THE RELATIONS OF AESTHETICS 427 



a 



In approaching this subject we may take at the start what we may 

 call the broadly philosophical view, and may consider the question 

 raised immediately above, where we ask what may be the function 

 in life of the art instinct, and what the significance of the aesthetic 

 production to which its expression leads. 



We, in our day, are still strongly influenced by the awakening of 

 interest in the problems of organic development with which Darwin's 

 name is identified, and thus naturally look upon this problem from 

 a genetic point of view; from which, to my mind, artistic expression 

 appears, as I have elsewhere argued at length, as one of nature's 

 means to enforce social consolidation. But it is possible that we 

 are led, by the present-day interest above spoken of, to over- 

 emphasize the importance of the processes of the unfolding of our 

 capacities, and it is not improbable that those who follow us, less 

 blinded by the brilliancy of the achievement of the evolutionists, 

 may be able to look deeper than we can into the essence of the 

 teleological problem thus raised. 



That art is worthy for art's sake is the conviction of a large body 

 of artists, who labor in their chosen work often with a truly martyr- 

 like self-abnegation; and as an artist I find myself heartily in sym- 

 pathy with this attitude. But aesthetics looks to philosophy for 

 some account of this artistic re'Aos, which shall harmonize the artist's 

 effort with that of mankind in general, from whom the artist all too 

 often feels himself cut off by an impassable gulf. 



The study of aesthetics by the philosopher from the genetic stand- 

 point has, however, already brought to our attention some facts 

 which are both significant and helpful. 



It has shown us how slow and hesitant have been the steps in the 

 development of aesthetic accomplishment and appreciation in the 

 past, and how dependent these steps have been upon economic con- 

 ditions. This on the one hand arouses in us a demand for a fuller 

 study of the relations of the artistic to the other activities of men; 

 and on the other hand is a source of encouragement to critic and 

 artist alike, each of whom in every age is apt to over-emphasize the 

 artistic failures of his time, and to minimize the importance of its 

 artistic accomplishment. 



This genetic study has a further value in the guidance of our 

 critical judgment, in that it shows us that the artistic tendencies 

 of our time are but steps in what is a continuous process of develop- 

 ment. It shows us arts which have differentiated in the past, and 

 teaches us to look for further artistic differentiations of the arts in 

 the future; thus leading us to critical conclusions of no little im- 

 portance. This consideration seems to me to be of sufficient interest 

 to warrant our dwelling upon it a little at length. 



