Joseph Addison’s on the Abilities of Imagination and Relationship between Natural and Artistic Beauty

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of the Philosophy of Art, Science and Research Branch, Islamic azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Addison’s aesthetic theory is expressed in the pleasures of imagination with focusing on aesthetic perception. Addison’s aesthetic theory is an important attainment of the early Enlightenment in introducing the significance of the faculty of the imagination. In this theory, Addison wants to defend from imagination against those who did not consider any important role for it, like Descartes. He considers a cognitive and spiritual function for imagination. The pleasure of imagination is not necessarily independent of other sources of pleasure in human life. That is, he did not separate the different pleasures like Kant. The imagination enhances other sources of pleasure in life, because it has no cost, that is, without the cost of ownership and without costs of everyday experiences. The pleasures of imagination either through direct seeing of objects or facts, or through seeing and perceiving their representations in various artistic genres such as painting, sculpture, and literary descriptions that they are presented in different forms by the authors. Imagination give us a form power in order to combine and to create images and scenarios. Thus a man can entertain and enjoy even in his/her own loneliness. The primary pleasures of imagination are achieved from the perception of natural objects and man-made objects. Secondary pleasures of imagination are achieved from the perception of representations in the artworks. The pleasures of imagination can be caused by exposure to greatness, beauty and harmony. But art has a special facility that it is same novelty. Art can be ahead of nature and can be the agent of an agreeable surprise. Since beauty is related to form, it has the least connection with the cognitive interests and human actions, and thus it provides the most autonomous pleasure of imagination that the mind does not consider in its confirmation other than the elements and parts of the form that are perceived at the moment of being seen. Thus the perception of beauty is due to the power of imagination. For him, greatness has an effective role in the active of imagination. For him, pleasure is one mental ability. If someone does not enjoy it, it's because of weakness his/her imagination and the eye of his/her mind is closed. This view about beauty and art tells us that objective view will gradually go away and subjective view will emerge. Our goal is in the research that don’t ignore Addison's contribution in this transition. Kant is raised many of his ideas for example disinterested attitude and the superiority of natural beauty. Addison’s thought extends throughout the 18th century in Kant’s thought and the movement of Romanticism. His influence is observed especially in his emphasis on the visual adjustment of the imagination, the exposing of mental visibility at the very center of all aesthetic experience. In this paper, by means of library method data are collected and then are described and analyzed in order to be clear the abilities of imagination in the face of nature and art, then what is the relationship between natural and artistic beauty?

Keywords


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