418 AESTHETICS 



end determine the nature of the problems to be studied by the sesthe- 

 tician, and the import of the solutions of these problems which they 

 present for our consideration. 



I. The Relation of Esthetics to Psychology 



We live in what may well be called the era of psychological develop- 

 ment, an era marked by the recognition of the truth that no philo- 

 sophical view of life can be adequate which does not take full account 

 of the experience of the individual human spirit which interprets this 

 life. And so quite naturally for ourselves, and in all probability 

 quite in accord with the habit of thought of the immediate future, 

 we begin our study by the consideration of the relation of aesthetics 

 to psychology. 



In turning for light to psychology, the sesthetician finds himself of 

 course asking what is the nature of the states of mind related to his 

 inquiry; and here at once he finds himself confronted with a distinc- 

 tion which must be made if a correct aesthetic doctrine is to become 

 established. He notes that there is a sharp difference between (1) 

 the mental attitude of an artist who produces works of beauty; and 

 (2) the mental attitude of a man at the moment when he appreciates 

 beauty in his experience. 1 The failure to note this distinction has in 

 my view led to much confusion of thought among the sestheticians 

 of the past, and to the defense of dogmas which otherwise would 

 not have been maintained. 



That this distinction is an important one becomes clear in the 

 fact that the sense of beauty is aroused in us by objects in nature 

 which bear no relation to what men call fine art. The mental state 

 of the appreciator of beauty has therefore a breadth which does not 

 belong to the mental state which accompanies, or leads to, the pro- 

 duction of works of beauty by the artist. 



And yet it should not surprise us that this distinction has so 

 often been overlooked; for the theorists first follow the trend of 

 thought of the uncritical man, and this uncritical man does not 

 naturally make the distinction referred to. 



For, on the one hand, even the least talented of men has some 

 little tendency to give part of his strength to artistic creation in one 

 form or another; the creative artist is guided by what is a truly racial 

 instinct, which under favorable conditions will appear in any man 

 who is not defective: each of us thus in the appreciation of beauty 

 throws himself to some degree into the attitude of the creative artist. 



And, on the other hand, the artist, when not in creative mood, falls 

 back into the ranks of men who keenly appreciate beauty but who 



1 Cf . my Esthetic Principles, chap, i, " The Observer's Standpoint," and 

 chap, in, " The Artist's Standpoint." 



