Contemporary approach to the understanding of the notion of “beautiful” as an aesthetic category

The author elaborates the idea of modern aesthetics that the notion of “beautiful” is not a fundamental category of modern art and modern philosophy of art. Under the direct influence of science and arts modern philosophy has added to the categories such notions as probability, absurdity, the mundane, the understanding etc. On the other hand a new understanding of society and man prompted the introduction of such categories as lifeworld, fear, solitariness, care, doubt, language games etc. It has become evident that many categories are not only blurred but rather heterogeneous, thus the “system of categories” is something to be referred to with considerable reservations. The article proposes a preliminary definition and interpretation of the beautiful and the main principles of the analysis of the beautiful. In the most general and tentative terms the “beautiful” can be defined as something that complies with the idea of beauty accepted in a given society or civilization. Ideas of beauty can vary from culture to culture and from civilization to civilization. This is no to say that certain, albeit few, objects cannot be considered beautiful throughout many historical epochs. Standards of beauty as well as social standards in general, do not refer to any object but only to certain types of objects. Consequently “beautiful” is always “beautiful of a kind”. Beauty in general does not exist, there are only beautiful objects of a definite kind. The article maintains that there are at least three reasons why the “beautiful” cannot be verbally defined. The first is methodological, the second is social and the third is related to the peculiarities of the beautiful itself, primarily it sensual nature. In the first place the degree of clarity of scientific notions depends on the level of the development of science. The scientific study of arts is a never-ending venture. And while it continues, its categories and in particular the category of the beautiful will require clarification.