St. Augustine Aesthetics

This paper reviews the concepts of Aesthetic philosophers and how their theories developed new standards of Aesthetics from the Classical Greek Era, to the Modern Era. The first section of this text describes the philosophers perspectives of Aesthetics during each era, an explanation as to what the philosophers concepts mean, and a possible example or reference to modern society. The second section of this text compares and contrasts the philosophers that have been discussed in this text. From the past to modern society, the perspectives and attitudes of Aesthetics has certainly evolved. Since the philosophy of Art and Beauty has begun, various philosophers have explored the topic of Aesthetics in order to create their concepts …show more content…
Augustine was the prevailing philosopher who studied Aesthetics. St. Augustine had believed that beauty is creation of God; artists and connoisseurs of external beauty draw their criterion of judgment from a beauty higher than souls (Peker, 3). This had meant that he thought if there was more measure of beauty and order, they would shine out more and would be viewed as good. If the opposing amount of measure occurred, the beauty and order would not shine as brightly and would be viewed as not good. St. Augustine had also believed that there is beauty within all and that there is no absolute ugliness in any being. This is an important concept to St. Augustine’s philosophy because he believed that no being could be definitively deprived of beauty because if no beauty had existed, it would result in complete ugliness which is believed to be impossible. Throughout St. Augustine’s studies, he thought that humans derive their beauty from God, but the absolute beauty belongs to God and cannot be possessed by any human being. It is important to note how St. Augustine also relates concepts of art to God’s divineness and how no artist can copy God’s creations, but rather finishes and completes them for him. Since this idea has been stated, it has given individuals their own artistic image which they believe most closely resembles god. Through the development of this concept, we are able to differentiate ourselves from ugliness and beauty very …show more content…
Augustine both mention the forms of art and beauty. Although Aristotle does not identify his exact form of beauty, and St. Augustine identifies his form of beauty and art as God, both of these philosophers believe that there is a supreme origin that all of our beauty is derived from. Another similarity between the philosophers is that all of these philosophers concepts are somehow incorporated into modern society. An example could be that makeup is a method to make women feel more confident and beautiful with themselves, although the philosophers try to explain that there is true beauty within everyone. Differences I have noticed is that St. Augustine is the only Aesthetic philosopher that discusses the perspective of ugliness, and how it contrasts to beauty based on amount that the human form may contain. According to St. Augustine within the apparent ugliness we feel, there will always be overwhelming amount of beauty inside each being. In modern society, we encourage self-confidence through advertisements of products that will positively change our appearance, therefore boosting our self-confidence and