"I wonder, sometimes, whether the appreciators of art and of mathematical solutions are not even more closely allied" (Wartenberg 122).
--Clive Bell
I mentioned in a previous post the possibility of including science and mathematics under the definition of art. Having read Clive Bell's essay on art, I have now found another assertion for the possibility.
Bell claims that true appreciation from art--experiencing 'aesthetic pleasure'--is a result of significant form. However, before we can feel aesthetic emotion from forms, we must first become aware of the "rightness and necessity" for a combination of forms (Wartenberg 122).
This exposes a similarity between art and mathematics which is admitted by Clive Bell; mathematicians also must understand the rightness and necessity of the components of an equation before they see the beauty of it. If artists and art appreciators feel aesthetic emotion from realizing the perfect beauty of the combinations, then why wouldn't mathematicians as well? After all, they must find some reward in solving and creating mathematical formula's, otherwise they would want to find another lifestyle. It seems plausible that mathematicians would feel a similar aesthetic emotion as artists.
And what about scientists? Bell never mentioned them, but he did explain the mathematicians emotion as arising from "the heart of an abstract science" (Wartenberg 122). It seems unfortunate for physicists, chemists, and biologists that they have been stuck finding joy in sciences which are not abstract, but very real and concrete. However, Bell's explanation for why mathematicians would feel aesthetic emotion should--and I think does--include these scientists; an appreciation for scientific formulas must also begin with understanding the rightness and necessity for it's components.
QUESTION: Would the joy felt by artists in recognizing perfect form be similar the the joy felt by mathemiticians when recognizing a perfect formula?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
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