Abstract
According to a “Traditional” view, there was a medieval aesthetics, which centered around the theories of beauty developed by theologians like Albert the Great, Ulrich of Strasbourg, and Thomas Aquinas. They argued that beauty lies in the relation between the form and matter of a hylomorphic concrete whole. Although they were writing in the context of beauty as a property of all things that exist, some of them allowed for different degrees of beauty in different things. Traditionalist theorists put these ideas together with material from technical treatises on individual arts (such as poetry, music, and architecture) and ideas implied by medieval artifacts in order to construct a medieval aesthetic theory. Recently, however, strong arguments have been brought to suggest that there was no such thing as medieval aesthetics, given that the connection between beauty and human-made artifacts, central to many modern aesthetic theories, was not made.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Albert the Great (1972) Super Dionysium de divinis nominibus (c. 1250), ed. Simon P. Aschendorff, Münster
Aquinas Thomas (1927) Opuscula omnia, V, ed. Mandonnet P. Lethielleux, Paris
Baeumker C (1908) Witelo: Ein Philosoph und Naturforscher des XIII. Jahrhunderts. Aschendorff, Münster (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters III, 2)
Hugh of St Victor (1961) The didascalicon of Hugh of St. Victor: a medieval guide to the arts, trans. Taylor J. Columbia University Press, New York (Records of civilization, sources and studies 64)
Ibn al-Haytham (1989) The optics of Ibn al-Haytham. Books I–III On direct vision, trans. with commentary Sabra AI. Studies of the Warburg Institute 40. Warburg Institute, London
Ibn al-Haytham (2001) Alhacen’s theory of visual perception. A critical edition, with English translation and commentary, of the first three books of Alhacen’s ‘De aspectibus’, the Medieval Latin version of Ibn al-Haytham’s Kitâb al-Manâzir by Mark Smith A. Trans Am Philos Soc 91:4, 5
Suger A (1946) Abbot suger on the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and its arts treasures, ed. Panofksy E. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Suger A (1995) De consecratione, ed. Binding G, Speer A. Vertrieb Abt. Architekturgeschichte, Cologne
Ulrich of Strasbourg (1987) De summo bono, II.1–4, ed. de Libera A. Hamburg, Meiner
Secondary Sources
Aertsen JA (1991) Beauty in the Middle Ages: a forgotten transcendental? Mediev Philos Theol 1:68–97
Assunto R (1961) La Critica d’Arte nel pensiero medievale. Il Saggiatore, Milan
Boulnois O (2008) Au-delà de l’image. Une archéologie du visuel au Moyen Âge, Ve – XVIe siècle. Seuil, Paris
De Bruyne E (1998) Études d’esthétique médiévale. Albin Michel, Paris (repr. with new introduction and afterword, both the Études of 1946, and L’Esthétique du moyen âge 1947, translated as The esthetics of the Middle Ages by Hennessy EB, Ungar, New York 1969)
Eco U (1970) Il Problema estetico in Tommaso d’Aquino. Bompiani, Milan (2nd edn, with new concluding chapter, of a book first published 1956); English trans. The aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas, trans. Bredin H. Radius, London, 1988
Eco U (1986) Art and beauty in the Middle Ages, trans. Bredin H. Yale University Press, New Haven/London (a translation of a section, ‘Sviluppo dell’estetica medievale’ in Momenti e problemi dell’estetica, published 1959; Eco has published an updating: Arte e bellezza nell’estetica medievale. Bompiani, Milan, 1987)
Eco U (2007) Dall’albero al labirinto: studi storici sul segno e l’interpretazione. Bompiani, Milan
Jordan MD (1989) The evidence of the transcendental and the place of beauty in Thomas Aquinas. Int Philos Quart 29:393–407
Kovach FJ (1961) Die Ästhetik des Thomas von Aquin. Eine genetische und systematische Analyse. De Gruyter, Berlin
Kristeller PO (1980) The modern system of the arts’ in his Renaissance thought and the arts. Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp 163–227
Marenbon J (2009) Medieval and renaissance aesthetics. A companion to aesthetics, ed. Davies et al. Wiley-Blackwell, Malden/Oxford, pp 22–32
Maritain J (1965) Art et scolastique, 4th edn. Desclée de Brower, Paris
McQueen D (1993) Aquinas on the aesthetic relevance of tastes and smells. Br J Aesthet 33:346–356
Mothersill M (1984) Beauty restored. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Panfosky E (1957) Gothic architecture and scholasticism. Thames & Hudson, London
Pouillon H (1946) La Beauté, propriété transcendentale chez les scolastiques (1220–1270). Archives d’histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen âge 15:263–329
Speer A (1990) Thomas Aquin und die Kunst. Eine hermeneutische Anfrage zur mittelalterlichen Ästhetik. Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 72:323–345
Speer A (1993) Vom Verstehen mittelalterlicher Kunst. Mittelalterliches Kunsterleben nach Quellen des 11. Bis 13. Jahrhunderts, ed. Binding G, Speer A. Fromman and Holzboog, Stuttgart/Bad Cannstatt, pp 13–52
Speer A (1994) Kunst und Schönheit. Kritische Überlegungen zur mittelalterlichen Ästhetik. ‘Scientia’ und ‘ars’ in Hoch- und Spätmittelalter, ed. Craemer-Ruegenberg I, Speer A. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York, pp 946–966 (Miscellanea Mediaevalia 22, 2)
Tatarkiewicz W (1970) History of aesthetics II. Mouton, The Hague/Paris (translation of Historia Estetyki. II. Estetyka Sredniowieczna by A and A Czerniawki)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Marenbon, J. (2011). Aesthetics. In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9728-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9729-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law