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Now, it's impossible to have expertise in any school of art without knowing this masterpiece by Raphael during the Italian Renaissance. This is a fresco (mural painting) that depicts distinct philosophers of Ancient Greek knowledge, and all under one roof. Raphael devised a system of iconography to reference these philosophers through their distinct personal attributes; for instance, the morose-looking fellow in front of the steps looking down at the floor depicts Heraclitus, who was known in Ancient times as "The Weeping Philosopher" for his melancholy.
Yet the most striking personas in this fresco are Plato and Aristotle (left to right), magnified below:
They both sport their representative books: Plato -- Timaeus; Aristotle -- Nichomachean Ethics. As conventional wisdom would have it, their gestures are also symbolic of central aspects to their philosophies. Pointing to the sky would seem to correctly indicate Plato's Theory of Forms in which he asserts that all objects in the whole of existence have a perfect transcendent counterpart, which he called a Form or Idea. An individual just act, for instance, is "just" only insofar as it partakes of Justice, absolute and perfect Justice which is not merely an abstract idea, but is with a real and independent existence which the individual merely "imitates" and "falls short of". Similarly, a shoe, in this imperfect world, is not really a perfect shoe but falls short of "Shoeness" to which individual shoes only approximate. Plato's political works are therefore influenced by the sad conviction that moral conduct is always in some sense second-rate; people should no doubt strive to produce the best possible conduct and institutions in their state, but perfection will elude them always.
Aristotle, by contrast (and incidentally a student of Plato), is an optimist. Things are always moving toward their full completeness: as one analyst put it, "an acorn is not destined to become an oak tree that inevitably falls short of Oaktreeness; it is destined to grow into an adult and fully formed oak tree, which is its 'end' or 'purpose' or telos; it is here in the final and complete stage of a natural process. The 'form' of the oak tree resides in the oak tree and is not something unattainable."* Aristotle's teleology (his philosophy of ends or purposes) flavors all of his work, and hence in this painting he is gesturing to concrete, natural objects on Earth.
Enjoy also his fresco La Disputa and the painting Young Woman with Unicorn.
* Sinclair in Aristotle's "Politics"
Yet the most striking personas in this fresco are Plato and Aristotle (left to right), magnified below:
They both sport their representative books: Plato -- Timaeus; Aristotle -- Nichomachean Ethics. As conventional wisdom would have it, their gestures are also symbolic of central aspects to their philosophies. Pointing to the sky would seem to correctly indicate Plato's Theory of Forms in which he asserts that all objects in the whole of existence have a perfect transcendent counterpart, which he called a Form or Idea. An individual just act, for instance, is "just" only insofar as it partakes of Justice, absolute and perfect Justice which is not merely an abstract idea, but is with a real and independent existence which the individual merely "imitates" and "falls short of". Similarly, a shoe, in this imperfect world, is not really a perfect shoe but falls short of "Shoeness" to which individual shoes only approximate. Plato's political works are therefore influenced by the sad conviction that moral conduct is always in some sense second-rate; people should no doubt strive to produce the best possible conduct and institutions in their state, but perfection will elude them always.
Aristotle, by contrast (and incidentally a student of Plato), is an optimist. Things are always moving toward their full completeness: as one analyst put it, "an acorn is not destined to become an oak tree that inevitably falls short of Oaktreeness; it is destined to grow into an adult and fully formed oak tree, which is its 'end' or 'purpose' or telos; it is here in the final and complete stage of a natural process. The 'form' of the oak tree resides in the oak tree and is not something unattainable."* Aristotle's teleology (his philosophy of ends or purposes) flavors all of his work, and hence in this painting he is gesturing to concrete, natural objects on Earth.
Enjoy also his fresco La Disputa and the painting Young Woman with Unicorn.
* Sinclair in Aristotle's "Politics"
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