Art and beauty. Linguistic versus psychological aesthetic theories

Abstract

In his dialogues Plato distinguished poetry as ‘inspiration from poetry as ‘technique’. Taking a hint from this archetypal distinction (as well as, inevitably, from the overstaying opposition between ‘idea’ and ‘matter’), the paper explores some of the most momentous phases in the history of criticism, from the earliest documents on poetry to the contemporary aesthetic debate. In so doing, it points to the irremediable and continuing dualism of a critical tradition, which has alternatively emphasised the ideal elements of beauty or the material constituents of art.