PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED 



are certain abstract relationships in 

 aesthetics which any sane person will 

 acknowledge upon their plain statement, 

 and without argument or illustration. 

 Such is the principle of unity. Let anyone 

 understand what unity is and he will know 

 immediately, and in a sort abstractly and 

 intellectually, that unity is a fundamental 

 requirement in any work of art, — in any 

 painting, poem or garden. What is more, 

 he will be able immediately to relate his 

 concrete experiences to this abstract 

 principle, and from the correspondences 

 which he finds to know whether the object 

 is beautiful or ugly. At this point we come 

 very near to finding pure objective beauty; 

 and in so far as the unity of elements in 

 any work of art may be instantly appre- 

 hended and universally understood and 

 accepted, the object might be said to be 

 beautiful in itself, as well in the experience 

 which it gives to some person. 



Lastly, we accept many weighty 

 matters of fact on authority. I know it is 

 "nineteen miles from Schenectady to 

 Albany," but I never measured it. I know 

 that Abraham Lincoln was very tall and far 

 from handsome, though he died, alas, before 



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