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Aesthetic Realism is the philosophy founded by poet and critic Eli Siegel (1902–1978) in 1941. It is based on three core principles. First, the deepest desire of every person is to like the world on an honest or accurate basis. Second, the greatest danger for a person is to have contempt for the world and what is in it—contempt defined as the false importance or glory from the lessening of things not oneself. Third, the study of what makes for beauty in art is a guide for a good life: "All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves." The philosophy is principally taught at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, a nonprofit educational foundation based in SoHo, New York City, through a variety of lectures, classes in poetry, anthropology, art, music, and individual consultations. The Foundation faced controversy for its assertion that men changed from homosexuality through study of this philosophy. In 1990, it stopped presentations and consultations on this subject, explaining that it did not want to be involved in the atmosphere of anger surrounding the issue, and saying that “we do not want this matter, which is certainly not fundamental to Aesthetic Realism, to be used to obscure what Aesthetic Realism truly is: education of the largest, most cultural kind.”〔Statement of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, 1990: “It is a fact that men and women have changed from homosexuality through study of Aesthetic Realism. Meanwhile, as is well known, there is now intense anger in America on the subject of homosexuality and how it is seen. Since this subject is by no means central to Aesthetic Realism, and since the Aesthetic Realism Foundation has not wanted to be involved in that atmosphere of anger, in 1990 the Foundation discontinued its public presentation of the fact that through Aesthetic Realism people have changed from homosexuality, and consultations to change from homosexuality are not being given. That is because we do not want this matter, which is certainly not fundamental to Aesthetic Realism, to be used to obscure what Aesthetic Realism truly is: education of the largest, most cultural kind.”〕 ==Philosophy== Aesthetic Realism is based on the idea that reality, or the world, has a structure that is beautiful. Siegel identified beauty as the making one, or unity, of opposites.〔James H. Bready, “Eli Siegel's system lives" in the ''Baltimore Evening Sun'', 28 July 1982: "In brief, the Siegelian lifeview holds 'all reality, including the reality that is oneself (be ) the aesthetic oneness of opposites.' Motion and rest, surface and depth, love and anger, and so on, once identified, can and must be reconciled..."〕〔Eli Siegel: "In Aesthetic Realism, beauty is the putting together of things that can be thought of as opposites….Aesthetic Realism says that reality is aesthetics….Reality is, when completely seen, beautiful: that is, reality consists of a mingling in aesthetic relation, of such opposites as the orderly and disorderly….” ''Aesthetic Realism: Three Instances''〕 In Siegel’s critical theory, “the resolution of conflict in self is like the making one of opposites in art.” A successful novel, for example, composes opposites that people are trying to put together: oneness and manyness, intensity and calm, sameness and change.〔Deborah A. Straub in ''Contemporary Authors'': “This philosophy sprang from Siegel’s belief that ‘what makes a good poem is like what can make a good life…, for poetry is a mingling of intensity and calm, emotion and logic.’” URL: http://pdfserve.galegroup.com/pdfserve/get_item/1/Sad7df8w16_1/SB976_01.pdf〕 His studies led him to conclude that any successful work of art or music combines essential dualities.〔William Packard: “And as far as Aesthetic Realism goes, it is eminent good sense. Eli Siegel has boiled it down to a simple formula: ‘In reality, opposites are one; art shows this.’ An artist will try to see the opposites in action, in himself and in his world and eventually in his own work.” "How a Major Poet Is Ostracized by Lit Cliches: Eli Siegel in View," published in ''newsArt The Smith,'' (1978) URL: http://www.aestheticrealism.net/NewsArt-Packard-article.htm〕〔Ralph Hattersley: “The solution to our problem with opposites and the use we can make of photography in finding it is pointed to succinctly in the Eli Siegel dictum, ‘In reality opposites are one. Art shows this.’” “Form and Content in Color,” ''Popular Photography'', July 1964, (Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 84-87)〕 In the philosophy of Aesthetic Realism, Siegel developed this concept, writing that the arts and sciences all give evidence that reality has an aesthetic nature.〔Lawrence Campbell in ''Art Students League News'': “According to Siegel all the arts and sciences are really attempts at liking and understanding the world.” (March 1983, Volume 37, Number 3)〕 He described the world as having a construction like art: it, too, is composed of opposites. In Siegel's eyes, freedom at one with order could be seen in an electron, a tree, or the solar system.〔Eli Siegel: “Philosophers have often seen reality as freedom and order, simultaneously and continually. Indeed, the first opposites I chose in my ''Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?'', 1955, were Freedom and Order. You can see these right now in the world if you look at it: freedom and order are in the street, in the ocean, in woods in upper New York State.” “Good Sense for the World,” ''The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known'', #221 (22 June 1977); URL: http://www.aestheticrealism.net/tro/tro221.html.〕〔Eli Siegel: “Verlaine...has some of the subtlest music in French verse. And here we have the first description of the world which beauty and art illustrate: that is, the world is simple and various at once. It is one universe, even as it has many twigs in twilight.” “Good Sense for the World” (op. cit.).〕 Siegel reasoned, "If...the structure of the world corresponds to the structure (art ), that much the world may be beautiful in the deepest sense of the word; and therefore can be liked."〔Eli Siegel: “If…the structure of the world corresponds to the structure music may have or a novel may have (any art ), that much the world may be beautiful in the deepest sense of the word; and therefore can be liked. “Good Sense for the World,” (op. cit.).〕 A primary concept of Aesthetic Realism is that the world can be liked honestly by seeing it as an aesthetic oneness of opposites. Further, a core teaching of Aesthetic Realism is that it is “every person's deepest desire to like the world on an honest or accurate basis.”〔Martha Shepp: “Aesthetic Realism teaches that the deepest desire of every person is to like the world, honestly. This is the purpose of art education, and actually, ALL education." (Cataloguing Critiques: Submission to C. Staples & H. Williams, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN.) URL: http://www.marthashepp.com/cv_syll_phil/CritPresent4Website.pdf.〕〔Daily Poetics, URL: http://dailypoetics.typepad.com/daily_poetics/2006/09/the_world_art_a.html.〕〔Eli Siegel, "Aesthetic Realism: a Tripartite Study," ''The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known,'' #247 (21 December 1977) URL: http://www.aestheticrealism.net/tro/tro247.html.〕 However, Siegel recognized another competing desire which drives humans away from such an appreciation—the desire to have contempt for the world and what is in it, in order to make oneself feel more important.〔Deborah A. Straub: “Aesthetic Realism describe() the two opposed purposes in everyone’s life. As Siegel once observed, even though 'every person, in order to respect himself, has to see the world as beautiful, or good, or acceptable,' there is also 'a disposition in every person to think he will be for himself by making less of the outside world.' According to the philosopher, contempt for the world causes tremendous damage to the self (with effects ranging from boredom to insanity) and, on a larger scale, to the entire world when one nation’s contempt for another leads to war.” ''Contemporary Authors'', URL: http://pdfserve.galegroup.com/pdfserve/get_item/1/Sad7df8w16_1/SB976_01.pdf.〕 Siegel argued that when a person seeks self-esteem through contempt—"the addition to self through the lessening of something else"—he or she is unjust to people and things.〔Bryan Patterson: “Eli Siegel, the great American poet and historian, defined hatred and contempt of people different from ourselves as the false importance or glory people received from the lessening of people not like themselves.” ''Herald Sun'' of Melbourne, Australia (19 April 2009); URL: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/sunday-heraldsun/better-to-try-world-on-love/story-e6frf92o-1225700167216.〕 Contempt, the philosophy maintains, may seem like a triumph, but ultimately results in self-dislike and mental distress,〔Deborah A. Straub: “According to the philosopher, contempt for the world causes tremendous damage to the self (with effects ranging from boredom to insanity).” ''Contemporary Authors''; URL: http://pdfserve.galegroup.com/pdfserve/get_item/1/Sad7df8w16_1/SB976_01.pdf.〕 and lessens the capacity of one's mind to perceive and feel in the fullest manner. Siegel held that, in the extreme, contempt causes insanity.〔Lawrence Campbell: “Among many bold pronouncements none by Siegel are stronger than the assertion that contempt of the world produces insanity.” ''Art Students League News'' (March 1983, Volume 37, Number 3).〕〔Michael Kernan in ''The Washington Post'' (16 August 1978): “There are two elements: oneself and everything that is not oneself, which he calls ‘the world.’ These two opposites must be brought into harmony: By liking the world, one can come to like oneself. If, on the other hand, one feels disdain, or what he calls contempt, for the world, unhappiness results. ‘Contempt can be defined as the lessening of what is different from oneself as a means of self-increase as one sees it,’ he says. Contempt can lead to insanity, according to Siegel.” URL: http://www.aestheticrealism.org/Press-Articles-on-Aesthetic-Realism/Wash-Post-Article-Kernan.htm.〕 Aesthetic Realism attests that one’s attitude to the world governs how all of life's components are seen: a friend, a spouse, a lover, a book, food, people of another skin tone.〔Eli Siegel: “An attitude to the world…governs one in one's everyday life. If you feel that the world is ill-managed, is contemptible, is unkind, you have to show that in how you see Mildred or how you see Morton…” “Aesthetic Realism; or, Is a Person an Aesthetic Situation?” (14 January 1969); URL: http://www.annefielding.net/Aesthetic-Situation-by-Eli-Siegel.html.〕〔Deborah A. Straub: “Siegel regarded this emphasis on the attitude of the individual towards the world as the major difference between Aesthetic Realism and other philosophies.” ''Contemporary Authors'', URL: http://pdfserve.galegroup.com/pdfserve/get_item/1/Sad7df8w16_1/SB976_01.pdf.〕 Accordingly, Aesthetic Realism argues, individuals have an ethical obligation to give full value to things and people, not devalue them in order to make oneself seem more important. Aesthetic Realism states that the conscious intention to be fair to the world and people is not only an ethical obligation, but the means of liking oneself.〔Bennett Schiff: “Nancy Starrels once attempted a working definition: Aesthetic Realism, she said, is: ‘The art of liking oneself through seeing the world, art, and oneself as the aesthetic oneness of opposites.’” ''New York Post'' (16 June 1957)〕〔Deborah A. Straub: “As Siegel once observed,…‘every person, in order to respect himself, has to see the world as beautiful, or good, or acceptable.’” ''Contemporary Authors''; URL:http://pdfserve.galegroup.com/pdfserve/get_item/1/Sad7df8w16_1/SB976_01.pdf.〕 The philosophy identifies contempt as the underlying cause of broader social problems as well: societal evils like racism and war arise from contempt for “human beings placed differently from ourselves” in terms of race, economic status, or nationality. Siegel stated that for centuries ill will has been the predominant purpose in humanity’s economic activities. The philosophy asserts that humanity cannot overcome its biggest problems until people cease to feel that “the world’s failure or the failure of a() person enhances one’s own life.” Siegel stated that until good will rather than contempt is at the center of economics and in the thoughts of people, “civilization has yet to begin.”〔Eli Siegel, “Civilization Begins” in ''The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known'', #228 (10 August 1977).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aesthetic Realism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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