III. The External Determination of the Ideal.
[(_a_) Spatiality, Uniformity, Figure, Time, and Colour.
(_α_) How far such contribute to artistic production
(_β_) The necessity of clear articulation of form and tone considered]
2. The Coalescence of the concrete Ideal with its external Reality
[(_α_) The bond of unity regarded as no positive reality, but as a mysterious or secret connection. The relation of external Nature to the work of art. The Homeric poems contrasted with the "Niebelungenlied" in this respect
(_b_) Where the unity is expressly due to human activity and human adaptation of means to ends
[(_α_) The use made by man of ornament or of anything used for mere show, _e.g._, precious metals for statuary
(_β_) The question how far objects used for practical purposes are suited for art. The idyllic, civilized and heroic condition compared in the degree they are thus adapted
(_γ_) The spiritual environment itself in social institutions, etc., regarded in its relation to ideal character]
3. The Externality of a work of Art in relation to a Public
(_a_) What is implied in the assertion by the artist of the particular culture of his own times?
(_b_) What may be regarded as truth when the reference is to a Past, either in an exclusive or objective sense?
(_c_) What may still be regarded as valid in truth though the matter be appropriated from a time and nationality foreign to the artist? All three questions discussed and illustrated]
2. The objective character of the artistic presentation
The present inquiry[1] has for its subject-matter _Aesthetic_. It is a subject co-extensive with the entire _realm of the beautiful_; more specifically described, its province is that of _Art_, or rather, we should say, of _Fine Art._
For a subject-matter such as this the term "Aesthetic" is no doubt not entirely appropriate, for "Aesthetic" denotes more accurately the science of the senses or emotion. It came by its origins as a science, or rather as something that to start with purported to be a branch of philosophy, during the period of the school of Wolff, in other words when works of art were generally regarded in Germany with reference to the feelings they were calculated to evoke, as, for example, the feelings of pleasure, admiration, fear, pity, and so forth. It is owing to the unsuitability or, more strictly speaking, the superficiality of this term that the attempt has been made by some to apply the name "Callistic" to this science. Yet this also is clearly insufficient inasmuch as the science here referred to does not investigate beauty in its general signification, but the beauty of art pure and simple. For this reason we shall accommodate ourselves to the term Aesthetic, all the more so as the mere question of nomenclature is for ourselves a matter of indifference. It has as such been provisionally accepted in ordinary speech, and we cannot do better than retain it. The _term_, however, which fully expresses our science is "Philosophy of Art," and, with still more precision, "Philosophy of Fine Art."