

man

of

mature years.

Differences of cultiin-

vation and of point of view necessarily

volve differences of standard, and must be


constantly taken into consideration.
see the

As we
per-

advance we make from childhood's

standards, as
fect ones

we hope

to gain

still

more

with our further culture, so must

we

be willing to recognize the validity for

others of their standards which are not ours,

and study them to see whether they

may

not

have in them elements by which our own


can be improved.

THE

critic's standpoint.

105

We

must not expect that others

will agree

with us in our revival-pleasure-getting, except on the broadest lines.

The

failure

to

recognize this fact

is

often a serious loss.


is

The

belief that

beauty

something absolute,
to

many a man fulness of mnui, and leads many another to a hopeless cynicism, when he finds
which he
has
mastered, brings
that what he has learned to consider pre-

eminently valuable begins to pall upon him.

Such

is

the position which too

many

critical

mind

reaches,
critic

and which would be avoided


but look beyond the standard
set,

could the

which he himself has


of

and take cognizance


his

the

manner

in

which

own

aesthetic

field alters

and develops as he grows in con-

stitution of

mind and

life.

Now

let us consider

a few points of direct

application to the

critic.

There

is

a feeling

current to no small

extent that there exists an opposition be-

tween the
artistic

critical attitude
;

and that of the

producer

an opposition which some-

106

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

times appears in fierce denunciation of the


critic

by the

artist,

and which again voices


the intellectual, critical

itself in objection to

treatment of aesthetic subjects in general, on


the ground that such treatment,
in a
if

encouraged

man
or

or race,

is

likely to curtail in the

man

race

aesthetic

production

of

high

grade.

The study
fessed, has

of art history, it

must be

con-

tended to substantiate this notion


production to

of the inverse relation of art

intellectual consideration of aesthetic matters

for as

it

shows ages which are unproductive


of

of art

work

high value;
of

it

seems also to

show that the age


formalism.
It

non-production has

often been one of devotion to pure critical

seems to me, on the whole, that

it

might

better be claimed that the studious age has

been the parent of the productive one; but,


at all events, the facts are in all probability

accounted
spirit

for,

not by any lack of critical

during the ages of great art outcome,

THE

critic's standpoint.

107

but by the emphasis of

critical

work which

the absence of notable art production brings


into prominence.

So much for the grounds for

this opinion.

That the opposition


ever, for as

is

superficial is clear

howis

we have

already seen there

no

opposition between the

mental attitude of

the student and of the producer, the former


is

surely the helper of the latter

and further

we must remember, as we have


that the critic
observer,
is

already noted,

no more than the student and with

who

deals with analysis

the determination of the validity of standards,

and furthermore that the


of

artist

must

upon occasion take the place


and
will do better
his

an observer,
he be-

work

in so far as

comes

own most

serious critic.
is

It is evi-

dent, therefore, that there

no fundamental
critic.

opposition between artist and

But

it is

true that in practice the critic far


attitude
of
life

too often assumes an

hostility.

A man
ficial

may

indeed devote his

to super-

carping, without having

sympathy with,

108

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

or without ever knowing, the artist's aims or

methods

but surely this


criticism.

is

not worthy of the


superficiality
is

name
a

of

It is this

that irritates the artist,

and which

not for

moment

to

be condoned.

To become a

worthy

critic,

one must be not only a deep

student of the philosophy of art, but must

make

himself

conversant with the

artist's

technical methods

and

his personal aims.

If

the artist have limited views and aims, his


spirit

and

his

work cannot be properly appreis

ciated

by one who
other

expecting to find views


artist's,

and aims other than the


limited in

and equally
here

directions.

And
They

we

strike the greatest difficulty in the

mental

constitution of our critics.

are seldom

broad enough or accomplished enough.

They
comer

have learned to know well some


in the

little

wide

field of aesthetic

endeavour, and

they judge

all else in

the field by the stand-

ards thus reached.


of

Perhaps

it is

the lover

Wagner who
deals

fails to see

beauty in music

that

with

clearer

melody and more

THE

critic's standpoint.

109
one

formal counterpoint.
feels

Perhaps

it

is

who

deeply the study of "values" in paint-

ing and forgets " composition," and subject,

and
ing

all else in
it

the picture before him, judgits

by comparing

" values " with those

of the master
it

whom
work

he worships.

Perhaps

is

a lover of Milton

who

refuses to see

strength in the
is

of another

whose

style

more

free,

and whose conceptions are more


critic,

mystical.

The
his

and the
critic,

artist so far
it is

as he

is

own

acute

must,

true,

consider

first

the delights of immediate im-

pression, but he should never forget that the

vivid elements, which dazzle for a moment,


are the ones of which

we most

surely

tire,

and that

fuller,

more permanent, and more

fundamental delights must grow upon us as


this vividness disappears,
is
if

the aesthetic

work

to

remain a permanent acquisition to Art.


in

The emphasis
liable to

the

critic's

mind, of
is

limited phase of aesthetic endeavour,

thus

produce within him narrowness of


vitiates his

view which

judgment.

This

is

110

AESTHETIC PEINCIPLE8.
attaching to the purist's
aesthetic life, as

a special danger
standpoint.

Habit, in the

elsewhere, easily comes to dominate us.

man may, by
dain a

the emphasis of certain formal

characteristics of art products, learn to dis-

work which
.

fails to

come up

to his

standard in these particulars, whilst he altogether overlooks graces and strength in other

than these formal directions.

Perhaps the

greatest danger the critic has to guard against


is

that of the artificial creation within him-

self of

petty standards which,

when

shocked,

give a sense of ugliness sufficiently predomi-

nant to prevent the appreciation of wider


beauties which should determine his mature

judgment.

Width
the

of

education,

width of

view, but especially unbounded sympathy,


these
are
qualities

which

the

critic

should encourage within himself as a safe-

guard

against

the

pitfalls

we have

thus

brought into view.


I cannot close this brief discussion of the
critic's

standpoint without saying a word con-

THE

critic's standpoint.

Ill

cerning the responsibilities whicli go with the


critical

attitude;

and

this is said

not only

to the professional critic, but to each


of

and

all

my

readers

for all of us at times

assume

the part of the critic in the eyes of some of

our companions.
already said, for
heeded, to
art for
objects.

It is

so

easy, as

have
is

critic,

whose word

make and unmake standards of others, to make and unmake aesthetic

On

the one hand, excessive praise


of

of

some work

moderate merit will result

in the attachment of importance to that


for all time in the eyes of those

work
trust
it is

who

our judgment
equally true
to
its

and on the other hand,


derision

that

or blame given

a work

of

power

will continue to lower

value with those

who

trust to us, long

after

they have discovered for themselves

that the art

work has value

for them.

Let

us
to

all
it

when we act as critics, look well that we use the influence which we wield
then,

for aesthetic good

and not

for aesthetic evil.

: ;

CHAPTER

V.
I.

ALGEDONIC ESTHETICS.

Negative JEsthetic Principles.

In the chapters which have preceded

this

we have
as

seen that Esthetics

may

with pro-

priety be considered as a branch of Hedonics

being dependent directly upon pleasure

laws, and indirectly, therefore,


of
pain.

upon the laws


this chapter
;

Hence the
being used

title

of

the word "algedonic" {aXyo?, pain


pleasure)
to

-qBouT],

cover

the

whole

ground

of pain

and pleasure.

In Chapter IV. we have considered our


subject

from the standpoint of

the

critic,

and have learned to appreciate the importance of width of view, and of liberality of

judgment concerning

others' standards

but

our ideal standard has been fixed by the con112

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.
siderations of

113

the

first

and third chapters.


aesthetic

The end
works
is

to

which the

producer

the creation of objects which shall


of

be beautiful for the highest type


or, to

man;

use more technical language, the creof

ation

full,

and

relatively

permanent
are the

pleasure-field of revival in those

who

representatives of our highest ideal of

manwhich

hood, and in

whom
is

the trend of develop-

ment

is

towards

the noblest forms capable of showing.

human thought

We

are

now

to

ask what help

we may

obtain in the practical search after beauty,

and in our judgments concerning


efforts,

others' like

from our study of the

nature

of

pleasure which
for both

we

see to be so all-important
critic-observer.

worker and
study
be

If our
it

theoretical

worth

anything,

should be possible for us to deduce certain


general laws of aesthetic
practice

from

consideration of the conditions upon which


pleasure-getting depends.
It should also be

114
possible, in

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.
some
cases at least, to trace the
of

practical

application

the

principles

dis-

covered, in the empirical rules


aesthetic workers,

adopted by

and perhaps
bases

finally to find

the psychological

upon which
theories

have

been built the


find
it

aesthetic

which we

necessary to reject, although they be

taught by high authorities.


It will

be well, I think, to restate sucalgedonic-aesthetic

cinctly the

theory which

we

are to develop in
is

what

follows.

The Beautiful

that in nature, or in the

activities or productions of

man, which

pro-

duces effects in us that in retrospect remain

permanently pleasant.

have spoken of

this

so fully above that I do not need to enlarge

upon

it

here.
is

The Ugly, on the other hand,


produces
painful
effects

that which

that

remain permanently
in retrospect.

when viewed
ugly
in
set

For

in-

stance, a

most disagreeable, painful, and


of

alto-

gether
obtained

impressions

may

be

connection with the action of

NEGATIVE PEINCIPLES.
saving a

115

man from

suffocation in

some nau-

seous chamber.
scene,

But

in the revival of the


of
its

which occurs when we judge

aesthetic

quality, the pain has gone out of

the presentation, and the nobility of the act,

and

all

that

this

nobility

implies,

sweeps

away the ugliness, and makes of commanding beauty.


If

the act one

a natural object, or the production of


artist, is

the

to be effective as

an

aesthetic

object, it
its
it

must bring not only pleasure by


but,

mere presentation, must

more than
with that

that,

result in the production of pleasant


field

revivals, that will coalesce

of pleasurable revival
call

which in

reflection
artist

we
the

our aesthetic
all

field.

The

must

employ

possible

means leading

to

attainment of immediate pleasures so far as


these are compatible with the production of
pleasures in revival.

He may add much

in

the

way

of

mere presentative pleasure which


not bring us pleasurable effect
all

perhaps

may
;

in revival

and

such added pleasure in

116

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.
ia

presentation

a gain to the work as


in

art,

provided

it

neither bring pain

revival,

nor swamp with resulting indifference the


revivals

that are

pleasant.

He may

even
give

go further, and add elements which

decided active painfulness in the direct presentation produced by the examination of the
art work, provided the result in revival be

on

this

account

made more permanently


use pains of restricor
revival,

pleasurable.
tion,

He may
if

in

either

presentation

in

moderation,

they are treated as indices of

fulness of pleasure to be reached


restrictions are

when
of

the

removed.

Even
works,
fields;

in

the

mere

examination
of

art

we must take account for we lose much if we


Unless
full

revival

restrict

our

attention either to the detail, or to the


totality before us.

mere

we allow

the play

of revivals to

have

sway, our best enjoy-

ment

is

gone.

While pleasures in primary presentation,


therefore, are important, the pleasures of re-

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.
vival are of pre-eminent
consideration.

117
in aesthetic

moment

Our task here amounts simply


sideration of the

to a con-

means

to be adopted to pro-

duce a pleasure-field of relative permanency.

AU
which

wUl agree,
I

I think,

upon two points

wish to emphasize at this moment.


pain
is

First, that

incompatible with pleas-

ure, or, in other words, that with

a given

ele-

ment of

consciousness,

the

conditions
if

that

involve pain must be absent

the conditions

that involve pleasure are present.

Second,
is

that there
also

is

a field of non-pleasure, which

not painful.

This

is

the

field

of

so-

called indifference, which, although theoretically narrow,


is

practically wide in extent,

because often the variations from the

moment

of indifference towards pain or pleasure are so slight as to escape notice.

Now,

it is

evident that both of these fields

of non-pleasure, both that of pain-getting

and

that of indifference, are to be avoided before

118

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.
reach pleasure with any given set of

we can

mental elements.

The

field of

pain must be
is

entirely eliminated, unless its occurrence

useful for pleasure-production to follow


of indifference
is

that

must be suppressed so
elements

far as

necessary in order to avoid the overwhelmthe pleasurable


interest us.

ing of

by those

which do not

Negative JSsthetie Principles.


It is evident

from what

have just said

that

we may

treat as the first principle of

aesthetics

The Exclusion of Pain;


the

the

Elimination of

Ugly. are
practically

We

all realize

that there

two great

classes of pains.

First, the pains

produced by repression of
second,

activities;

and,
of

the

pains

produced by excess

active functioning.
I

have elsewhere shown, I think, that in


the
first class

all probability

must be

referred

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.
to the second
;

119

active functioning apparently

being necessary to pain of any kind.

matter of practical experience, however,


find

As a we
and

two means by which we may produce


by the repression
of activities of activities.

pain, viz.,

by the hypernormal stimulation

This fact, which doubtless has prevented the


earlier recognition of the

common

basis of all

pains,

makes the current

distinction

between

the two classes of pain perfectly legitimate


for us of

who

are here concerned with methods

pain production.

We
first

may,

therefore,

properly divide our


subsidiary ones,
pressive
pains,

principle into

two

(A), the avoidance of re(B),

and

the prevention of

pains of excessive functioning.


(A)

The Avoidance of Repressive Pains.

Eepressive pains occur

when a mental
if

ele-

ment, a thought, an object, which would have


appeared in consciousness
the conditions

remained normal, for one reason or another


fails

to so appear.

This

may happen

(1st)

120

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
arises

where the mental element habitually


in a rhythmical

manner

in answer to certain

stimuli, provided these stimuli fail to appear

at the usual time.


of

Examples

of this

form
which
the

repressive pain are found

in

connection

with our quasi-vegetative


breathing and
its

activities, of

resultants throughout

system, and digestive processes are examples;


the
pains
of

suffocation

coming with the

holding of one's breath and the pains of hunger and thirst arising from abstinence from food and drink are due to such repressions.

These pains are to be avoided, of course,

if

we
one

are to obtain a pleasure-field, but as

no

who

desired to produce an aesthetic


it

work
its

would think of giving

such form that

appreciation would be dependent, for example,

upon the holding

of one's breath, or

upon

the existence of the mental states which

we

experience
is

when we hunger or thirst, there no reason why we should enlarge upon this
These
special

point.

repressive

pains are

induced only by the production of abnormal

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.
conditions,

121

and in a search for means towards


is

pleasure production, such as Esthetics


to involve,

held

naturally avoided, as

we should expect we do.


is

to find

them

There

is

another kind of repressive pain,


of

however, which
I
refer

much more

importance.
if

to those

pains (2d) that appear


arise

mental elements

which normally would

bring out, would act as stimulants to the

production
latter

of,

other mental elements, these

mental elements in fact failing to ap-

pear.

We
calls

are all familiar with such cases.

At a
sound

certain time of the

day some voice or

us to dinner, or the gong in a


tells

lecture-room

us that our hour of effort

has ceased and that some time of pleasant


relaxing conversation has come.
If

some

business necessity prevent our going to dinner, or if the persistency of our lecturer pre-

vent immediate relaxation of attention,


all

we
All

know

the uneasiness that follows.


fall

cravings and desires

under

this heading;
fail-

they are

all

painful

states

caused by

122

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
in

ures of fruition

directions in

which our

mental

life

would naturally have developed.


if

Well, these pains also are to be avoided

we

are to reach pleasure in connection with

the elements involved, and the principle here

enunciated would seem to teach that the artist

must, in general, avoid the stimulation of cravings which cannot be satisfied, the production
of desires

which are impossible

of fulfilment,

the suggestion of lines of thought which can-

not be completed.
It
is

not apparent, however, at the

first
is

glance, that

any such canon of practice


critics.

recognized by artists or

Indeed, on

the contrary,

many works

of art

which we

all

agree to be of the highest order of excellence,


are distinctly felt to produce these longings
of a dull

and

indefinite sort.

But when we

consider the matter closely,

we
for

see
it is

why no
evident

such rule

is

acknowledged

that these pains will be admissible, in a way,

provided the

observer's

thought

is

thereby

turned in

new

directions of pleasure-getting.

NEGATIVE PEINCIPLES.
It will be admitted, I think, that
it

123
cannot be

the proper aim of an artist to induce strong


cravings, intense desires, fierce passion.
It

cannot be forgotten that as long ago as the days of the Greek supremacy, the power of
artistic

work was

felt

to lie largely in its

capacity to dispel the passions, to purify the


objective through the ideal.

Those art works


unsatisfiable

which evidently induce


longings, as of love
desire for

lesser
pity, or

and

which bring

what

is

unattained or at the moit

ment

unattainable, gain their power,

would
as

seem, not through the pain so


the flow of
-

much

by
is

sympathetic activity which

produced,

or or

by the by the

impulses
revival

which are
of

awakened,

old-time

thoughts which in their wide reaches


ever delightful.
It is

are

in reflection that

we

are most powerfully affected


of art.

by these works

As we,

in revival,

view the mental

state
feel

which was induced by their study, we


the

sympathetic
or

delights

which

give

them worth,

we

see that they brought to

124

AESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

US impulses that
ethical value,

we hold
it

to be

of highest

and which

must always give

us the deepest satisfaction to feel that

we

have possessed.
repression,

With the

bitterest pains of

we contemplate the portrait of one whom we have loved but lost and yet, with the pains, are aroused so many trains of memory which tell of joy, that we return
;

again and again to the contemplation.

We

would not give up the

pains, for without

them were impossible the renewal


deep satisfactions.

of other

But there

is

another point to be brought

forward here to account for the permissibility


of the

guarded use of repression in


of

aesthetic

work

high quality.

A
is

careful study of

algedonic theory will show us that the existence of repressive pains

an indication that

the mental element which fails

would appear
all.

pleasurably

if

it

appeared at

If,

then,

the pains of craving can finally be replaced

by the pleasures

of satisfaction of the crav-

ing, it is apparent that the pains of repres-

NEGATIVE PKIKCIPLES.
sion,

125

within limits,

may

be encouraged by art

workers, for the very sake of the after effects


of pleasure to be obtained.

The pains

of re-

pressed activity indicate, as I have elsewhere

argued, an organic condition of full preparedness, so that


if

action supervenes

it

will bring

the highest degree of pleasure that can be

induced

by the

organ's

activity.

These

repression pains may, therefore, be taken as

an index of pleasure capacity, and we


expect them to be used by the
artist,

may

because

thereby he will gain certainty that the pleasure limits have been attained, and that a full
pleasure will

accompany the action which

is

to follow the repressal.

Dependent as such transformations from


pain to pleasure are upon the succession of
psychic states,

we should

look for notable

practical exemplifications of

them

in arts that

deal especially with


i.e.,

phenomena
literature.

of succession,

in music

and in

In music, we

have example in the delayed resolution of a


chord which
is

allowable even to the point

126
of

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
In literary work, we have

painfulness.

example in those every-day complications of


plot
for,

which delay the consummation longed

and

finally reached.

SchUler, speaking

of tragedy, tells us that " the highest degree

of

moral pleasure cannot make

itself

felt

except in conflict.

It follows, hence, that the

highest degree of pleasure must always be

accompanied by pain."

The

principle

is

one

of wide import in all branches of Esthetics,

and here

think

we have

its
is

basis; for, as

we have
are

seen, organic rest

a most impor-

tant condition of pleasure production.

How
full

we

to

know

that

we have gained

capacity for organic functioning unless

we

wait on the wide systemic pain which comes


after the absorption of
its

energy has reached

maximum?

We
many
of the

have here also the psychologic basis

of

a metaphysical theory of the relation

Ugly

to the Beautiful,

and

of the value

of the presentation of the

Ugly

as

an element

in the Beautiful, as instances of

which we

may

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.

127

note Schlegel's dictum that the principle of

modern
nected
artistic

art can only be found

if

beauty and

the characteristic ugly be indissolubly con;

and Rosenkranz's statement that the


genius finds the highest triumph of

his art
fied,

where he represents the ugly

objecti-

and beauty all-powerful through triumph


evil.

over

Ethical notions and metaphysical

conceptions here lead us

away from psychology

proper, however, and this

we must

avoid.

The most important


for

of all repressive pains

our

consideration,

however, are

those

which

arise

where certain mental elements

often appear in definite relations of succession,

the

usual

order

of

this

appearance

remaining

unfulfilled.

Evidently this class

of repressive pains will not be of infrequent

occurrence in our experience, for they depend

upon combinations
easily alterable,

in varied orders

which are

and which, on the other hand,

are grasped with such difiiculty that

we

in

our weakness

cannot for

moment hope

to be able to avoid the repressive conflicts

128

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.

they engender.
to find

We

should, therefore, expect


of these

some recognition of occurrence

pains and some general attempt at their avoid-

ance in Eesthetic theory and practice.


these pains which

It is

make up
is

the very usual

form of ugliness which


combinational effect of

determined by the
disappointments

many

of expectancy, each painful, in too small a degree, indeed, to be emphatically presented, but

for all that, helping to

make up an aggregate
In one

of undefinable but emphatic disagreeableness.

Let

me

quote from Schiller again.

of his interesting
tells

and suggestive studies he


In other words,
it

us that "beauty can tolerate nothing


if

abrupt nor violent."


object
is

an

to appear beautiful to us

must not

bring to us shocks of any important kind.

The

lines,

the forms, the colours, the sounds,

which we find in nature, resultant as they are


from the influence of cosmic forces in conjunction with growth, bring to us certain arrange-

ments

of

stimuli,

which, though

complex

beyond our power

of analysis,

must mould our

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.

129

nervous system into preparation for the reception of stimuli in corresponding orders

and

arrangements, and

this in psychological

terms

means the production


rise of certain special

of a tendency to the

mental states in special

orders and relations to one another.


If,

then, nature presents to us, as she does,

with relative infrequency, objects which bring


stimuli in relations contrary to those in accord

with which our systems have been moulded,

we

should expect to note just such shocks of

repressive pain as nature's monsters produce

in us, quite apart

from the active pains

(of

aversion or fear, for example) which they

may

superinduce.
it

In our productive work,

clearly

would

be indicative of an intelligence far above that

which we possess
too
often

if

we

did not find ourselves

bringing

about

combinations of

stimuli

which violate the order that nature


us.^

has impressed upon


1

The reader

will

understand from what I have said


a,

elsewhere

how

it is

possible for

person to gain " an ac-

130

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
crowd upon
us.

Illustrations here

All of
of

nature's lines are affected


gravitation.
relative
It

by the power

seems clear to
the

me

that the
as

grace of

suspension-bridge

generally constructed and of the cantilever


truss-bridge
is

principally determined

by the

fact that the catenary curve in the former

case presents to us nature's

pendent form,

while the strutted extensions of the cantilever bring to us other lines than those in

accord with which she has educated us.

As
bring

one's eye follows the lines of the cantilever


truss,

natural

organic

combinations

preparation for action in certain directions.

But the stimuli to these

activities fail

when

the abrupt and rigid lines break off in directions

which nature has never given us; the

shocks of repressive pain that result produce


that sense of discomfort which
calling the

we

express by

work

ugly.

quired taste" (an acquired pleasure capacity)


the end

wMch

will In

make

these unnatural forms not unpleasant

enjoyable through appreciation of


are natural.

and even other values than those which

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.

131
of Niagara,

One who stands by the brink


with
its

ever-flowing lesson in the curves of

gravity, cannot help feeling strongly that the


lines of

the suspension-bridges are in

satis-

factory

harmony with the


makes a

scene, but that the blot

cantilever bridge

upon the landbank.

scape almost as unfortunate as the rigid forms


of the factories built
It

upon the

river's

seems to

me
its

that the beauty of the rocket's

flight is also largely

determined by the subto

mission of
gravity.

movements

the laws

of

The same
visible
lines.

principle

may
of

be recognized in

forms quite apart from their contour

The
figure

relations

the

parts

in

the

human

vary in an indefinite number of

small ways, but any marked disproportion of


parts at once gives us the shock of ugliness.
It is comparatively

seldom that nature brings

these positive shocks, although often the

men

and women we meet show


beauty.

little of

positive

In the creative representations of


is

man, however, nothing

easier

than to pro-

132

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.

duce such misemphasis of relations, and such


unnaturalness that ugliness in whole or in
part
is

induced.
delicate
it

Even more
colours.

are the
strange,"

relations of

"Is

not

a lover of

flowers once said to me, "that nature does

not give ugly combinations of flowers


it

when

is

so easy for us to

combine them in an
"

unsatisfactory

manner ?

This commonplace
doctrine

observation
cussed.

teaches

the

here

dis-

Nature, through the influence of the

prehistoric past, has been our teacher,

and to

we must go to learn what combinations to make use of in our work of rearrangement, and, if we may so speak, of re-creation. If we break away too far from her guidance, we have our punishment in the
nature's colourings

shock of perceived ugliness.

When we

turn to sound relations

we

recog-

nize the disagreeableness of sudden changes

from the habitual movements in music


for example,

if,

some unskilled performer

strikes

an incorrect note in a known progression, or

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.
if

133

the development of a

harmony be broken
prepared to step

by an erroneous chord.
Here we
find

ourselves

away from

nature's

teachings to the more


effort,

complex regions of mental

which
if

de-

pend upon habits

artificially

formed,

we

may
The

so speak, in the process of development.

principle will be recognized as the same,

however, whether the pain be caused by breaks

away from

habitual

combinations, produced
racial,

by nature's wider and


narrow and individual,

or by

more

influences.

The

related forms

which our race through


experience has learned

many

generations of
to

to feel

be most satisfactory, cannot be producing painful


those lines

lightly disturbed without


distraction.

This we

all feel in

on which practice enables us to judge with


discrimination.

The mere novice

objects to

a Gothic window in what purports to be a

"

classic " building.

The more highly edumassed


in Doric propor-

cated student at once revolts against a faade


of Corinthian detail

134

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
Ionic

tions or with
this is

intercolumniation

and

due to the fact that he has learned


special parts

by observation how these

have

been best related by the long study of successive generations in the past.
of one

The work
him

who

disregards this racial experience

brings to the expert a shock, which for

makes

aesthetic delight impossible.

As
the

have noted in the preceding chapter,


principle
all

same

holds with the purist's

judgment in
dent
is all

art work.

The

critical stu-

too apt to create within himself,

artificially,

petty

standards

which

when

shocked give a sense of ugliness sufficiently

predominant to prevent him from appreciating


the wider beauties in the

work

before him.

It

seems to

me

that

that in repressive
source of ugliness,

we have shown clearly pain we have the main and we are led to the
most important
to avoid

conclusion that

it is

pains of repression as preliminary to the pro-

duction of beauty.

NEGATIVE PEINCIPLES.

135

Now

I wish to turn to the consideration of

certain negative laws of

great importance,
principles just dis-

which depend upon the


cussed.

These laws in a number of cases we

shall find to

have been already recognized, but


I

erroneously,

think,

as

positive

teachings

of the contraries of

those principles which

should rightly be emphasized.

We
pitfalls

are all too ready to fall into logical

connected with incorrect use of com-

plementary opposites.
that

Experience
if

tells

us

we must

avoid not x
;

we

are to produce

a beautiful object

x, therefore, is fixed

upon

as the basis of beauty.


It is clear, after

what has

just been said,

that were
basis

we

to start out

from a theoretical

we should

be inclined to hold that our

safest course of procedure

would be to

imitate

nature, sifting out her especial beauties, or

recombining her elements, so that relatively

permanent pleasure would


thus
so

result for us; for

we most
to

easily avoid shocks

which go
fact,
it

far

produce

ugliness.

In

136

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
is

appears that this

what the great mass


of effort do

of artists in almost all lines


to-day,

and what they always have done;

and

it

was

this observation, so far as

we can
upon

judge, that led

many

authorities to look

imitation as so important a principle of art.


It is apparent, however, that imitation is a

means to an end merely, and that


possible to
It

it is

not

make

it

fundamental
that
it
is

for all art.

appears to

me

a principle of

importance rather negatively than positively.


It guides us in the direction in
will be found,

which beauty which


it

and
;

far outside of
it

cannot be found
tive

but that

gives us a posiof
aesthetic

basis

for

the

production

result, I

think untrue, as must be evident to

any one who does not exclude architecture


from the realm of
aesthetics.

Our
from

true

principle

here

is

not imitate

nature, but is this:

avoid radical departures

nature, for such departures

must surely

bring to us the shocks which produce ugliness.

Other examples of the same logically

illicit

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.

137

procedure, and of the consequent misnaming


of principles, are not wanting,

some of which

deserve mention.

Freedom from shocks implies avoidance of inharmonious relations ; and perhaps it is not
surprising that the observation of this should

have raised harmony to the dignity of a


principle, notwithstanding that the

first

most cur-

sory examination must

show any unprejudiced

person that

we

are fairly enveloped in a world


aesthetic result

of harmonies, at
all.

which give us no

So,

again, uselessness, unfitness, abnormal

departure

from

type,

must be eliminated

if

painful shocks are to be avoided; and with-

out such avoidance no effect of beauty can be


obtained.

From

this source, it

seems to me,

have arisen the doctrines of the relation to


the aesthetic of usefulness, of the importance
of fitness, of the necessity of conformity to
type.

It is true, indeed, that

no egregious
standards,

de-

partures

from

our

typical

no

138

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
unfitness in the object presented, nor
of qualities

marked

any emphases
useless, are

which are hurtfully

possible without producing this


it
is

pain.

But

as far as possible

from the

truth to hold that departures from normal

types within limits are non-aesthetic.


contrary,
it is

On

the

just such departures that

add

piquancy to much which we admire.


It is equally

misleading to argue that the


is

non-useful cannot be beautiful, or, as

more

often the case, to overestimate the importance


of the recognition of the useful in given aesthetic fields.

So far as the useful can be conit is

sidered as a positive priuciple,

covered by

the principle of the summation of associative


pleasures,

which we

shall presently consider.

Perceived usefulness has

often

been made
Usefulin
se,

an

essential point in

architecture.

ness truly becomes

more important
not, however,

this

than in other arts

per

but

through the strong emphasis of the painfulness of each useless feature

which
It is

exists to

the detriment of the whole.

not improb-

NEGATIVE PKINCIPLES.
able that the superior pleasure obtained

139

from

ancient

works

of

architecture

is

in

some

degree due to the fact that they have lost


their

capacity to shock through opposition

to the immediate needs.

The

limitations of

human
this

capacity are so great that shocks of

kind are forced upon us in every newly

constructed building,
tinct purpose,

made

to serve

some

dis-

however great be the

skill of

the designer.

To

be sure, each use


of

may add

to the complex pleasures

activities asso-

ciated with the

use,

and these

associative

pleasures will be cut off in disappointment


pains,

when
;

the lack of this usefulness


it is

is

noticed

but here again

the non-aesthetic
aesthetic

effect of the non-useful, effect of

and not the


tells,

the useful, which

and which

forms the basis of the so-called principle.

Mr. Spencer also holds, as Emerson held


before him, that the useful tends to become
beautiful
;

but so far as this

is

true, it is not
se.

because of the usefulness per

It seems

much more

naturally explicable as one of the

140

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
of habit;
for, as is

phenomena

well

known

in a great class of cases, activities

which have

become habitual gain for themselves pleasure


capacities,

either

directly

or

associatively.

Another point made by Mr. Spencer serves to


illustrate

our contention.

Style, he thinks,

depends upon the reduction of friction to a

minimum
this is

in the chosen vehicle.

But surely

merely a negative priuciple,

con-

dition preliminary to the use of those satis-

factory forms which

mark a good
artist

style

in

whatever material the

works.

If the reader will allow

me

another

illus-

tration of

my

contention from the works of

Mr. Spencer, I think one

may

be found in

that treatment of gracefulness, adopted by

him, which

makes

its

delights

dependent
this

upon adaptation
adaptation
that
field.
is
is,

to ends.
of

Grace without
unattainable,

course,

but
its

merely a negative description of


If Spencer's position

were

correct,

we

should be compelled to grant the quality of


gracefulness to a perfectly ordered machine,

KEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.

141

and to shut out most important elements


which, have
e.g.,

no relation

to fitness

whatever

the delight which

we

gain from those

flowing curves which our retentiveness pictures for us in

and through movements, the

sympathetic pleasures which Schiller has described as dependent

upon "beauty
freedom,"

of

form which

under the influence of


appearance of the
strife

without

and

conflict

willed actions entail; and


to leave out of

we should be forced account many other elements


direction, it

of associative worth.

Turning in another

appears

that the doctrine which makes the expression


of

truth an essential principle of art has a

similar negative basis.


arts, is

Untruth, in

all
;

the

a source of great dissatisfaction

but

this

merely gives us the negative principle


it

avoid untruth!
for

gives

no ground whatever
that the
pre-

the teaching of realism


artist

eminent aim of the


expression of truth.

should

be

the

With

architectural forms, better education

142

AESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
natural
action
of

teaches the observer the

constructional elements, and brings about uneasiness unless there


is

evidence of their con-

sideration in the building-up of the masses


it is

natural, therefore, that

we

find the prin-

ciple of

"truth" constantly reiterated as an


valuable
;

especially
338 the tics
is

dictum of

architectural

but for

all that,

the real principle

the " avoidance of untruth."

Here

v^e

may mention
as

the

demand

for

repose in architecture and in the plastic arts


in

general

another

negative

principle,

founded in this case upon our appreciation of


nature's law of gravity.
;

Repose per

se will
it,

not bring us aesthetic joy


the cases
cited,

but without

in

beauty cannot be reached.


felt

The

building
figure

must be
must

as stable,

the
or

human

" stand
it

upon

its feet,"

be poised in a position

could occupy in
;

nature without contiaued strain


conditions

but these

may well

be fulfilled without result

of aesthetic

moment.

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.
Let
again.

143

me

illustrate this general point once


is

Growth

a law of nature.
see forms

Everyof

where around us we

which ar^

marked type

indeed, but which present evi-

dences of developing change in non-essentials.

Art works which present evidence of such

growth gain great power through


thetic

sympa-

harmony with nature and with our

own

developing selves.
life,

The evidence

of this

verisimilitude of

perhaps unanalyzed and

not definitely recognized, probably adds much,


for

example, to the

attractiveness

of

the

Gothic cathedral, and emphasizes the poetry


of the strvictures of

Northern

Italy.

Musical

forms also are especially


these living effects.

fertile in

producing

Music which

is

mechani-

cally produced can never give full satisfaction.

But surely

it

is

not in evidence that the


life

expression of growth or of

can be held

to be the fundamental in aesthetics, as

some

would have us
effects

believe.

At the most, the


representation
of

produced

by the

144

iESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

these qualities can be but an adjunct to other

means

of

impression.

For certain people,

however,

who become accustomed to look for them, they may be demanded when absent,
for the purpose of eliminating a paiaful need,

and may thus become for them necessary


to aesthetic result.

This, however, shows no

proof that they are the essential to aesthetic


effect in general.

The

unities

which the

Greeks made so

essential in the

development of the drama

gain their force negatively, for without such


unities distractions

must be

felt

from the

line

of thought in
hearer.

which the poet would guide


this
is

his

That

true

is

shown by the

lessened

demand
in the

felt for

the unities of time

and place

drama

of

modern times

for,

through historical study, the grasp of eras


has become as
dividual lives
;

common

to-day as that of in-

and, with us, movements from

place to place, widely separated, are matters


of usual occurrence.


NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.
Let US

145

now

turn from the consideration

of the avoidance of repressive pains to the

second division of our principle as relating


to pain
J

that

is

to

(B)

The Avoidance of Pains of Excessive


Functioning.

So important

is this

avoidance that works

of art are in all cases developed

on

lines in
little

which excesses
difficulty.

may

be shunned with

So soon as the work of the

artist

begins to tire us

from

its

we must be able to turn away consideration. The stimulus given

must

directly or indirectly be under our con-

trol, so

that

we may

grasp the opportunity

for

enjoyment when, and only when, we are in

the

mood
is

for the special pleasures involved.

There

no more certain manner of destroy-

ing our appreciation of any special art work


that
is,

of

making it

non-sesthetic for us
it

than
are

by compelling attention to
weary

when we

in the direction of its peculiar stimulus.

146

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
tlie

Here we have a lesson for


the young.

teacher of

As we have
sive

seen, a certain class of repres-

pains are naturally avoided, and. with

pains of hypernormal activity nature aids us


also very materially, for

we tend

automatiof

cally to
attention.

prevent excess by the

shifting

Concentration and permanence of

attention

upon one subject are certain


;

to be-

come
reflex

speedily painful
effort

indeed, because of the

towards

avoidance,

they are,

strictly

speaking,

impossible

under normal
of a cultivated
artifice of

conditions, except
habit,

by means

and then only through the

" looking around the subject," so to speak


of allowing the various details to be viewed in the mental focus without letting

go the

primal theme which


trains.

is

held in associative

As avoidance

of pains of this type is


it

comparatively easy and almost automatic,


is

natural to find that theoretic consideration


less

has dealt

with them than with those

re-

pressive pains, not naturally avoided,

which

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.

147

are the result of unexpectedly encountered pitfalls,

only to be missed by

much
is

prevision.

That excesses must be shunned


granted.

taken for

This

is

the principle involved in

the oft-repeated Aristotelian emphasis of the


necessity of

adopting a

mean between

ex-

tremes.

Taking the realm

of

pain

as

a whole,

we may

state our principle as that of

"the
at

avoidance of the ugly," as

we have done
It
is

the opening of this section.

by

this

process that the artist gains the

broad back-

ground which he must win before he can


realize his ideal of beauty.

His results must

give

many

a pleasurable element, and, as

we

shall presently see,

some

special points of in-

tense interest, but he cannot hope to

make

the wide mental field which his

work

arouses

altogether pleasurable; the most that he can

hope for
of

is

that

it

shall be devoid of elements

possible
It
is

painfulness.
this

in

direction

that

the

science

148
of
cBsthetics

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
will

always produce
Its

its

most

valuable

effects.

work

for

art

must
If

always be to a great extent negative.


it

teach us

what have been the

principles
it

which advancing art has shown,

is

to

enable the artist of our time to avoid carelessly putting out effort in directions

opposed

to these principles

which without being recogthe artist in the past.


relation

nized have
If
it

guided

show us some necessary


that he

of

the
it is

phenomena with which the

artist deals,

may

learn not to waste effort

in vain

endeavour to treat his subjects in a


to these necessities.

manner contrary
tions of bone

The

anatomist teaches the artist what the rela-

and muscle and tendon are in


framework, so that with help

the physical

from
his

this source of

knowledge he

may

create

ideal

form without the

dissatisfactions
false ana-

which go with the presentation of


tomical relations.

The mathematician teaches

perspective, that the artist

may naturally avoid


anti-perspective er-

what would be disturbing

NEGATIVE PRINCIPLES.
rors, into

149
enthu-

wMch

he miglit

fall in his

siastic concentration

upon the expression of

his ideal.

Science

in

truth

must always
leads,

follow

where creative genius


direction
it is

in

whatever
all

developed;

but for

that,

science

has

most valuable
art.

function

to

perform in relation to

The
us to
is

importance of

this

elimination

of

the ugly which scientific sesthetics enables

make

will be

acknowledged when
interest

it

considered that special

in

the

work
work.
will

of art as at first presented

may

very
the

easily blind

one to

many

elements in

If these latter are displeasing,

they

become

effective

to cast the

work out

of the realm of sesthetics as soon as the in-

tenser interests pall

upon

us.

All

men

naturally follow out the general


discussed,

maxim
nations
artistic

here

and

it

is

to a great

extent through accumulation of such elimiof

ugliness

that our standards

of

excellence

have been reached.

On

150
general

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
lines

the

bad has been

sifted

out

or allowed

to

fall into

the background as

time
tiful

has

passed,
left

and the noble and beauunaltered because


it

has been
felt

has

been

to

be too satisfactory to require

change.

Most

of us are

wont thoughtlessly

to look

back at the architectural forms of Greece as


the creation of her golden
clear age.

But

it

is

to

the

student

that

those

splendid

achievements embody the thought of

many

generations, and even of diverse races, rather

than that of a special era of a few generations' continuance.

Generation after genera-

tion

had
built

felt

the same needs in their worship,


rebuilt temples as their inferior

had

and

materials

and workmanship, or
forces
of

the

more
com-

actively destructive
pelled.

nature,
it

Each new work had made

possible
dis-

to eliminate

some form which had been


some
results

pleasing in the last effort, to alter some unsatisfactory surface, to change


deficient

shadow depth.

In the

final

we

see

NEGATIVE PEINCIPLES.

151

the record of untold endeavour towards the

attainment

of

beauty,

mainly

successful

because time and experiment have effected


the complete elimination of the ugly.

The

growth
better

of Gothic forms, of

which we have

knowledge,

tells

the

same
;

story of

experiment and partial failure


effort

of

renewed

with avoidance of the elements which


the last

made

work

unsatisfactory

untU we

reach the glory of the best Gothic, less perfect

than the Greek indeed, as

it

expressed the
less unity of

demand
feeling,

of a race impelled

by

and as

its

growth was forced within

the relatively short period of perhaps a thou-

sand years.

Too great
experiment

difficulty of

applying eliminative

may

indeed be looked upon as a

bar to development.

The Egyptians,

to

whom

the expression of permanence seems to have

given the greatest satisfaction, built in such

ponderous material and so durably that change


of

form for them was a matter of far greater


than with the Greeks, whose mate-

difficulty

152
rials

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
were
less

permanent and mucli more

easily

worked.

TMs

difference

doubtless

accounts largely for the fact that

we

find

Greece in a relatively short time gaining possession of such a flower of architectural art

as

had

failed to spring

from the stem that


comfort for

had grown

for

long ages in the climes of


It is

Northern Africa.

no

little

us in these restless times to see

how few

of

our buildings are constructed to endure in the


future.
If,

with our changing needs,

we have
art,

little ability to

develop an architectural

at least our descendants will not fear to sweep

the greater part of our the earth.

work from the


these

face of

The

possibility of

making

elimina-

tions is curtailed

by everything which tends

to emphasize fixity.

The

rules of the schools,

valuable as aids to the student, always carry

with them the danger of repression of " the


elimination of ugliness."
of

Note how the rules

counterpoint stood ia opposition to the


;

development of music

how the

establishment

NEGATIVE PRIKCIPLES.
of the "orders" in

153

Roman

architecture struck

the

life

out of the Greek architectural develdictionary


of

opment; how the


natural

thwarts
in

the
lan-

development

euphony

guage.

We
in our

see the

main

principle enunciated again

own

times and in our

own homes.
our homes

Comparatively few of us can

fill

with objects that remain for


friends,

us, or for

our
be
is

permanently beautiful.

We may

able to have a
all.

Still

gem we may
lies

here or there, but that

avoid

"shocks," and in
of the

that avoidance
cultivated

much

power of a

mind

in architect or householder.

To
into

this is

surely due the beauty that grows

the homes of

those whose

culture

is

handed down with the buUding that passes


from one generation of refined
another.

people
to

to

The
are

inhabitants

learn

brush
lines

away the " shocks."


and
lines

The inharmonious
the

forms

covered;

harmonious

and forms are retained; gradually and

unwittingly they mould their surroundings

154

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
;

to relations whicli do not clash

and in

such,

an environment the smallest beauties


In looking over other art
fields,

tell.

where the
per-

medium
manent
aside

of expression has been in less

material,

it is difl&cult

to realize

how
cast

much work has been done which has been


because of
inferior

worth, has

been
lost.

allowed to deteriorate, and thus has been


It

were much more


is

difficult

did

we not
far

realize

that our race

in the

main not

removed

from those that time has swept away before


us,

and did we not

see this process of producto-

tion

and elimination going on around us


Practically

day.

a vast proportion of the


in the great galleries of
aes-

pictures preserved

Europe have been eliminated from the


thetic.

We

go to these vast treasuries to


;

study a few pieces of work


passed by as
if

all

the others are


If

they did not exist.

we

could reproduce the sudden barbaric intrusions


of the past,
it is

easy to see that the few preto value

cious

gems which time has taught us


off to

supremely would be hurried

places of

NEGATIVE PEINCIPLES.
safety, while all else

155
elimi-

might readily be

nated by vandal destruction or neglect.

It

is

evident, of course, that the attainment


in itself will not

of

an unpainful background

suflBce

to bring about aesthetic result.

Not

only must the artist avoid pain in indifference,

but before gaining the pleasure-field he must

move beyond
ever,

this field of indifference.

This

brings us to our second division, which, how-

ence,

we may as we all

pass over lightly, for indifferrecognize,

may

be avoided only
Pain,

in the directions of pain as

and pleasure.

we have
artist.

just seen, is also to be avoided

by
is,

the

The attainment

of

pleasure

therefore, the only

means by which we can


direction

step

away from

indifference in a

that will be not unaesthetic, and

we

are there-

fore at once brought to the consideration of

the positive field of aesthetics, to which

we

turn in the next chapter.

CHAPTER

VI.
H.

ALGEDONIC -ESTHETICS.

Positive Esthetic Principles.

In

tlie

chapter which has preceded this

we

have considered the prelimiaary steps that

must be taken by the

artist

the attainment of beauty,

who aims towards and now we must

try to discover the positive laws which lead to


effectiveness in aesthetic endeavour, or, in the

words of our
the
the

aesthetic theory,

must look

for
to

means and methods that are necessary

production of a pleasure-fidd which shall


It will be convenient

he relatively permanent.

in our discussion to treat separately (1st) the

production of pleasure

itself,

before consider-

ing (2d) the means adopted in the attempt


to reach permanency of pleasure-field.
156

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

157

I.

First, then, as to the production of pleas-

ure.

We

have already seen that pains are

practically produced in
also with our pleasures cally produced in

two ways, and


;

so

it is

they, too, are practi-

two ways, and are consedivided into


first,

quently
classes.

naturally

two

great

We

have,

the pleasures which

arise

with rest after


;

strain,

with

relief

from

pain

and, second, those that arise in conin

nection with active functioning,

connec-

tion with vigorous, healthful exercise of our


faculties.

The pleasures

of rest after labour, or relief


seen, although

from pain, as we have already

really to be considered as a subclass

under the

pleasures of activity, are in practice separable

from them, because they are reached in practice


is

by

distinct methods.

Unquestionably, use

made of them in the arts that deal with phenomena of succession. It is no slight pleasure, for instance, that we obtain in music

158

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
restful

by the introduction of a calm,

move-

ment following upon a

train of intense

and

vigorous passages calling for our active attention.

But, on the whole, these pleasures do

not form an element of marked importance in


aesthetic

work, and especially for the reason

that they are so dependent upon the existence


of,

and are usually

so inseparably connected

with, anterior pains.


fore,

We may

pass on, theredi-

without further examination in this

rection, to the consideration of the pleasures

connected with the vigorous exercise of our


faculties.

In our second chapter we saw that the

rela-

tion of rest to pleasure seems to teach us that

pleasure

is

due to a use of surplus stored force

which has been accumulated in the organ

which

is

called into activity in coincidence

with the element of


pleasant.

consciousness that

is

Now
and
if

there are several

means by which

this

use of surplus energy

may

be brought about,

the hedonic aesthetic theory be true,

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

159

the study of these means should lead us to


the recognition of certain principles of
thetics
aes-

which depend solely upon these means


These
evi-

adopted in the production of pleasure.


several

methods of pleasure production

dently

may be

used at one and the same time,

but

it is

desirable for us here to treat

them

in isolation.
First,

we

should expect that a mental

ele-

ment which has often


but which has
for

arisen in consciousness,

some time been absent,


it

would bring pleasure when

does appear;

and

this because its organic coincident will be

rested

and vigorous and because there

will

therefore result a use of surplus energy


it

when
easily

does act.

Examples

of

this

will

occur to the reader; the taste of sugar, to

which we have become accustomed, but of

which we for a time have been deprived


under medical advice
face of a friend
;

the appearance of the

daily

who has ordinarily been a companion, but who has been away from

us for some unusual time.

160

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.
principle of aesthetics here presented

The
is

the principle of contrast.

Contrast in any

region of mental effect involves the presence


of

mental elements that have not been in


It involves

consciousness in the late past.

the

action

of

organs that have not been

active during the immediately preceding

moin

ments.

Gradations

in

sense

effect

or

thought transitions are mental movements,

which imply the gradual coming into action


of the organs

which are successively the cenContrast eliminates


the
rest
all gra-

tres of activity.

dations

it

involves

action of

organs,

which through mere

have become well

prepared for activity, and which, therefore,

produce pleasurable activity

when
is

stimulated.

That contrast

is

an important means to the


recognized by

attainment of aesthetic effect


all
;

indeed,

it is

not infrequently overvalued,


calls it

e.g.,

by Mr. Herbert Spencer, who


requisite

an

essential

to

all

beauty.

But our

theory would teach that contrasts are not


aesthetic
essentials, because

pleasure can be

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

161

reached without contrast by mere increase


of vividness, as
all that, it

we

shall presently see.

For
prin-

must be granted that the


the widest
application,

ciple

is

of

and a

most available one for the guidance of the


artist.

It

must be

noted,

however, that

very strong contrasts cannot be used without


the greatest caution
fects,
;

they give powerful

ef-

but efEects that are rapidly exhaustive,


therefore,

and,

they

must
refer

in
later

general

be

avoided.

To
let

this

we

under the

consideration of permanency.

Now

us consider a second means of

pleasure production closely allied to the one


just studied.
is

When

a mental element which


is

often occurring in certain connections


i.e., is

inhibited, as they say technically,

pre-

vented in some manner from arising in consciousness, then

upon its reappearance we

shall

have

it

pleasurably presented because, by the


its

very process of the inhibition of


activity,

organ's
stored
force
is

surplus

energy

has

been

up

in this latter

and

this

surplus

162
called out

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

when
in

the organ again acts.


this

We
we

have already discussed


production
the

form of pleasure

last

chapter, where
it is

showed why and to what extent


sible to

permis-

encourage repressive pains in aesthetic


these repressive paias are due to

effects, for

the inhibitions

saw that these


they serve as

we now speak of. We there pains may be allowed, because an index of the fact that we
of

have reached the limit

highest pleasure-

getting in connection with the mental element

which

will appear

when

the repression disap-

pears; with this disappearance of repression

the mental state which has been repressed


recurs with full pleasure.

As we then

said,

"Dependent

as

such

transformations from

pain to pleasure are upon the succession of


psychic states,

we

should look for notable

practical exemplifications of

them

in arts that

deal especially with


i.e.,

phenomena
literature.

of succession,

in music

and in

In music we

have example in the delayed resolution of a


chord which
is

allowable even to the point

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.
of painfulness.

163

In literary work we have

example in those everyday complications of


plot
for,

which delay the consummation longed

and

finally reached."

The
arise,

principle

under

discussion
direction.

becomes
If

important in

another

there
of

by suggestion from the expressions


of

another, trains

thought which are nortrains,

mally connected with other secondary


but
if

by skUful management the arousal

of

these secondary trains be prevented, then

we

have a condition of

artificial inhibition

which

will result in pleasure-getting

whenever the

secondary trains are allowed to appear.


Such,
it

seems to me,

is

the process in the

delicate play of wit.

In what

is

" usually called the " ludicrous

we

also use this

means
of

of pleasure produc-

tion,

although
is

much

the effect in such

cases
in

dependent upon sudden transitions,


ordinary association, from
effort to

the lines of

mental processes which involve


habitual
processes

more

where the same energy

164

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
effects;
i.e.,

will produce greater

hypemorpresently

mal

stimulation,

which we

shall

discuss

more fuUy.
this sub-

Of course, we can but touch upon


ject here
;

but I think

it

can be shown that

while other sources of pleasure-getting are

made

use of in various ways, together with


is

the action above described, this latter


characteristic

the

movement

in

what
it

is

usually

called the "ludicrous";

and

seems to

me
at-

that

it

serves

tions of

the

weU many

to harmonize the opposi-

thinkers
this

who have
state.

tempted analysis of

mental

Those

cases of the ludicrous


little

which seem to involve

except surprise are explicable on the

ground that the surprise involves attention

and expectation

of important

outcome

when
is

the unimportance of the object or action

per-

ceived, the relaxation of attention results in

the same powerful overflow into the channels


of ordinary activity.

The easy and marked


is

" step from the sublime to the ludicrous "


also thus explicable, as is also the

enjoyment

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

165

we

receive

when we

see a dignified person

suddenly take up the actions characteristic


of purposeless childhood,

as

when a man's
such transieffort

hat

is

suddenly carried away by the wind.

It cannot be claimed that all


tions,

from mental processes involving


where the same energy
effect,

to others

will produce

greater

as

are

above described are

ludicrous, for thought trains of discovery

and

invention are not infrequently of this nature,

and

to

them

surely the

word "ludicrous"
seems to

cannot be applied.
tell

Introspection

me, however, that the mental conditions

in the

two

cases are very closely allied.

We

have a tendency under such circumstances to


laugh, or at least to smile, under the pleasurable excitement; and

we

occasionally speak
I

of the resultant as a " happy thought."

am

inclined to think that the difference, at first

one of degree rather than of kind, has become

marked because the more emphatic and


state produced in us

fuller

by what we term the

"ludicrous"

has

become indissolubly con-

166

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

nected witli what

Kant

describes

as

"the

sudden transformation of a tense expectation


into nothing."

And now
proper.

to return to the subject of wit

The

wit,

properly

speaking, plays

around his subject, avoiding the more usual

outcome of the train

of his thought, but lead-

ing that of his hearer close to this normal


resultant, until,

when

it

may

be supposed

that all the organs connected with the nor-

mal outcome are

fully prepared for action,

he

turns the thought train in the direction which


is

effective for pleasure.

The stimulation

of

the well-nourished organs, which the previous


inhibition

had thus involved,

is

followed by

the burst of pleasure-giving


irradiates the system,

activity

which
sur-

and expands

its

plus

energy in the pleasurable exercise of

laughter.

These exercises of laughter are

pleasurable in such cases because they, too,

involve the action of rested organs.


serious aspect of things,

The more

from which we turn to

the perception of the ludicrous, involves par-

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.
tial if

167

not total quiescence in

all

those organs

which are notably active when we laugh.

Puns and plays upon words give delight


misunderstandings

in

the same way, as do also the delicious verbal


of

children.

My

little

daughter once asked what

was meant by

Anglo-Saxon, and having been told that the

word

indicated a

mixed race descended from

Angles and Saxons, she answered, "Well, I


suppose I shall understand
it

some day;

have not yet come to Saxons in

my

geometry,

but I have studied about angles."


tained no delight in the saying.
teners, however, the sound angle

She oblis-

For the

had brought

about readiness for activity in the organs of

many

trains of thought connected with geo;

metrical forms

but the added term Saxon


in

had kept the attention completely


directions
;

other

when

the thought was turned to

the geometrical trains, however, by the child's

naive remark, the well-prepared organs re-

sponded with pleasurable consciousness.


It

must ever be remembered, however, that

168

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

the wit and he

who

deals with the ludicrous

tread on dangerous ground.

The clown

perdis-

chance

may

not cause laughter, but

may

appoint us so painfully that irritation results.

Apart from the danger that the witticism


cut too deep, there
repressed activity
is

may

the danger that the


force itself
it is

may

upon the

attention of the hearer before

designed to

appear.

In this case the course of thought


is

which

intended to lead up to the latter

becomes obstructive to the known resultant,

and the consequence wiU be a sense of weariness


;

this is exemplified, for instance, in the

" flatness " of old jokes.

Further, there

is

the

danger that the play around the subject


develop trains of so

may

much
to

interest that the

change of thought
ful

will produce a

shock power-

and painful enough

overbalance the

pleasure led

up

to.

We

all realize

how

dan-

gerous

it

is

to treat lightly subjects

which

may

be of sacred interest to others.


third

means

of

pleasure attainment

is

found in mere vividness of presentation after

POSITIVE PEINCIPLES.

169
sur-

normal absence from consciousness, the

plus stored force being brought into use simply

by unusually powerful
efl&cient

activity of normally

organs.
is

Vividness of impression

a well-recognized
result

means
tinctly,

of producing

aesthetic

in

its

cruder form.

Barbaric art shows this

dis-

and the art

of the masses, even in our

day, makes use of the same means.

Vivid

colouring and contrasts, startling forms and

combinations, vivacious rhythms, loudness of

sound as in martial music

all

these are com-

mon tools

for the popular artist.

But we here

tread on ground dangerous to permanency;


for hypernormal activity, as

we have

seen,

is

the basis of pain as well as of pleasure,


pleasure which
is

and

determined by this alone

must be

of a very

ephemeral character.
is

The
if

surplus stored force

soon used up, and


activity

the

unusually

vigorous

continues pain

must

result.

So

it

happens that in the higher


of producing assthetic

art this crude


effect is

means

not prominent.

170

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

In a more delicate form, however, we do


find
it

of service to higher art in the stimulaof the

tion

by varied means

same

activities at

the same time, thus producing the vividness

which goes with hypernormal

stimulation.

The

principle here involved is that of " har-

mony"
which

or the "unification of the manifold,"

is

widely recognized as of the highest


aesthetics.

importance in
the existence of

Harmony implies some common quality in two


were not over-emphasized

diverse mental objects.


If this principle

by high

authorities, it

would be unnecessary
al-

perhaps to call attention to the fact that,

though wide in

its

bearings,

it

cannot be uniFechner,

versal as the cause of all beauty.

who

certainly

makes as much

of the

"imity

of the manifold

"as

is

legitimate, acknowl-

edges this (see p. 42 of his Vorschule, where

he mentions several instances to which


not possible to give this explanation).

it

is

We are

evidently surrounded by appearances of unity


in manifoldness that do not impress us with

POSITIVE PBINCIPLES.

171

sufficient pleasure to give the objects produc-

ing them the quality of beauty, the slight


pleasure which they give being overwhelmed.

On

the other hand,

peal to us in

many beautiful objects apwhich we can trace no distinct


Esthetic
effect,

element of this unification.


indeed, as

we

shall see, implies

more than
can

the vague gentle pleasure which the unity


of the manifold, as
it

usually appears,

produce.

The
of

principle of duplication of stimulations,


of the manifold
less,
is

which the unity


is,

a spe-

cial instance,

none the

a most imporSully says

tant one for aesthetics.

As Mr.

" To wake up to a resemblance between two


things hitherto kept apart in the

mind

is

always an

agreeable experience "

and again,

"The

feeling of satisfaction

which accompa-

nies the full reinstatement of the idea or idea-

complex

arises

from the

identification of this

with the partially developed representation


that has been present throughout the process."

Throughout the whole

field

of

the

172

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
aesthetics,

"higher"

i.e.,

of

that

which

deals with the delights arising


delicate

from the more


thought,

play of

mood and

this

means
tant.

of pleasure production is

most impor-

On
by

the whole, I think

it

must be granted
is

that the mass of aesthetic pleasures

reached

slightly vivid presentations in varied direc-

tions, but, as it

has just been noted, this very

vividness leads to loss of pleasure.


shall pleasure

How
is

then
our

permanency be reached,

natural query, and this furnishes the subject-

matter of our second division.

II.

We

have already noted three points


of

(1st)

that vividness

impression

is

an impor-

tant soiu'ce of pleasure-getting, but (2d) that

the avoidance of continuity of vivid presentation of


if

any one
is

set of

elements

is

a necessity
clear (3d)

pain

to be avoided.

But

it is

that the shifting to avoid continuity brings

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.
about
those
conditions where absence

173
of

mental element from consciousness for an


unusual time,
suffices to
If,

make
then,

it

pleasurable

when
if

it

appears.
is

permanent

pleasure-field

to be reached, a vivid "focus,"

we may be allowed
must
shift

to use this term,

is

im-

portant in our
focus
this

field of consciousness,

but this

from element to element, and


involves

shifting

itself

new means

of

pleasure-getting.

In general, therefore,

we

may

say that the conditions of pleasure per-

manence are the shifting of a focus in consciousness over a wide pleasure-field.

Let us

consider each of these divisions more fully in


reverse order.

Width of
direction

Field.

Pleasure
we
is

in

any

one
the

being

essentially

ephemeral,

only means by which

are able to ensure

permanence of pleasure

by having open
change the

before us wide opportunities to

content of our thought.


seen,
it is first

As we have already
states should be non-

of all essential that the fulness

of our

complex mental

174
painful
;

ESTHETIC PKINCIPLES.
it

then becomes important to see


elements
of

that

many
of

the

complex are
This
are
is

capable

developing

pleasure.

important not

only because

we

thus

enabled to shift the focus of attention with


little

risk of painf ulness, but especially because

a multiplicity of

simultaneous effects thus


Lotze,
as

becomes

possible.

he

views his

consciousness, tells us that the aesthetic effect

"

is

notably (but not exclusively) bound to

simultaneousness and multiplicity of impression."


It
is

thus that the artist

groups
of

together

as

large

a number

of

means

pleasurable

stimulation as he can combine

without

conflict.

He

endeavours to use at the

same time
men.
tion,

arts of ear

and

sight,

and those

which depict more directly the

activities of

The

difiiculty
is

of such wide combina-

however,

very great, and he more often


;

deals with narrower fields

but always does he

use every device which

may draw into the field


which are
some-

of suggestion all associative factors

not inharmonious, and which

may add


POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.
thing to the pleasures given.
disdain
if

175
does not

He

any element, however

likely to pall,

he

is

able to leave our thought free to turn


is

elsewhere as soon as the pleasurable effect


gone.

The suggestion
avoids

of sense pleasures he

uses, but

the

actual

sense

stimulus

under conditions that

may

lead to excess or

bring painful results in revival.

He

aims to

bring into play the imagination which carries

one on from height to height in pleasuregiving


flight.

It is this direction of

effort

which leads Lessing

to call for

an incomplewhich

tion of detail in the artist's work, that the

imagination
its

may have room


effects.

in

to

work
a
for

expansive

We

look thus for


;

fulness of non-fulfilment of exact detail

an avoidance of
type portrayal.
to stir

strictness

of

realism

for

The

artist,

moreover, aims
of pyschic
life,

up those vague regions

the elements of which we can scarcely grasp,

the regions usually termed " emotional."

He

produces in his observer an aesthetic horizon

which Guyau has interpreted, wrongly I think,

176
as

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
the
essential
;

characteristic

of

sestlietic

pleasure

that " irradiation " which seems to

have a centre in some sense impression, but

which works
connected with

effects
it,

in

all

mental regions
small intensity,
is

effects of so

of such rapidly shifting content, that there


little

of

it

but the vagueness of an aurora.


effects

The

artist

cannot undervalue even the


of his

of admiration

own

skill;

for

though

the pleasure gained thus

is

for a few,

and

perhaps only for his fellow-workers, for them


it is if

not a small pleasure-giving element, and

his

work holds the admirer by


so

this

means
is

but a
that

moment longer, work effective.


field

much

the more

Breadth of
foci implies
it is

without the emphasis of

a widely divided attention which


us
to
consider.

important for

The
in

recognition of

the existence

of

field

the percipient lacking in definiteness of attention has, indeed, not infrequently led to

over-emphasis of the receptive state, of the


passive conditions, for art effect;

too

little


POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

177

account being taken of the reactive elements


involved.

These

latter,

however, do, in

fact,

make up a
and
others,

large part of the sesthetic com-

plex, as our later aestheticians, Sully,

Guyau,
dis-

do not
in

fail

to in
his

recognize
his zeal

tinctly.

Guyau,

fact,

to

force

the

recognition

of

view,

makes

himself appear, some will doubtless think, to

take an extreme view on the other

side,

to over-emphasize the active element.

Any work

of art

which tends to

raise

marked attention
that

in one line necessarily ex-

cludes pleasurable psychoses in other lines, in


it

lowers the effect of these other presen-

tations or revivals as components of conscious-

ness at the time.

A work

of art, in

which the
is

elements are so balanced that the observer

kept in a state of nicely divided and

still

of constantly shifting pleasurable attention,


will produce the

most widespread, the most

voluminous, even though not the most vivid,


pleasure.

The power
N

of music

is

often clearly aided

178

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
its indefiniteness, its

by

" dreaminess," as

we

call it;

and

it

seems to

me

that the great

strength of the masters of music has lain in


their ability to

widen the

field of

pleasure

by the means under

consideration.

In such

a complex art as the


of reaching this balance

opera, the difl&culty


is

very great.

An

operatic composer of inferior

power

will not

be able to prevent a frequent diversion of


attention with consequent
loss

of

fulness.

Now

one finds one's


to the

self

watching the stage

effects

exclusion of the music, and

again listening to the music with closed eyes,

with no thought of the action.


pression obtained

In the im-

from the best work, some on

of Wagner's, for instance, I find myself,

the other hand, very often lost in the totality.

All particulars seem to be forgotten in the


general effect
;

the stage actions are not sep;

arately emphatic

the suggestion to note


is

dis-

tinctly the " motifs "

an intrusion.

The

crudeness in respect to finer play of thought

and emotion, which the plot in

his

operas

POSITIVE PEINCIPLES.
shows,
is

179

probably necessary to their power.


of

The strong development


would doubtless act
wide
It
totality.
is,

"plot interest"

as a detriment to the

perhaps, in part the unconscious rec-

ognition of this principle of diffusion of attention

which leads to the popular opinion that


is

the critical spirit


tivity I
is
j

fatal to

assthetic recepis

and

in one sense this

true,

although

am

free to confess to the belief that

what

lost to the critic in

width of

field
is

by the
largely

concentration of the critical view

gained in the region of intellectual play.


the
critic

To

who knows

his subject well this

actually prevents his satiety, overcomes the

danger of distaste for works with which he

must be

over-familiar,
his

although,

perhaps,
less

communication of
well equipped
pleasure,
field,

thought to others

may

in

some cases mar

their

by

reducing the breadth of pleasure-

without compensation in other directions.


of field has its dangers too, for

But width
it

makes easy the

shifting of one's thought

180

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
lines of

upon
this

pain-giving.

An

example of

has already been given in another con-

nection,

where

I called attention to the fact

that the tone of voice, or anything which


indicates
critic, will

the

animus of

the

describer

or

frequently change an aesthetic into

a non-aesthetic object for the listener; and


vice versct.

The
of

aesthetic

state

of

mind,

although

largely a matter of the complex summation

vague pleasures, involves more than


perfection of art there

this.

To

must

exist decided
less lightly

centres of interest, flitting

more or

over this vaguer


of this point

field.

To the
turn.

consideration

we now

The Shifting Focus.

In AmieVs Journal,
:

23d May, 1863, we read

" All that

is

diffused

and
is

indistinct,

without form or sex or accent,


first

antagonistic to beauty, for the mind's


is light.

need

Light means order


first

and order

means, in the

place, the distinction of

the parts, in the second, their regular action.

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

181

Beauty

is

based on reason."

Although we
views
help

have seen that exclusively

rationalistic

of aesthetics are not tenable,

we cannot

agreeing that an object which presents no


virile interests,

but merely a
It

field of

moderate

pleasures, soon cloys.

becomes "sweet,"
It

as they say in the studio.

was probably

the recognition of this fact that led Lotze


to the theory that beauty requires the grasp

of the ideal through

some

definite object,

and

Volkmann

to

separate

the

art

field

from

the field of sesthetics, on the

ground that

the former strikes a definite chord above the

merely hedonic

field of aesthetics.

For Volk-

mann
is

this definiteness,

which most emphati-

cally takes its object out of its environment,

the direction in which the


its

art

of

the

ancients showed

highest superiority.
its

But

if

art

work must impress us by


its

force of attention,

centres of interest, these


activity

points

of
all

intenser

are

points

of

danger;

pleasures are ephemeral, the

more

so as they gain in vividness,

and the

shifting

182
of

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
these centres of interest
is

of
I

as great

importance as their existence.

think

we

shall find this recognized in certain general

principles.
First,

we may expect

to find

means adopted
by

to retain pleasure in one special direction

arranging to shift attention away from the


special field before us before pain or complete

indifference

occurs,

and back again at the

moment when
content
is

pleasurable recurrence of the

again possible.

This brings before

us the great principle of rhythm.

Because

processes

of

nutrition

are

rela-

tively regular, the times required for complete

recovery after full use remain approximately

equal in the same set of organs, and

it

thus

happens that we learn to act at recurrent


regular intervals, being thus enabled to hold
to a special

subject-matter for a long time,


if

not only without fatigue, but,

the rhythm

be properly timed, with marked pleasure.

Accurate rhythms are most notable in music

and poetry, but what may be termed inaccu-

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.
rate

183
tools of

rhythms are the very ordinary

the artist in other lines also.

The power

of

order, in architecture, for example,

and the

value of symmetries generally, depend largely

upon such rhythms.


called

Instances will be rein all the arts without

by the reader

special example.

Passing to the consideration of the shifting


of attention beyond the to field,

same

field,

from

field

we

obtain the well-recognized canon

of variety.

Monotony
If

of stimulations

gives

us

first

indifference

and then the


the

positive

pains of fatigue.
sciousness

elements of con-

be constantly changed, however,

the chances of pleasure gain are greatly increased;


variety,
if

a unity be recognized in the

on the principles already discussed,


pleasure to that gained by

we have an added
Variety,

the shifting of the centre of interest.

however, like
is

all

the means of
carried
is

pleasure stimulation,

likely to be

too far.

Variety of pleasurable stimulation

exhaustive and will eventually aggravate the

184
trouble

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

we attempt

to correct,

by making

pain-

ful every activity in our field.

An
visit

example

of this

we may

all recall in

tbe craving for

total rest experienced after

to

some

great exhibition where competitors vie with

each other to attract attention to their wares

by varied devices looking to pleasure-giving.

We

often

find people

remarking that they


is

enjoy an art work (especially

this true in
it is

architectural criticism) because

simple.

The

distracting elements in the varied objects


of

which they have examined in the hope


and have

gaining pleasurable effects have disappeared,


left

a quiet delight not far removed

from the

so-called " pleasures of rest."

Contrasts, already discussed, also gain their


effects

through change of region of stimula-

tion.

Where

notable, however, they depend


of action) for
lest

upon vividness (hypernormality


their results,

and must be used with care

they act exhaustively.

The same thing may be

said of those vivid

elements of novelty which give the value to

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

185
cannot use

what we
these

call

the picturesque.

We

means

to gain aesthetic result unless

we

are able to turn ourselves

away from

their

stimulation as soon as

we begin

to be weary.

Hence, we should avoid the use of the picturesque in our homes, and should deal most
carefully with strong contrasts in the decora-

tion of

rooms

in

which we wish to
is

live,

or in

buildings which one


constantly.

compelled to view

On
means

the whole,

it

appears that the safest


lasting aesthetic results

of producing
if

will be reached

we

choose that succession of


is

elements, each of which

naturally led up to
:

by those which have preceded


in physiological language
result best
if
;

or to put this
will gain our

we

we choose such successive

impres-

sions as will stimulate organs that have been

best

and

fully prepared for action


(if

by the

asso-

ciative nutrition

may so

speak) connected
activities.

with the previously stimulated

From

this

we may argue

to a wide aesthetic

law, which

may

perhaps be called the princi-

186

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

pie of the satisfaction of expectancies

a
all

legit-

imate description of the means of gaining


assthetic result here

touched upon, as

such

movements
That

of thought appear in retrospect to

be expectation phases
this canon,
is

which

are

fulfilled.

however, although of wide

application,
ics
is

not a universal one for aesthet-

apparent

when we

consider that our


life is

normal, indifEerent, scarcely conscious


largely
tation,

made up

of these fulfilments of expec-

although not recognized as such, to


is

be sure, unless their legitimacy


in one

questioned

way

or another.

In general, then,
artist is

it

appears that the great

one

who

is

able to

make

use of the

principles above enumerated.

Having avoided
field of

pains,

having created his wide

non-

pain, he produces a wide

summation

of pleas-

urable elements.

Further, he so arranges the

shifting of attention that as one impression


fails in pleasure-giving,

another equally enjoy-

able appears, through natural connection, to

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

187
is

supply the place of that pleasure which


fading away.

Moreover, by compelling a judi-

cious recurrence of special interests, he

marks

a unity of the manifold, which unity gives to


his

work a

distinctive character.

I have already

named

the great works of

Wagner

in illustration of the poise of atten-

tion; but

Wagner's power goes beyond

this:
effect

wherever we break away from width of

and allow our attention

to concentrate itself

upon

details,

we

there find a

gem
;

of melody,

a delicious progression, a richness of harmony,


or a masterful bit of orchestration

and

if

we
of

turn from the music

we

are

still

thrilled

with

emotion or impressed by some profundity


thought.

But withal, these

details are

not

allowed to efface the value of the special

marked development
speare's wonderful

of

the work.

Shake-

drama, to take another

example, shows us great width of interest,


yet always some figures of special interest,

from one
tion
is

to the other

of

which our attenof that

artfully shifted without loss

188

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
is felt

background of delight which,

apart from

the specially forceful impressions.

His genius

manifests

itself

further in the abUity to pre-

serve a proper balance, so that using wealth


of

subordinate elements, no one of


rise to sufficiently

them

is

allowed to
to

great importance
of the

mar

the general

movement

drama,

or to detract

from the importance of the charis

acter

whose action

to thrUl our souls.

The
man-

great painter treats his subject in like

ner; he gives us a wide, vague, pleasurable

background in impression or associative


val trains ures over
;

revi-

a wide

field of

more marked

pleas-

which the centre

of interest shifts,

without loss of the prominence of the central


" motif " to which especially he would compel

our recurrence.
It

must be apparent

to

my

reader that

if

capacity to produce
pleasure be

relative

permanency

of

determined by this

shifting of

points of interest over wide fields of moderate


pleasure, then the arts involving the stimula-

tion of successive mental states have a great

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

189

advantage over those which are dependent

upon simple unchanging impression


that account, in

and on

my view, the

arts of literature

and of music, and

of combinations of the two,

must be held

to be the arts of pre-eminent im-

portance to-day, and the ones that are likely


to

become more and more

influential as civil-

ization advances.

In bringing to an end this chapter and this

book I wish to note a few points concerning


the subjects discussed in what has preceded
this.

In the

first

and second chapters we

studied the nature of the aesthetic effect in


tjie

observer

in the third chapter

we

studied

the nature of the impulse that compels the


artist

to

undertake his work; and in the

fourth chapter

we

considered the nature of

the critical act and of the standards used

when we assume

the critical attitude.


positive principles that

The negative and


worth for us as

we

have just been considering have very


artists

different

and as observers.

190

ESTHETIC PEINCIPLES.
artists the

As
tlie

negative principles, and all


in

investigations

reference

to

aesthetic

problems that science can

make

for us,

must

be of great value as warnings which

wUl help
for

us to avoid the failures experienced by those

who have preceded us


beauty.

iu

the

search

The experience

of our race in the

past has left record of

its failures

in certain

general negative principles to which

we

can-

not but listen

and

science

we may

hope,

teaching us by more

accurate method, will in

the future guide the artist with a surer


to avoid

hand

the pitfalls
is

into

which his blind


him.

enthusiasm

liable to lead

The

positive principles aid the artist

much

less definitely, for, as

we have

seen,

he must

depend upon the individual force of the racial


instinct within

him

that guides his artistic


in

expression;

so that

practice

even these

positive principles

which we have enumerated

must come

to be used

by him negatively
and

as

safeguards against excesses.

When we become

observers

critics,

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

191

however, we find that the positive and negative principles are

more equal
to ask

in value for

us

and

I wish

now

my

reader in

closing to take
of a practical

up with me the consideration

problem in criticism which will

illustrate the relative value of these positive

and negative

aesthetic principles,

and which

will indicate the complication of the subjects

with which a philosophic

aesthetic

has to deal.

I choose for this purpose the much-discussed

question as to the values of structural form in


architecture.

The study

of the

development of

aesthetics

teaches us that architecture as a fine art has


arisen in the past

by the studied attempt


forms

to

attach aesthetic qualities to certain settled and

well-understood

constructional

but
of,

for the discovery of,

and the perfecting


involved

the

constructional

methods

there

could be no architecture.
sideration
of

But the mere con-

these

methods has not made


art
until

architecture

fine

the race has

learned to use these constructional tools in

192

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
of

ways that produce within us a sense


beauty.

Now what

has in the past been a matter of

almost spontaneous and thoroughly racial de-

velopment we are attempting to make


vidual and that by rational means.

indi-

We

are

attempting to do in our lives by forethought

what

in the past has been

worked out by slow


and by the elimina-

processes of racial effort

tion of the inferior in racial product.


It is clear that

we

should learn from the


is

history of the subject that structure

of the

essence of architecture; that building methods


are the tools of the artist in this direction;

that

if

he do not use structure as his tool the


is

artist

no architect, although perhaps in


field of

some other way he may illumine the


art
;

e.g.,

as a decorator.
it is

But, on the other hand,


forgotten that this structure

must never be
merely his tool,

and that the end


tect as well as

to be attained

by the

archi-

by any

artist is the

production

of beauty of a special type.


POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

193

Now we

find

men

crying out that emphasis

of structure

is all

important, and they point

to the virile Gothic of


it

France and try to make

teach us that

we

should treat architecture

as the decoration of a skeleton in which bone

and sinew should always be prominent on the other hand, we


pelled
find others

and
re-

who,

by such views, point

to the glories of

the palaces of Venice and of the loggias of


Florence, and tell us that
structural

power

has

little

or nothing to do with architectural

values.

But I think we may

find the truth in a


if

combination of these two opposing views

we

bear in mind what has been said above,


is

that structure

the tool of the architect-artist


of beauty is his goal.

and that the production

He must
done, to

learn, as his racial prototypes

have

know thoroughly
in

the settled prin-

ciples of construction, so that

he

may
so

be able

to thinh

structural

forms;

that the

arches, the roofs, etc., that he sketches

may

be constructed practically as he sketches them.

194

ESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
struct-

For the most part, the use of these

ural tools involves negative aesthetic principles


only.
It
is,

ciple of the

we have seen, a negative pringreatest moment that the artist


as

should avoid shocks,

and surely

if

in

his

design the architect bring into prominence


the perception of
force

any

active constructional

he ought also to leave unmasked the

counter force that holds the former in equilibrium


;

otherwise he will leave with us a


is

sense of unrest that


aesthetic effect.

distinctly subversive of

From a
is

positive aesthetic standpoint there

this to note, that for the average highly

cultivated

man

it

is

a distinct gain to bring

out clearly the constructional conception, pro-

vided this can be done without destroying


other beauty of a higher order
;

but the pro-

duction of this beauty

is

the architect's goal,

and he surely and no


structure
If,

will
if

show himself a mere builder


in

artist

his

emphasis of

the

he

lose

higher aesthetic qualities.

however, he be a master and be able to

POSITIVE PRINCIPLES.

195

mark
will

the structural elements without loss, or

even with gain, to the beauty of the whole, he

add a new source of delight to


will be of great value.
to turn to

his

work

which

Now
features

an opposite

effect,

namely,

the use of structural forms as mere decorative


;

such work as

we

find in all

modern
its in-

Renaissance architecture which gains


spiration, in this respect,

from the Romans,

who

called in the Greeks to face their con-

structional skeletons with Greek-like decorative architectural robes.


If this use of structural

forms of the past


structural

involves recognizable pretence of


use,

where such use does not

exist, there rings


is

out a false note in the scheme; there


violation of our negative canon

which

tells

us to avoid untruth, because untruth gives a

shock which
other hand,
decoration

is
if

fatal to beauty.

But on the
of

those forms

structural

make no

pretence to have struct-

ural values, and are in themselves beautiful


(as,

by the way, many

of the

modern Renais-

196

iESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.
if

sance details are not), and

by

their use the

proportions or colour masses of the building

may be

brought into more harmonious relation


if

than were otherwise possible, or

in other

respects the building be thereby beautified, I

can see no
use.

critical objection

whatever to their
said against such

The most that can be


is

ornament

that in

its

use

we

confess our

lack of vigorous, true, architectural genius;

and that such use tends


and not
architects,

to

make us decorators
loss of

and leads to a

deep

architectural conviction.

Speaking negatively again, the

architect

should use his structural tools economically,


so

that

we may not be
expenditure of

oppressed by any

valueless
effort
;

human time and


it is

but on the other hand positively,

perfectly valid for


(so to

him

to use

unneeded

flesh

speak) to cover his structural skeleton,


it is

where

plain

and evident that the superis

fluous material

and labour

employed for the

legitimate special purpose of adding to the


aesthetic effectiveness of the whole.

POSITIVE PKINCIPLES.

197
his tools

Thus while the


rationally to

architect

must use
if

avoid offence, and

he be a

genius

may

be able to use these very tools as

effective aesthetic instruments,

he must never
the attainment

forget that the end in view


of beauty.

is

And here we have an


I have said before,

interesting example of

one of the main principles I above defend.

As

we

cast out
all

beyond the

boundaries of the sesthetic

that pains, but

we

do not necessarily call a total


it

work

unses-

thetic because

contains painful elements,

provided
to

it

also contains sufficient of beauty


satisfactions the

overwhelm with

minor

discords.

So one who has become steeped with the


beauty of the masterpieces of French Gothic,

with their emphasis of structural elements,

must often experience a sense

of loss

when he

views the works of the early Tuscan masters


but notwithstanding the minor discords in this

work produced by

structural ineffectiveness,

the superabundant beauty of proportion and

198
detail

AESTHETIC PRINCIPLES.

and colour compel within him a deep


sombre might of Amiens

satisfaction that the

or Beauvais cannot produce. to the glory of the best

And

then turn

Greek work where


;

this constructional discord is lacking

where

the structure indeed tells

its historic
its

story and
;

unostentatiously speaks of

strength

and

where withal, above

all,

stands emphatic that

sense of perfected beauty of line

and propor-

tioned colour mass which leads us to


before

bow

the masters

who

thus surpassed us.

There we have true architectural beauty of


the highest type.

THE END.

INDEX.
Absolutes in .S^sthetics, Active pleasures, 19.
9.

Baldwin, 62. Baumgarten,

1, 12.

Esthetic defined, 1, 4. Beautiful, the, 114. Esthetic field of cultivated Beauty, 2 conception varies, 44 fe. man, 93. Esthetic impression, 31. Benevolent Instincts, 62. Bergmanu, 10. .Esthetic judgment, 31. Esthetic " ought," 92. Bosanquet, 3. .Esthetic responsibility, 91. Burke, 13. .Esthetic separated from He;

donic, 16.

Contrast, 160, 184. Cravings, 121.


Critic

Esthetic standards, Ch. IV.


Algedonic, 112.

and

Artist, 106.

Algedonio and YT.


Alison, 13.

.fflsthetios,

Chs. V.

Critic's standpoint,

Ch. IV.

Allen, Grant, 12.

Darwin, 49.
DeGufirin, Maurice, 48.
fE.

Amiel, 180.
Architectural structure, 191
Aristotle, 3, 9, 15, 147.

Elimination of Ugly, 118.

Emerson, 48, 139. Emotional pleasure, 19. Art as racial product, 192 f. Emotions, 68 S. Art defined, 4. Art Instinct, 62 disinterested, Emotions as determining Beauty, 13. 67 ; common to all men, 69. Emotions defined, 35. Artist and Critic, 73 f
Arnold, Matthew, 48.
;

Artist defined, Arts,


188.

4.

Epicureanism, 15, 100.

Artist's standpoint, Ch. III., 5.

future development
147.

of,

Feohner, 15, 95, 170.


Foci, 180.

Avoidance of Ugly,

Function of Art,
199

82.

200
Genius, 53.

INDEX.
Objective qualities, search for,
8.

Grace, 140.

Growth, 143. Guyau, 13, 82, 176, 177.


Habit, 90.

Observer's standpoint, Ch.

I.

" Ought " in

.S^sthetics, 92.

Fains of excess, exclusion


137, 170.
145.

of,

Harmony, Hume, 15.

Fains of repreasion, exclusion


of, 119.

Ideal sesthetic

field, 96.

Fermanence
30.

of pleasure, 22 S.,

Idealistic conceptions, 9.

Imagination, 20.
Imitation, 3, 60, 135.

Picturesque, 185.
Flato, 9.

Immediacy,
86.

20.

Individual standard of moment,

Play Instinct, 64. Pleasure as determining beauty,


15.

"Instinct feelings," 56
13.

Pleasure as subjective quality,


f.

Intellect as determining beauty,

14.

Pleasure

and
39,
;

Pain,
;

general

Intellectual pleasure, 19.

qualities,

Irradiation, 176.

tions,

36

not emo43 not fundamental


;

elements, 38

36

Kant,

19, 64.

not sensations, not sui generis, 38 ; of action, 40 of cessation of


;
;

action,

40

relation to or-

Lipps, 19.
Lotze, 10, 19, 174, 181.

ganic action and nutrition,


41.

"Lower

pleasures," 32.

Plot interest, 179.


Positive
156.

" Lower sensations," 50.


Ludicrous,
2, 163.

.^thetic Principles,

Puns, 167.
Mill,

James,

13. 19.

Purist's standpoint, 134.

Moral types,
Music, 132.

Puvis de Chavannes,
Relatively
stable

54.

Musical programmes, 27.


Nejrative
135.

individual

standpoint, 88.
principles,

118

ff.

Hepose, 142.

Rhythm,

182.

INDEX.
Rosenkranz, 127. Eoyce, 95.
Satisfaction
186.
Style, 140.

201

Subjective
12, 14.

ctualities,

search

for,

of

expectancies,

Sublime,

2.

Sully, 171, 177.


64, 126, 128, 141.

ScMUer,

Summation,
Taine, 95.

23, 43.

Schlegel, 127.

Science of Esthetics, 147.

"Self
62.

exhibiting

reactions,"

Tools of Artist, 77.


Truth, 141.

Sensational

pleasure not ex-

Type

portrayal, 137.

cluded from Esthetic, 19.


Sensations
as
12.

determining Ugly, The, 114.


Unfitness, 137.
Unities, The, 144.

Beauty,

Sensations defined, 35.

Shakespeare, 102.
Shifting Focus, 180.

Unity of Manifold, 170.


Universals in Esthetics,
Usefulness, 137, 138
ff.

9.

Shocks, 128.
Skill, 176.

Social Consolidation as function of Art, 82.

Variety, 183.
Vividness, 169.

Spencer, 25, 64, 139, 140.


Spiritual Types, 19.

Volkmann, 181. Von Hartmann,

15.

Standards, Ch. IV.

develop-

ment
98.

of,

102

relativity of,

"Wagner, 102, 178, 187.

Stoics, 64.

Width Width

of Field, 173. of impression, 20.

Structure in Architecture, 191


ff.

Wit, 163, 166.

Wundt,

94.

Pain,

Pleasure, and ysthetics.


BY

HENRY RUTGERS MARSHALL.


Cloth,

8to.

83.00.

FROM THE COMMENTS OF THE

PRESS.

" The chapters on aesthetics and the author's views are interesting, but lack of space forbids their being fully noticed here. It is a thoroughly scientific

our readers

psychological work, that as alienists, and therefore psychologists, may profitably study." American Journal of Imaniiy.

" Mr, Marshall has long been known as an original thinker in the field which he has chosen for interpretation so that this volume which he now presents, and which has been looked for for some time, deserves the best attention, not alone of Simon-pure psychologists, but of physicians, and especially neurologists." jfournal of Nervous and Menial
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Disease.
" There can be no question as to the acuteness, the research, and the philosophical grasp of this writer. No subsequent worker in this field can afford to disregard what has been brought out in this book and even if some of the author's views shall be shown to require modification, his treatise will remain an admirable example of what a scientific work should be." The Independent.
;

" It

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of all yet published attempts to conceive our pleasures and displeasures under something like a single point of view. ... No previous writer has given a general formula which covers anything like the same amount of ground. Acquaintance with Mr. Marshall's work will be indispensable to every future student of the subject. His own learning is admirably complete we cannot name any modern author of consequence of whose writings he has not taken account. The modesty of his tone is also remarkable, considering that his mental temperament is radical,' and that he is fighting for a creation of his own. Apart firom its special topic, too, the book is full of shrewd and original psychology. All these qualities render it almost epoch-making in the present situation of science," Prof. William James, in The Nation.
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