Actuality & Potentiality
of Beauty
Reading
Written on
9/30/15
In our reading
and class discussion we talked about Aristotle’s view of actuality and
potentiality. Actuality is being and potentiality is becoming. Although this
was discussed on the context of drama and the transitions within it, I would
like to expand on the idea of actuality and potentiality in all arts. In my
exploration of this topic I came to the understanding that beauty is only
actuality and cannot contain potentiality. In a more abstract/philosophical
view of this topic beauty itself is being or an essence. It is not becoming it
just is. Art on the other hand is both. Art may hold some essence of beauty but
it is also becoming. That is why some art may be seen as beautiful in some time
periods but not in others. The art itself is not beautiful is a philosophical sense.
The physical artwork cannot be the essence. People can experience the essence
and create art and from that art a window can be opened into the essence of the
beautiful but the beauty itself cannot be replicated in this world. I may be completely
wrong with this analysis but it was worth the exploration.
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