[Note: for this online edition I have moved the Table of Contents to the beginning of the text and slightly modified it to conform with the online format. I have also made one spelling change: "ominiscient intelligence" to "omniscient intelligence".]

THE SENSE OF BEAUTY

BEING THE OUTLINES OF AESTHETIC THEORY

GEORGE SANTAYANA

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

Preface Introduction -- The Methods of Aesthetics 1-13

Part I. -- The Nature of Beauty Sec. 1. The philosophy of beauty is a theory of values 14 Sec. 2. Preference is ultimately irrational 18 Sec. 3. Contrast between moral and aesthetic values 28 Sec. 4. Work and play 25 Sec. 5. All values are in one sense aesthetic 28 Sec. 6. Aesthetic consecration of general principles 31 Sec. 7. Contrast of aesthetic and physical pleasures 35 Sec. 8. The differentia of aesthetic pleasure not its disinterestedness 37 Sec. 9. The differentia of aesthetic pleasure not its universality 40 Sec. 10. The differential of aesthetic pleasure: its objectification 44 Sec. 11. The definition of beauty 49

Part II. -- The Materials of Beauty Sec. 12. All human functions may contribute to the sense of beauty 53 Sec. 13. The influence of the passion of love 56 Sec. 14. Social instincts and their aesthetic influence 62 Sec. 15. The lower senses 65 Sec. 16. Sound 68 Sec. 17. Colour 72 Sec. 18. Materials surveyed 76

Part III. -- Form Sec. 19. There is a beauty of form 82 Sec. 20. Physiology of the perception of form 85 Sec. 21. Values of geometrical figures 88 Sec. 22. Symmetry 91 Sec. 23. Form the unity of a manifold 95 Sec. 24. Multiplicity in uniformity 97 Sec. 25. Example of the stars 100 Sec. 26. Defects of pure multiplicity 106 Sec. 27. Aesthetics of democracy 110 Sec. 28. Values of types and values of examples 112 Sec. 29. Origin of types 116 Sec. 30. The average modified in the direction of pleasure 121 Sec. 31. Are all things beautiful? 126 Sec. 32. Effects of indeterminate form 131 Sec. 33. Example of landscape 133 Sec. 34. Extensions to objects usually not regarded aesthetically 138 Sec. 35. Further dangers of indeterminateness 142 Sec. 36. The illusion of infinite perfection 146 Sec. 37. Organized nature the source of apperceptive forms 152 Sec. 38. Utility the principle of organization in nature 155 Sec. 39. The relation of utility to beauty 157 Sec. 40. Utility the principle of organization in the arts 160 Sec. 41. Form and adventitious ornament 163 Sec. 42. Syntactical form 167 Sec. 42. Literary form. The plot 171 Sec. 44. Character as an aesthetic form 174 Sec. 45. Ideal characters 176 Sec. 46. The religious imagination 180 Sec. 47. Preference is ultimately irrational 185

Part IV. -- Expression Sec. 48. Expression defined 192 Sec. 49. The associative process 198 Sec. 50. Kinds of value in the second term 201 Sec. 51. Aesthetic value in the second term 205 Sec. 52. Practical value in the same 208 Sec. 53. Cost as an element of effect 211 Sec. 54. The expression of economy and fitness 214 Sec. 55. The authority of morals over aesthetics 218 Sec. 56. Negative values in the second term 221 Sec. 57. Influence of the first term in the pleasing expression of evil 226 Sec. 58. Mixture of other expressions, including that of truth 228 Sec. 59. The liberation of self 233 Sec. 60. The sublime independent of the expression of evil 239 Sec. 61. The comic 245 Sec. 62. Wit 250 Sec. 63. Humour 253 Sec. 64. The grotesque 256 Sec. 65. The possibility of finite perfection 258 Sec. 66. The stability of the ideal 263

Sec. 67. Conclusion 266-270 Footnotes Index 271-275

The Sense of Beauty: Being the Outlines of Aesthetic Theory