﻿THE 
  FACT 
  OF 
  BEAUTY 
  261 
  

  

  well-being; 
  and 
  it 
  grows 
  as 
  we 
  share 
  it 
  with 
  others. 
  In 
  all 
  

   but 
  its 
  simplest 
  expressions, 
  it 
  strikes 
  the 
  chords 
  of 
  imagina- 
  

   tion, 
  for, 
  as 
  Professor 
  Bosanquet 
  insists, 
  " 
  the 
  aesthetic 
  atti- 
  

   tude 
  is 
  an 
  attitude 
  in 
  which 
  we 
  imaginatively 
  contemplate 
  an 
  

   object, 
  being 
  able 
  in 
  that 
  way 
  to 
  live 
  in 
  it 
  as 
  an 
  embodiment 
  

   of 
  our 
  feeling. 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  The 
  esthetic 
  attitude 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  enjoy- 
  

   able 
  ? 
  is 
  " 
  the 
  pleasant 
  awareness 
  of 
  a 
  feeling 
  embodied 
  in 
  

   an 
  appearance 
  presented 
  to 
  imagination 
  or 
  imaginative 
  

   perception." 
  

  

  3. 
  Beauty 
  a 
  General 
  Quality 
  of 
  Animate 
  Nature. 
  

  

  Now, 
  what 
  seems 
  to 
  us 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  fact, 
  and 
  a 
  very 
  interesting 
  

   fact, 
  is 
  that 
  all 
  natural, 
  free-living, 
  fully-formed, 
  healthy 
  

   living 
  creatures, 
  which 
  we 
  can 
  contemplate 
  without 
  preju- 
  

   dice, 
  are 
  in 
  their 
  appropriate 
  surroundings 
  artistic 
  har- 
  

   monies, 
  having 
  that 
  quality 
  which 
  we 
  call 
  beauty. 
  That 
  is 
  

   to 
  say 
  they 
  have 
  qualities 
  objective 
  qualities 
  which 
  excite 
  

   in 
  us 
  a 
  particular 
  kind 
  of 
  emotion, 
  often 
  of 
  a 
  very 
  high 
  

   order. 
  To 
  many 
  of 
  us 
  of 
  the 
  eye-minded 
  type 
  the 
  blotting 
  

   out 
  of 
  the 
  annual 
  pageant, 
  say 
  of 
  flowers 
  and 
  of 
  birds, 
  would 
  

   be 
  the 
  extinguishing 
  of 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  lights 
  of 
  life. 
  But 
  we 
  

   must 
  pause 
  to 
  inquire 
  whether 
  our 
  proposition 
  really 
  ex- 
  

   presses 
  a 
  fact. 
  

  

  4. 
  Theoretical 
  Objections 
  to 
  the 
  Thesis. 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  objection 
  is, 
  that 
  beauty 
  is 
  in 
  no 
  sense 
  a 
  quality 
  

   of 
  things, 
  but 
  is 
  wholly 
  in 
  our 
  minds 
  purely 
  subjective. 
  

   Hegel, 
  forgetful 
  of 
  Schelling 
  and 
  Goethe, 
  remarked 
  that 
  

   it 
  had 
  never 
  occurred 
  to 
  any 
  one 
  to 
  emphasise 
  the 
  aspect 
  

   of 
  beauty 
  in 
  natural 
  things, 
  that 
  in 
  fact 
  the 
  beauty 
  was 
  not 
  

   in 
  the 
  things 
  but 
  in 
  the 
  contemplating 
  mind. 
  Some 
  other 
  

   philosophers, 
  such 
  as 
  Vaihinger, 
  the 
  author 
  of 
  The 
  Philos- 
  

  

  