Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from On the Genesis of the Aesthetic Categories
I. The aesthetic consciousness in its beginnings is connected with art rather than with nature.
II. The relation of the aesthetic (appreciative) consciousness to art is not that of cause, but that of effect. Art has not arisen primarily to satisfy an already existing love of beauty. It has arisen chie?y, if-not wholly, from other springs, and has itself created the sense by which it is enjoyed.
III. Art has its origins, almost without exception, in social relations' it has developed under social pressure; it has been fostered by social occasions; it has in turn served social ends in the struggle for existence. In consequence, the values attributed to aesthetic objects have social standards, and the aesthetic attitude will be determined largely by these, social antecedents. Or, in other words, the explanation of the aesthetic categories is to be sought largely in social psychology.
Before considering the propositions seriatim, it will be convenient to note brie?y what the characteristics of the aesthetic consciousness are. In this the aim will be, not to present an exhaustive list, but rather to indicate categories which have been generally and widely recognized as. Distinguishing the aesthetic from other values, such as the ethical, logical, or economic, or from other pleasures, such as the agreeable. And amid the seeming multiplicity of such marks or differentia which have been put forth by writers on aesthetics there is, after all, a considerable degree of uniformity.' They may be grouped under three heads.
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