As often happens in our world, when a concept is used both in the case and not in the case, then the words are dragged in and lose their meaning! This happened with the words aesthetics and aesthetes, which came into our language from the fertile ancient Greece.
Aesthete and aesthetics - words are not abusive
Aesthetics, in its original sense, is a philosophical, bookish concept that reveals the essence of the process of human cognition of the world through his sensory perceptions. That is, an esthete is a person who is able to feel.
And since there are no people in the world who are not capable of feeling, we are all philosophically aesthetes. The opposite of the aesthete is the logician. And there are few such people, but for some reason it is they who are scolded with the word "esthete" in our time.
Beauty and expediency
Nature strives for expediency, and therefore - for beauty. So once Aristotle calculated and wrote down this thought, but, after thinking a little on this topic, he moved on to other questions. And after him, his followers made an axiom out of this almost random phrase of his. And a dead-end philosophical trend arose. Over the course of a century, it descended into the void, but their words were picked up by artists, and it turned out that an esthete is no longer any person, but some kind of subtly sensitive world.
Philosophers have given artists these terms to use and have taken on deeper issues. And the words went for a walk among the people, until they acquired an ironic, dismissive connotation. Now, for most ordinary people, an esthete is a person who is not understood by others, because, in his opinion, they are all too rude. In Russian, there is an exact term to define this - "with a fool", that is, a person behaves this way without the goal of deceiving anyone for his own benefit, but just like that, on a whim, because he cannot live otherwise.
But be that as it may, beauty and expediency exist in the world. The connection between these concepts is doubtful, but the artists nevertheless systematized them as best they could. With logic, they are usually at odds, so the world of the esthete, in the artistic sense of this phrase, is ambivalent and pretentious.
Aesthetics is the science of beauty
When philosophers returned to a topic abandoned for 2000 years, at the beginning of the 20th century they formed the science of beauty for artists - aesthetics, with the help of which they try to find out: why does a person consider one thing beautiful and the other ugly? And some success has been achieved. It turned out that the object itself is neither beautiful nor ugly. It becomes such only in the feelings of a particular person. Then the philosophers singled out a special type from the general mass of mankind and called these people aesthetes.
Most of us accept into our inner world up to 5 years the canons of beauty as we grow up and then follow them until the end of our lives. And an esthete is one who forms the canons of beauty for himself, and not until the age of 5, but until the end of his life. With such people, real artists, pioneers, lovers to the point of insanity and other restless personalities turn out.
A normal portion of aesthetics is useful for everyone
If the concepts of beautiful and aesthetic are excluded from a person’s life, then he will grunt like a piglet the very next day. It is beauty that often keeps us from ugly deeds. Some do not even hang themselves just because a person does not look aesthetically pleasing during this action.
And people of art, for example, actors in theaters, even try to quarrel among themselves beautifully and aesthetically. Most would take their example in this, and not in anything else. The same acting up" can hardly be called beautiful.
In a normal measure, designers have captured the meaning of aesthetics. They make household and useful things attractive in appearance. And it's nice that at the same time they do not claim their exclusivity and do not teach us. But the workers of the so-called haute couture are somewhat overplaying. After all, aesthetics - this is not a mockery of the And then from the cloying of their research sometimes turns back. For example, a woman should not, no matter what anyone claims, be like a nail. The law does not exist for geometry.
So, everything that is not in moderation is not healthy, even beauty.
The almost imperceptible flutter of the wings of a moth and a small multi-colored drop of dew on a delicate rose petal is something that ordinary people can pass by, but never an aesthete. An esthete is a person who perceives the individual components of the external reflection of art as a whole. This is the person who will always find beauty even on dirty city roads, as well as an optimist - pluses in a gloomy life situation.
Is it easy to be an aesthete? Judge for yourself: an age of progressive computerization, a crazy change in fashion trends and a partial depreciation of some moral values. The time of various subcultures and fashionable chaos, when everyone wears only what first fell into their hands in the closet.
An esthete is a person who dresses harmoniously, always looks beautiful and loves cleanliness in everything, even in feelings. He can be recognized in the crowd only if you exclaim: “This is beauty!”. Believe me, very few will stop to see some kind of beauty there. It will be easier for them to shout: “This is money!” - the chances of attracting the attention of the ordinary crowd rise sharply. But the esthete will definitely stop at the first call. For him, everything beautiful is the air and the bread of life.
In the modern world, aesthetes can be called by various names, up to metrosexuals. Such people are often laughed at or discussed behind their backs. Very often, male aesthetes are considered to be lavas of non-traditional sexual orientation. But all this is only from their own bad manners and bad taste. An esthete will always understand another esthete in his pursuit of excellence in the interior of the house, in the wardrobe, and in life.
A woman - an esthete will always look beautiful and stylish, regardless of the next "fashion squeak" that rages on the catwalks and streets. She does not put on fashionable knitted summer felt boots only from a herd reflex. The esthete will decorate the house only in a harmonious stylistic direction, thinking over the location of each decoration attribute to the smallest detail. The esthete will have only semantic pictures hanging in the room, and not now fashionable "masterpieces" painted by various parts of the body.
As for the professions that a true esthete chooses for himself, they will never be related to agriculture (the only exception can be gardening) or farming. As a rule, aesthetes work in museums, art galleries, jewelry or beauty salons.
Life without beauty and the constant manifestation of art and harmony in all the little things will seem unnecessary and gray to the esthete. They are very capricious in choosing friends and partners in life, as they prefer to choose for themselves the same subtle natures as themselves. Aesthetes are strongly attached to the house, place of work and a certain style of clothing. But that doesn't mean they can't do some crazy things. After all, aesthetes differ from other people, by and large only in that they see natural beauty in everything and constantly surround themselves with only impeccable things and works of art. Well, in this they can only envy.
Esthete
(from the Greek aisthetes - feeling, perceiving), ..
- Art lover, connoisseur of fine art...
- A person who evaluates everything exclusively from an aesthetic point of view.
Culturology. Dictionary-reference
Esthete
(Greek aesthetes - feeling, perceiving)
1) a fan of art, a connoisseur of grace;
2) a person who evaluates everything exclusively from an aesthetic point of view, neglecting the moral side of phenomena.
Dictionary Ushakov
Esthete
este t[te], aesthete, husband. (books.). A person inclined towards aestheticism ( cm. at 2 value). "Your husband wears a volume of Wilde, a Scottish plaid, a colored waistcoat ... your husband is a contemptuous esthete." A. Blok.
Ozhegov's dictionary
Philosophical Dictionary (Comte-Sponville)
Esthete
Esthete
♦ Esthete
He who loves the beautiful, especially the beautiful in art, is more than anything in the world, to the point that he is ready to devote or subordinate everything else to this love. For an aesthete, truth and goodness acquire value only if they are beautiful. A beautiful lie is dearer to him than an ugly truth; he would rather forgive an elegant crime than bad taste. It is far from always that an esthete is an artist himself, rather it is even a rarity (most great creators put truth or goodness much higher than beauty). Aesthete is a believer. He turned art into a religion, and aesthetics successfully replaces logic, morality, and metaphysics. Philosophically, this position culminates in Nietzsche: “The only law for us is aesthetic evaluation,” he writes. And he adds: “Art, and nothing but art! It is it that allows us to live, it convinces us to live, it pushes us to life ... There is more value in art than in truth ... Art in the service of illusion is our cult ”(“ The Will to Power ”, IV, 8 and III, 582) . These words express the main essence of the phenomenon, which explains why we consider Nietzsche an aesthete. For the same reason I am not a Nietzschean.
Esthete[ste], - a, masculine gender. 1. Supporter of aestheticism (in 1 significant.) (bookish). 2. Admirer of everything elegant. || well. aesthetics, i. || adjective aesthetic, - oh, - oh.
Word usage examples esthete in the context
- . But Mandelstam, who wrote little and sparingly, esthete in the best sense of the word, master of phonics, why was he so seemingly careless about rhyme, which he had no intention of completely abandoning?
. Then, when you become the master of the situation, you can discard all this and walk as it is convenient, but to develop aestheticism, if you don’t have it, these techniques with clothes are simply irreplaceable, because a good esthete he must have the courage to defend his views on beauty, on the value of the images he creates, he must have the strength to challenge society in order to break through his ideas into life - such is our world today.
. The child is first and foremost esthete: it reacts to appearance, to visibility, to outlines and forms.
. Shklovsky esthete, a revolutionary and totalitarian, he says that in art there is no unorganized material.
. Stavrogin Throughout the 60s, the public watched with surprise as esthete, a Westerner and a favorite of the gossip newspaper sections, Mishima is gradually turning into a zealot of national traditions, a monarchist and an ultra-right politician.
Many terms that a person may encounter today are becoming less and less clear to a wide audience, so they are often used in situations that are completely untrue.
An excellent example is the concept of aesthete, which is often synonymous with a person with good taste. The true aesthetics of the things that surround us often become apparent only after an independent study of such objects. Understanding aesthetics can be considered a basic feature of an intelligent person.
Esthetes are different. So there is a concept inner esthete, which indicates the personal qualities of a person that are constantly developing in her over time.
It is impossible to study the basics of aestheticism at school, although teachers are trying to accustom their students to the sublime and beautiful. Therefore, only those who initially sought to follow this path can become an esthete, and everyone else simply bypasses this path.
The meaning of the term and its role in human life
In ordinary conversation with friends or colleagues, such a word remains a rare occurrence, so many only approximately understand its meaning. It is customary to call an aesthete a person who has a personal opinion and is able to distinguish between the ugly and the beautiful.
Such a person can notice beautiful moments in almost everything, from works of art to the creations that surround him.
An esthete is considered an educated and refined person. Such a comrade will exclude the very idea of inappropriate behavior, but he will also be very strict and demanding of others. This character trait is usually associated with a clear understanding of beauty. in every aspect:
- manners;
- the ability to keep oneself;
- way to decorate your home.
An aesthete may have such features as pedantry, as well as punctuality, although such qualities are not mandatory. From the outside it may seem that the esthete is a superman, but in practice any citizen can develop a similar attitude to others, if you try hard.
There is no reason to go to work as a librarian just to become a writer or learn how to write an essay. So in the case of aesthetes, no one talks about a special gift. They do not perceive the world differently, they just see it from a different angle. The inner esthete can manifest itself in everyone, if you want it.
How to bring up an aesthete in yourself?
For those who sympathize with such a life position, there is some helpful tips that will help you become aesthetes faster. So many experts in the subject are connoisseurs of classical music. But it is not necessary to delete all the albums of your favorite popular artists in order to become an aesthete. Everything should start small.
Train yourself to listen to 1-2 songs a day and increase their number in the player every few weeks. In addition, do not get hung up on a particular artist.
Listen to Beethoven, Wagner, Tchaikovsky and other great composers who created many amazing masterpieces. The moment you can tell Chopin from Rachmaninoff, you know it's time to move on.
The next step could be to study classic works of writers. Naturally, listening to classical music and reading texts that have become the property of mankind can be done together, most importantly, do it consciously.
What books should an aesthete read? A lot here comes down to personal preference. At the same time, there is Brodsky's list, as well as collections of the best works of world literature from BBC books that everyone should read. They will be able to show that beauty surrounds every person, and only a little diligence is enough to recognize it.
Today, fewer and fewer people can declare at least a few works of the classics by heart, because while studying them at school, it is difficult for us to understand all the beauty that they possess and that they bring to the world.
But it's never too late to fix the situation. It is enough to start reading Blok, Mayakovsky and other authors, whose works can have several interpretations at once. It is not necessary to memorize them, it will be enough consciously study each interesting poem and try to analyze it.
If it was not possible to understand the author's idea, then do not despair. It is better to read the work again and continue to get acquainted with other creations of the author. Awareness of the message may come later, because unrevealed secrets always arouse the interest of the aesthete.
Studying the paintings of world famous artists will allow you to get a completely different look at things. So trips to galleries should become a mandatory element of leisure.
