Chapter 42 Part III The World as Representation Revisited §42

I shall now return to the impression of beauty.Although the cognition of beauty always defines the subject of pure cognition and the idea known as the object as simultaneous and inseparable, the source of the sense of beauty sometimes lies in the comprehension of the already recognized idea, and sometimes it lies in the liberation of pure cognition from desire. Thereby getting rid of all individuality and the joy and tranquility after the pain caused by individuality.Moreover, whether one or the other component of the aesthetic sense takes precedence depends on whether the intuitively apprehended idea is a higher or lower order of the objectivity of the will.Thus in the appreciation of natural beauty in inorganic matter, vegetation, and architectural art (appreciation in kind or through appreciation of art), the aesthetic perception derived from purely willless knowledge will prevail, because the idea grasped here is only the substratum of the objectivity of the will. levels, and thus are not meaningful and meaningful phenomena.On the contrary, if animals or people are the objects of appreciation or artistic expression, then the enjoyment of beauty will focus on the objective experience of these concepts.The Idea [here] is the clearest expression of the will; for animals and men exhibit the most complex forms, the richness and depth of appearance, and are the most complete exhibits to us of the essence of will, Whether this essence is in the agitation of the will, in its terror, in its satisfaction or in its frustration (this last is in the drama of tragedy), finally or even in its change of direction or self-ablation.Self-sublation is especially the subject of Christian dogmatic painting, just as story-picture and drama are fundamentally about the idea of ​​the will fully illuminated by knowledge. ——In the following we will discuss each art separately, so that the aesthetic theory established here will gain completeness and clarity after the discussion.