ESTHETICS BY ETHEL PUFFER HOWES An outlook on the accomplishments of the year 1912 (and, in part, of 1911), in the field of psychological æsthetics, discloses some clearly-marked tendencies. Probably the book of the year most interesting for its indication of these is the Psychologie der Kunst of Müller-Freienfels (20). He emphasizes the extraordinary manifoldness of elements in the æsthetic experience, and sets himself sturdily against all attempts to compress this manifoldness into a single formula. The various partial views masquerading as complete descriptions he refers rather to the numerous individual differences, amounting to fully defined types, in the enjoyment of art; the major interest and service of the book is in the enumeration, analysis and characterization of these, denoted as, for example, the sensory-visual, imaginative-motor, and so on. The second volume is devoted to an analysis and explanation of the forms of the work of art from the point of view of economy ("maximum of stimulation with the minimum of fatigue"), which aims to take account of all experimental results in the field. The author's opening definition of the æsthetic experience as self-contained, pointing to ends outside itself, and of art as that which in the realm of sight and hearing can be fixed in objective form; his polemic against the expression-theory of art and the Einfühlung (Empathy)-theory of æsthetic experience ("what one is for art-creation, the other is for art-enjoyment"), are of secondary interest to the general trend exhibited. This is the emphasis on the interest of individual differences to the psychologist in æsthetics, and the tendency to draw into the æsthetic net all contents of consciousness discoverable as accompanying the enjoyment of art. That nothing is alien to the analyst in psychological æsthetics is further exemplified in the recent book and other articles of Utitz (25, 26), who indeed remarks that he is interested in a "general psychological characteristic" rather than in a final analysis of psychical structure-relations, and that, in general, æsthetics has far too exclusively busied itself with the pure æsthetic experience. Inasmuch as he sees in the Funktionsfreuden only an important accompanying effect of art, not its Zweck, and in the function-feelings in general not the constitutive nature of the æsthetic attitude; and as he explicitly notes the "extra-æsthetic" enjoyment, this rounding out of psychological material for the aesthetic experience has in it so far no confusion of distinctions. So much can hardly be said of much of the literature on synæsthesia, and imaginal reactions to various forms of art (8, 19, 28). While not explicitly identifying them, these studies seem to lay emphasis on, and to tend to substitute, enumeration of gross associative factors for analysis of specific æsthetic experiences. Whether tending to obliterate necessary distinctions or not, a widespread interest among psychologists in æsthetics in the accumulation of material in the outlying fields is to be noted. If much of this work seems to the reviewer like the tactics of a besieging army which should lay waste surrounding territory while avoiding the central fortress, it may doubtless be rejoined that such tactics are the necessary preliminary to a decisive engagement. From the genial inclusiveness of these recent works, a plunge into Hamann's Esthetik (12) is like going into a bracing cold bath. The aim of this little book, which professes to be but a Prolegomena, is the severe and systematic definition of the fundamental concepts of æsthetics, and there is something decidedly tonic in its sharp distinctions and divisions, and clear-cut reasoning, whether one follows them in full agreement or not. The constitutive marks of the æsthetic experience it finds in isolation, concentration and intensivation, the primacy being given to isolation; the argument connects this with a thorough-going interpretation of the concept of the disinterested in the aesthetic experience as it first appears in Kant. Among general works should also be noted the appearance of a second edition, bringing the material up to date, of Meumann's well-known treatise (17), and of an introduction to æsthetics by Lalo (14). In a field already pretty well exploited, the new volume by Vernon Lee (15) might be characterized as "The Adventures of a Mind with the Einfühlung-Theory." The emphasis on the chronological determinations of the author's thought has however less interest for the student than the truly rich and varied chronicle of introspective observations by the collaborators, and by Vernon Lee in particular in the essay on "Esthetic Responsiveness." Such spontaneous and vivid observations, whether or not couched in psychologically unassailable form, are a treasure-house of material and of suggestions for new departures. On the other hand, the author's explicit recommendations for experiment seem based on a somewhat uneven acquaintance with results already at hand. In professed parallel to a previous article by Vernon Lee on visual forms not intended to convey content, an article by T. A. Meyer (18) deals with the theory 1 See R. M. Ogden on (27), in April, 1913, BULLETIN. of Einfühlung in its application to such art forms as explicitly present themselves as expression of an inner activity. His conclusion is that complete Einfühlung, or Empathy, is the exceptional case, on the very limits of the æsthetic, while the real characteristic of the æsthetic state is freedom. Einfühlung can therefore not be adduced as the normal form of the æsthetic experience. Döring (7), also in criticism of Einfühlung, finds the original “harmlos” signification of Einfühlung as personification to have been merely a figure of speech, while Lipps's assumption of it as an all-explaining principle of æsthetic effect is unwarranted. In confirmation of his own "solicitation-theory” he cites Aristotle's principle of Katharsis. The theory of Einfühlung (Empathy) is in fact in the German literature of the year nowhere so favorably treated as in the warm, even eloquent appreciation of Basch (1), which may be recommended to the beginner as a clear and sympathetic presentment of the whole matter. Turning to the treatments of special concepts in the field of æsthetics, we should expect the widest popular interest for Bergson's famous essay, "Laughter," in an excellent translation (2). The comic is something stiff, rigid, automatic, an excrescence on life, which should be kept plastic, consciously adapted to the requirements of every moment. As such conscious adaptation is social, so the automatic, unconscious, unadapted, is unsocial, and to this unsocial quality, laughter is the corrective. The comic is not fully in the æsthetic field, because of this ethical, practical interest. Art, on the other hand, is disinterested; and art, in general, and the drama, in special, contrast to the comic and comedy, give us life unveiled, untrammelled, individual-"offer nature her revenge upon society" (p. 159). In apparent contradiction to this theory is the Freudian (3) attribution of our pleasure in wit to just the freedom it gives from social constraint on the primitive impulses; adding to this our pleasure in the economy of mental effort, and in freedom from the other constraint of logical thought. A reconciliation between these views is sought by Kallen (13) in the identification of the comic with "the frustrated menace in things, personal, social or cosmic, and of laughter with the explosion of relaxation and relief from tension before that menace." A stimulating essay looking toward the definition of poetic genres, by Erskine (9)—would that all students of æsthetics were as clear on the necessity of definitions!-an ingenious reworking of the everfertile concept of "the disinterested," by Bullough (5), may serve as further examples of special studies of æsthetic concepts. 1 See special review in this journal, 1912, 9, 354. First in scientific importance for the field of psychological æsthetics is undoubtedly the book (22) in which Stumpf gives the results of his ethnological studies for the theory of the origin of music, with valuable criticism of the body of material in the field, and examples of primitive songs. This has already been the subject of an extended review. In a later short paper with v. Hornbostel (23) he presents some special problems which the results already won from the phonographic reproduction of primitive and exotic music suggest to experimental psychology: the psychological possibility of scales of equal steps, like the Siamese; of extraordinarily complicated rhythms; of formulas for melodies which recall the arabesques of space-ornamentation and of the origin of parallel lines of melody in fifths and fourths among savages and Asiatic peoples with whom polyphonic music in our sense is unknown. An extended paper on "Konsonanz und Konkordanz” (24) leads to the redefining of fusion and consonance and the basing of "concordance" on the grouping of tones that are mutually consonant. "Konkordanz nennen wir die Eigenschaft eines Mehrklanges, die ihn zum Konkord stempelt, also seinen Aufbau nach dem Prinzip der Maximalzahl mit dem Grundton konsonierender Töne innerhalb der Octave in der Richtung von unten nach oben und nach der Rangfolge der Consonanzgrade” (p. 339). We may also note a general work by Britan2 (4) which speaks to the general reader, but seems not brought up to the point of interest to the student of advancing psychological theory; and an interesting study by McEwen (16) of the principles of shape in musical structure, which issues in a systematic discussion of the problem of phrasing in performance. In the field of visual art the work probably lying nearest to the special interests of the psychologist is the second and enlarged edition of the well-known book of Cornelius (6), devoted to a detailed and widely-extended application of the basic idea of Hildebrand, of the necessary modifications of visual material to adapt it to our vivid and unified apprehension. In this connection may be noted special articles by Everth (10) and Gordon (11). Weisbach's (27) monumental volumes on Impressionism furnish to the psychologist a mine of æsthetic material, ranging from the prehistoric drawings of the cave-men to the modern painters, for a study of the effect on 1 This journal, 1912, 9, 200. For my references to the books of Utitz and Britan I am indebted respectively to the review notices of J. Eichner in the Zsch. f. Philos. u. phil. Kritik, 145, 210 ff., and of H. B. Alexander in J. of Phil., Psychol., etc., 1912, 9, 305. representation of the artist's giving himself over to his individual impression; but "nur das Fernbild ist impressionistisch gestaltbar." For the next step, we may refer to Ogden's paper on "Post-Impressionism" (21). REFERENCES 1. BASCH, V. Les grands courants de l'esthétique allemande contemporaine. Rev. phil., 1912, 73, 22–43, 167–190. 2. BERGSON, H. (BRERETON, C., & ROTHWELL, F., trans.) Laughter; an essay on the meaning of the comic. New York: Macmillan, 1911. Pp. vi + 200. 3. BRILL, A. A. Freud's Theory of Wit. J. of Abnorm. Psychol., 1911, 6, 279–316. 4. BRITAN, H. H. The Philosophy of Music. New York: Longmans, 1911. Pp. xvi + 252. 5. BULLOUGH, E. “Psychical Distance" as a Factor in Art and an Æsthetic Principle. Brit. J. of Psychol., 1912, 5, 87-118. 6. CORNELIUS, H. Elementargesetze der bildenden Kunst. Grundlagen einer prakt. Aesthetik. (2., verm. Aufl.) Leipzig: Teubner, 1911. Pp. 201 + 245 Abbild. 7. DÖRING, AUGUST. Ueber Einfühlung. Zsch. f. Aesthetik, 1912, 7, 568– 8. DOWNEY, J. E. The Imaginal Reaction to Poetry. Univ. of Wyo., 1912, Bull. No. 2, 1-56. 9. ERSKINE, J. 10. EVERTH, E. II. GORDON, K. 352-363. 12. HAMANN, R. The Kinds of Poetry. J. of Philos. Psychol., etc., 1912, 9, 617–627. Aesthetik (Aus Natur und Geisteswelt, Bd. 345). Leipzig: Teubner, 1911. Pp. viii + 120. 13. KALLEN, H. M. The Esthetic Principle in Comedy. Amer. J. of Psychol., 1911, 22, 139-157. 14. LALO, C. Introduction a l'esthétique. Paris: Colin, 1912. Pp. ix + 343. 15. Lee, V., & Anstruther-ThOMSON, C. Beauty and Ugliness and Other Studies in Psychological Esthetics. London and New York: Lane, 1912. Pp. xviii + 376. 16. McEwen, J. B. The Thought of Music. New York: Macmillan, 1912. Pp. viii+233. 17. MEUMANN, E. Aesthetik der Gegenwart. (2. Aufl. (Herre, P., Hrsg.)). Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer, 1912. 18. Meyer, THEODOR A. Kritik d. Einfühlung. Zsch. f. Aesthetik, 1912, 7, 529–567. 19. MIES, P. Ueber die Tonmalerei. Zsch. f. Aesthetik, 1912, 7, 397–450. 20. MÜLLER-FREIENFELS, R. Psychologie der Kunst. 2 Bde. Leipzig: Teubner, 1912. 21. OGDEN, R. M. Post-Impressionism. The Sewanee Rev., 1912, April. 22. Stumpf, C. Die Anfänge der Musik. 23. STUMPF, C., & HORNBOSTEL, E. v. suchungen für die Psychologie und f. exper. Psychol., 1911, 256–269. Leipzig: Barth, 1911. Pp. 209. Ueber die Bedeutung ethnologischer Unter- 24. STUMPF, C. Konsonanz und Konkordanz. (Sonderdruck aus Festschrift zu R. v. Liliencrons 90. Geburtstage.) 25. UTITZ, E. Die Funktionsfreuden im aesthetischen Verhalten. Halle: Niemeyer, 1911. Pp. 152. |