THE PHILOSOPHY
OF ART:
Without
the artistic truth the world would be defeated by money
Pedro Samuel de Moura Torres
Abstract
This
article offers an analysis about the philosophy of art, trying to express the polemic
and controversial concepts with many varieties of definitions to the word art. It
aims to demonstrate some common conceptions of art. The article arouses
reflections about the essential nature and truth of the art, its significance
and relevance in human society in its contexts. It explores as many meanings as
possible by presenting it in an efficient and accessible speech. It has a
philosophical tone approach, showing some theories in order to illustrate the
verity of art. As philosophy is by itself, abstract, the article deals with speculative
conceptions. It works with the theories of Plato to support the presented
arguments. The theories applied are about the Platonic essentialism, such as
the theory of ideas, forms and reminiscences. It shows quotes of Plato in his
communications about art. Such arguments are defenses in benefit of art, which
attempt to overcome the current capitalism by using a theoretical language and
qualifying concepts. It applies some vocabularies such as “aesthetic” in order
to explain and expose some features associated with the definition of art. It makes
a brief allusion to the globalization and its influence on the modern art. It
also qualifies and emphasizes the importance and relevance of art to the whole
world.
Keywords:
aesthetic, art, artistic creation, capitalism, philosophy, Platonic theories,
truth.
Introduction
Art
is a vital force to the human development since it is because of it that is
possible to see the human steps and its evolution. The modern human is leading
the life with values more and more corrupted by the greed for materialism. They
have lost some good ethic principles. Art is there exactly to make people aware
about their lives, in view of the capitalism voracity that is changing the
meaning of life. The power of art moves, controls and seduces everybody; its
mystery is a living permanence and an impenetrable description. It is the fruit
of God’s creation, goodness and intelligence. Art is offered to everyone, by
the creator, through the nature: the sun, the stars, the sea, the rainbow, and
finally, all natural’s phenomenon and creations are examples of the art’s
significance.
Thus,
people should establish other ideals in order to improve the world, as making
art the first priority to triumph over the consumerism. Art can be the answer
to most problems, especially to form citizens´ consciousness about how to live
better. What is an artistic truth, then?
There are so many theories and arguments, some of these theories are known as
imitation theory, theory of expression and formalism, which can be grouped in a
single theory, the essentialist theory. The speech of art is quite polemical
and controversial, because of its complex concepts and various meanings, since
its connotation is extremely subjective and varies according to the culture,
historical period or even personal opinions.
The
most literal definition of the word art, according to the “thefreedictionary” is “human
effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature”.
Its definition takes multiple and varied amplitudes surpassing the time’s
chronology. The need and use of art come from the very beginning and it has
become a prevalent custom in all cultures existing on earth. After its origin,
thousands of years ago, art has evolved, reaching an admirable position in the
society. With so many acceptations about
art, it is possible to summarize with some of those endless definitions. A
general commentary is that it can encompass all other human actions,
universalizing the essence of the existence. The new universality of arts is
the creation of an original form of result of ideas in the material world as it
is. Throughout its comprehensive nature, art can use many ways to be manifested;
in particular, it is expressed through music, dance, cinema, literature and
visual arts, including painting, sculpture, drawing, etc.
Art in Philosophy
As
art imitates life, paraphrase of the philosopher Aristotle whose sentence said
was: “Art imitates nature” (Aristotle, CW, 145. Apud. D. K. YEE, Cordell), he was wise in this statement, because
the word “nature” means the place where everything is born. Therefore, art
imitates the origin of all things; it is a vivification and copy of the real.
It represents the reality, even if it is not true, it is a valiant attempt to unite
man to the world, and consequently to connect it to itself.
As
the author Aires Almeida said, some
philosophers have mentioned art as an imitation. Plato did not elaborate on the
philosophy of art, but with his theory of ideas and forms, has contributed to
illustrate that abstract concepts such as: beauty, love, art and everything
that exists, is absolute, eternal and perfect, however existing in another
dimension: the world of ideas. The human art, as it is inserted in the concrete
world, perceived through the senses, and therefore imperfect, is a timid
reproduction of the essentialist and perfect world. As the author Ariano Suassuna explained, Plato
justifies that the human soul has experienced this idealized world and that the
faculty of developing virtues, such as: art, wisdom and beauty, here on earth,
comes from the mere reminiscences: memories from the other world. Therefore,
the soul suffers because of the memories and nostalgia, living in eternal
pursuit of this idealized world, however inhabiting in this concrete, imperfect
and incomplete world. Here comes a passage from Plato which refers to this reminiscence:
“The soul is therefore immortal; reborn repeatedly
in existence and has contemplated all existing things on earth or in Hades, and
so, there is nothing she does not know! No wonder she is able to evoke into the
memory, the recalls of previously viewed objects, and that it relates not only
with the virtues but also with all existing things. All nature, indeed, is only
one, is a organic whole, and the spirit has seen all things; therefore, nothing
prevents us when we remember something – what we, humans, call “knowledge” –
all other things flocks naturally to our consciousness. It is for us merely to
endeavor and restlessly seek it. Cause, eternally, all research and science are
merely memories.” (PLATO, “Meno”, oh.
cit. 81. p. 79. Apud. DI LUCIA, Reinaldo). Author’s translation.
Art display and
expresses deep feelings. It is one of the most sublime human performances; it
is an intimate experience to the universal spirit. It is an encounter with the supernatural,
approaching to the divine. According to
the common sense, the truth of art is transcendental, conceiving it as divine
inspiration. In fact, it is an attribute of the soul, and therefore, not easily
decipherable. It is the human attempt to approximate to the original perfection
created by God. Art is a path that
transports dreams into the world. It is the search and desire for the elevation
of senses and improvement of the ego. Art can be
universalized when represents the “love” itself.
“The beauty, I told you, she shone among all that
neat ideas, and in our sojourn on earth, she still overshadows, with its
brightness, all the others things. The sight is still the most subtle of all
our senses. But yet, it could not perceive the wisdom. It would arouse vehement
loves, if it offered an image as clear and distinct as those which we could
contemplate beyond the sky. Only beauty has the venture to be the most noticeable
and elevated thing.” (PLATO, “Phaedrus”, ob. cit. p. 223. Apud. SUASSUNA, Ariano). Author’s translation.
Academically speaking
In a more technical
way, it is possible to say that Artistic truth is different from the scientific
truth, from the political truth and from many others. The best definition is
that artistic truth always entails the human sensibility, the intuition, the
senses; it is an outline of what is sensual. An artistic truth is not a perfect
copy of the material world neither a static sensitive expression. It is a
sensory and inventive experience and a sensitive-cognitive human knowledge
which aim to provoke the artistic and aesthetic appreciation arousing
reflections about its history and context in Human society. Accordingly, art
works as a mean of awareness and commotion of generic knowledge.
According to the book Reflexões sobre a arte, as
art is a human knowledge articulated in the ambit of sensory-cognition, through
art, it is expressed significations, emotions, sensibilities, styles of
creation about the world of nature and culture. A brief reference to the
Platonic theory, an artistic truth concerns both domain of synaesthesia (the
sensations) and the abstract (ideas); being also an event and a cognitive
process of thinking that belongs to an idealistic sphere which tries to take
shape in the physical world. Art is a project to recreate and understand the
world through the senses; it is even more complex from the laborious and
intricate process that we employ when we resort to rational logic. So, art uses
the two sides of the brain, the one which corresponds to the instinct,
intuition and the cognitive one which corresponds to the thoughts and ideas. It
is also believed that art goes together with the logic and symmetry.
Usually, as the work
of art requires a contact with the senses and consequently requests a
transmission, art is predominantly considered by aesthetic and communicative
aspects; since it is prone to have exchange and permutation between the work
and spectator. The essence of art is always related to the wonderful, harmonic
and aesthetic. According to the book Iniciação
a Estética,
derived from the Greek language, the word “aesthetic” means “to feel” and it
involves a set, a network of perceptions existing in various human practices
and comprehensions directed to the good and beautiful. The aesthetic is
designated to sensations that cause pleasure, to the taste and to the volition,
to the creations pertinent to the field of the subjective, which differently
from the rational logic of thought, it is free from more or less established
rules. Yet, the aesthetic equates and delimits the general harmony. So, human
aesthetics’ experience spreads to several spheres of its existence, of its
understanding, its identity, and finally, in its humanization, providing
delight which touches people, leading them to reflect more about the crazy
capitalistic lives they are taking.
Conclusion
All
artistic creation, a work of art is the result of human’s ingenuity. It is a human’s
deed. It is an artifact of the illustrious intelligence the human race is
endowed. Delving into the philosophy of art, it faces with the old mystery,
when it relates to the anecdote of the chicken or the egg; in this case, which one
comes first, the art or the artist? It is common to infer that art is the work
of the artist, so, it reduces the art to the authority of our ego. Nevertheless,
it does not realize that: if who creates the work is the artist, on the other
hand, it is the work of art which creates the artist. There’s a relation of
interdependence, because there are no poets without poem and poetry, painters
without painting, musicians and singers without songs, sculptors without
sculptures and actor without an audience, etc. In such case, the same way as
the artist creates the work, it is the work which reveals that the artist is an
artist.
It is necessary to understand that an artistic truth
is a draft of the palpable world, which in turn; it is an attempt to reproduce
the world of ideas and forms. It is a proposition about a new definition of
what is our relation of perceptions with the world. Therefore, if art seems to
be very significant today is because the globalization’s influence imposes on
us the creation of a new kind of universality, which is frequently a new
sensibility and intuitive relation with the world. As art evolves over time, it
also promotes deep changes in values, concepts and practices sustaining its own
presence.
Because
of the capitalism oppression that exists in the present days, the domination of
the abstract universality; it is necessary to think of art directing it to the
current and sensitive connection to the globe as an alertness about our liver’s
quality and how we can express it better. Hence, the artistic creation is part of human emancipation; it is not an
ornament or a decoration. The affair of art is a central matter in the history of
mankind, because it requires a present insightful link to the whole cosmos.
Before all the virtues of art, it is up to us to use it for our own benefit.
Life without art would be so empty and limited on material, it would be a
hollow space, without essence and meaning; art is food for the soul, it is the
fuel that drives all life and humanity. In fact, without the artistic creation,
the triumph of forced power and money’s
universality can be a real possibility. And so, the concern nowadays is a
matter of political emancipation, there is something political in art by
itself. There is not only one issue about the political orientation of art as
it was in the past. Art can be a real opportunity to create something new
against this abstract universality called capitalism.
Pedro Samuel de Moura Torres
Pedro Samuel de Moura Torres
References
BRASIL. Ministério da
Educação. Secretaria da Educação Fundamental. Parâmetros Curriculares
Nacionais: 1.ª a 4.ª série – Introdução. Brasília: MEC/SEF, 1999, v. 1. 360 pg.
CONHECIMENTO de arte. pg. 168 à 181. ______. Reflexões sobre a arte. São Paulo
SUASSUNA, Ariano. Iniciação
a Estética. 8º Ed. Rio de Janeiro: José Olympio, 2007, (p.p. 43-49)
SUASSUNA,
Ariano. Teoria Platônica da beleza. Website, on-line. Available:
<<www.educacional.com.br/upload/blogSite/5038/5038224/9105/teoria%20platonica%20da%20ideia.suassuna.RTF>>
Accessed in Nov, 2010
DI LUCIA,
Reinaldo. Sócrates e Platão: precursores do espiritismo? São Paulo, 2001. Website, on-line. Available: <<www.cpdocespirita.com.br/Trabalhos/Socrates_e_Platao_Reinaldo.pdf>>
Accessed in Nov, 2010.
Bruno. O que é a arte? A arte. 2005. Website,
on-line. Available:
<<www.fictionpress.com/s/2005723/1/O_que_e_a_arte>>
Accessed in Nov, 2010.
ALMEIDA, Aires. Teoria essencialista da
arte. Website, on-line. Available: <<fildalinguagem.no.sapo.pt/aires.pdf>> Accessed in Nov, 2010.
Farlex. Thefreedictionary. Website,
online. Available: <<www.thefreedictionary.com>>Accessed
in Nov, 2010.
D. K. YEE, Cordell. The word according to James
Joyce: reconstructing representation. Website, online. Available:
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário