220 REV. STEWART A. MCDOWALL, M.A., B.D.^ ON 



I fear that I must preface it with a very brief account of that 

 part of his work which I am going to use, in case some here 

 have not had the opportunity of studying it. I can only ask 

 those who know it at first hand to let their thoughts wander 

 pleasantly during a summary which must necessarily be jejune, 

 but which will, I hope, be short ! 



Of course, if the fine arts seem to a man to be utterly distinct, 

 with nothing in common but a background of emotion, Croce's 

 theory, and all that I am going to say this evening, must seem 

 simply a meaningless attempt to express something that does 

 not exist. But if, as Croce urges, each art aims at presenting, 

 through the practise of its own conventions, aspects of truth 

 which are suitable to that special medium, an honest attempt 

 to find and define the common factor of all arts may lead to 

 knowledge of real value. It is not really possible to give a short 

 and clear summary that will do justice to the most interesting 

 and elusive of modern philosophies ; but the main position in 

 regard to aesthetic is fairly simple, and it marks a real advance 

 in this problem of finding a common factor in the arts, as well 

 as giving an adequate place to a3sthetic in philosophy. 



We may begin by explaining what Croce means by an intuition, 

 what he means by the a priori synthesis, and what part the 

 relation of the double degree plays in his system. 



When you perceive an object, already you are using two 

 mental processes which cannot in fact be separated, or exist 

 the one without the other. In the first place there is simple 

 awareness of a reality. You objectify an impression without 

 arguing as to its reality at all, or relating it to yourself or any- 

 thing else. You merely characterize the thing and are aware 

 of it as concrete and individual. This is the pure intuition. 

 It has no admixture of intellectual process. Its salient character 

 is, that it is made and expressed by the mind, and is indeed 

 identical with this expression. You cannot separate the in- 

 tuition from its expression. Moreover it is aesthetic in nature. 

 Its character is identical with the character of the mind-process 

 which makes the vision of the artist and the poet. 



But at once this intuition is generalized and related. The 

 process of generalization is the formation of the concept, and 

 is characteristic of the logical or intellectual activity. Moreover, 

 the pure concept is universal, and expressive, belonging to all 

 individuals ; concrete, and therefore real. Pseudo-concepts, 

 which fail either in universality, expressiveness or concreteness. 



