Divorce

L. Zhivkova

Here, first of all, it should be emphasized that perception, as a result of which the feeling of beauty arises, is a creative act. In every phenomenon, beauty must be discovered, and in many cases it is not revealed immediately, not at the first contemplation. Discovering beauty in the creations of nature is a secondary phenomenon in relation to human creativity. “In order for a person to perceive beauty in the auditory or visual field, he must learn to create himself,” argued A.V. Lunacharsky. This, of course, does not mean that only composers enjoy music, and only professional artists enjoy painting. But a person who is completely uncreative, with an undeveloped superconsciousness, will remain deaf to the beauty of the world around him. To perceive beauty, he must be endowed with sufficiently strong needs for cognition, equipment (competence) and economy of energy. He must accumulate in the subconscious the standards of what is harmonious, expedient, and economically organized, so that the superconscious mind discovers in the object a deviation from the norm in the direction of exceeding this norm.

In other words, a person discovers beauty in natural phenomena, perceiving them as creations of Nature. He, most often unconsciously, transfers the criteria of his own to natural phenomena. creativity, his creative activity. Depending on worldview this person as such a “creator” they mean either the objective course of evolution, the process of self-development of nature, or God, as the creator of all things. In any case, a person’s consciousness does not so much reflect the beauty that initially exists in the world around him, but rather projects onto this world the objective laws of his creative activity - the laws of beauty.

Animals have positive and negative emotions as internal guidelines for behavior in the direction of what is useful or the elimination of what is harmful to their life. But, not being endowed with consciousness and the sub- and superconsciousness derived from it, they do not possess those specific positive emotions that we associate with the activity of creative intuition, with the experience of beauty. Children under a certain age do not have this kind of feeling of pleasure either. Hence the need for aesthetic education and aesthetic upbringing as an organic part of mastering culture and the formation of a spiritually rich personality.

Education presupposes a sum of knowledge about the subject of aesthetic perception. A person who is completely unfamiliar with symphonic music is unlikely to enjoy complex symphonic works. But since the mechanisms of the subconscious and superconscious are involved in aesthetic perception, it is impossible to limit ourselves only to education, that is, the assimilation of knowledge. Knowledge must be supplemented by aesthetic education, the development of the inherent needs of each of us for knowledge, competence and economy of energy. The simultaneous satisfaction of these needs can generate aesthetic pleasure from contemplating beauty.

The main form of development of the superconscious in the first years of life is play, which requires fantasy, imagination, everyday creative discoveries in the child’s comprehension of the world around him. The unselfishness of the game, its relative freedom from satisfying any needs of a pragmatic or socially prestigious order contributes to the need for armament took a dominant place.

Here we are very close to the answer to the question why a utilitarian unsuitable thing, a false scientific theory, an immoral act, or an erroneous movement of an athlete cannot be beautiful. The fact is that superconsciousness, so necessary for the discovery of beauty, always works for the dominant need, which steadily dominates the structure of the needs of a given individual.

In science, the goal of knowledge is objective truth, the goal of art is truth, and the goal of behavior dictated by social need “for others” is good. We call the expression in the structure of the motives of a given individual of the ideal need for cognition and the altruistic need “for others” spirituality (with an emphasis on cognition) and sincerity (with an emphasis on altruism). The needs directly satisfied by beauty turn out to be inextricably linked with the motivational dominant that initially initiated the activity of the superconscious. As a result, “pure beauty,” in Kant’s terminology, is complicated by “accompanying beauty.” For example, the beautiful in a person becomes a “symbol of the morally good”, since truth and goodness merge in beauty (Hegel).

It is the mechanism of the activity of the superconscious, “working” for the dominant need, that explains to us why beauty, “free from any interest,” is so closely connected with the search for truth and truth. A “beautiful lie” can exist for some time, but only due to its credibility, pretending to be the truth.

Well, what about those cases where the dominant need, for which the Superconscious works, is selfish, asocial, or even antisocial? After all, evil can be no less inventive than good. Evil intent has its own brilliant discoveries and creative insights, and yet “beautiful villainy” is impossible, because it violates the second law of beauty, according to which everyone should like the beautiful.

Let us remember that empathy is by no means a direct reproduction of the emotions experienced by another person. We empathize only when we share the cause of our experiences. We will not rejoice with the traitor who cunningly deceived his victim, and we will not sympathize with the villain’s grief over his failed crime.

The need-information theory of emotions also comprehensively answers the question of the depiction of terrible, ugly, disgusting phenomena of life in art. The need satisfied by art is the need to know truth and goodness. The emotions that arise in this case depend on the extent to which this work has satisfied these needs of ours and how perfect its form is. That is why a truly artistic work will evoke positive emotions in us even if it tells about the darker sides of reality. The face of Peter from Pushkin's "Poltava" is terrible for his enemies and beautiful as God's thunderstorm for the author of "Poltava", and through him - for the reader. So, let's emphasize again. Assessments like “useful - harmful” contribute to the preservation of physical existence by people in a broader sense - the preservation of their social status, the values they create, etc., and “useless” beauty, being a tool of creativity, represents a factor in development, improvement, and movement forward . Striving for the pleasure delivered by beauty, that is, satisfying the needs of knowledge, competence and economy of energy, a person forms his creations according to the laws of beauty and in this activity he himself becomes more harmonious, more perfect, and spiritually richer. Beauty, which must certainly “please everyone,” brings him closer to other people through empathy for beauty, and again and again reminds him of the existence of universal human values.

Maybe this is why “beauty will save the world” (F.M. Dostoevsky).

And one last thing. Is beauty the only language of the superconscious? Apparently not. In any case, we know another language of the superconscious, whose name is humor. If beauty affirms something more perfect than the average norm, then humor helps to sweep aside and overcome outdated and exhausted norms. It is no coincidence that history moves in such a way that humanity parted merrily with its past.

We again encountered a beautiful object: a thing, a landscape, a human act. We recognize their beauty and strive to draw other people's attention to it. But why is this object beautiful? It is impossible to explain this with words. The superconscious informed us about this. In your own language.

Pavel Vasilievich Simonov is an academician, a specialist in the field of studying higher nervous activity. Previously published: “Science and Life” No. 4, 1989.

1 William of Ockham (1300-1349), "Doctor invincibilis" (invincible teacher) - the most prominent English nominalist philosopher. He believed that it was impossible to know God through thinking and provide irrefutable evidence of his existence. You just have to believe in God. As for philosophy and science, they must free themselves from the dictates of theology. Occam and his students influenced the development of such scientific concepts and the principles of mechanics and astronomy, such as Copernican celestial mechanics, the law of inertia, the concept of force, the law of fall, as well as the application of the coordinate method in geometry. D: FentsSL, 1997.

Russian folk wisdom reflected this in a humorous catchphrase: “Why does a goat need an accordion?”

Lesson objectives: formation of an emotional-value attitude towards the art of music.

Lesson objectives:

Acquaintance with the music of the French composer C. Saint-Saens “Carnival of the Animals”, its intonation-image and genre nature, the peculiarities of the musical language in the embodiment of animal images;

Mastering practical skills and abilities; nurturing the listening and performing culture of students; development of memory, speech, imagination.

Equipment: computer, multimedia projector, screen, magnetic board, “Test yourself” cards; table of means of musical expression; additional material about C. Saint-Saens, cards with the names of the musical numbers of the suite.

Sl. 2

1. Emotional mood. Musical greeting. Updating knowledge.

Teacher: Please guess 4 riddles

1) Believe it or not at the zoo
A miracle beast lives.
He has a hand on his forehead
So similar to a pipe! (Elephant)

2) As a child there was a child with a mustache
And meowed like a kitten.
He growled as he grew up,
Because it …. (A lion)

3) It has been this way since ancient times -
These birds are a symbol of fidelity.
Here they are floating on the surface of the water,
Delighting all people
Two white... (Swans)

Teacher: Well done! Please tell me, how can we say in one word who these riddles were about? (About animals).

Right! Today in music lesson, oddly enough, we will talk about animals.

By the end of the lesson, we will try to answer a serious question: “is it possible to depict animals with the help of music”?

2. Presentation of new material and listening to plays from “Carnival of Animals”.

Teacher: I'm sure you love animals. Let's imagine that animals and birds, like people, can have their own holidays, and not just holidays, but CARNIVALS. What do you know about the carnival?

Students: Carnival is a holiday, fun, laughter, dancing, masks, costumes, processions.

Teacher: The great French composer Camille Saint-Saëns composed an amazing work, “Carnival of the Animals,” which I will introduce you to. He also gave this genre the interesting name “Zoological Fantasy”

Before we start getting acquainted with the work, let's find out who C. Saint-Saens is? ( Working with additional material). Appendix 2

Teacher:

C. Saint-Saens is a composer of which country?
What musical instruments did the composer play?
What sciences, besides music, was C. Sens-Saens interested in?
What features does his music have?
What society did the composer organize in 1871?
What activity attracted him from early childhood and what does the composer remember about this period?

Teacher: What does a composer need to make his work sound? (Tools)

The work by C. Saint-Saens “Carnival of the Animals” was written for an instrumental ensemble - 2 pianos, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute, harmonium, xylophone, celesta.

Listen carefully to the tones of musical instruments, we will need them for further work.

How do the instrument tones differ?

Teacher: Let's consolidate our knowledge : With the help of what means of musical expressiveness can you depict something? (Timbre)

« check yourself"- the guys listen to the sounds of instruments, work using cards.

Teacher:

“animal carnival”- a program suite of 14 numbers, sparkling with humor, lightness of genre sketches, lyrical and tender.

Program music is instrumental music (most often symphonic), which is based on a “program”, i.e. any specific story. The programmatic nature of the work is either reflected in its title, or is stated in a specially introduced literary commentary. The source of the plot can be historical tales and legends.

Suite (French suite - sequence) is a cyclic musical form consisting of several contrasting parts.

Teacher: You yourself will guess the characters of the musical carnival. And in order to correctly guess the animal shown in the music, we will listen carefully to unfamiliar music, determine musical colors: tempo (speed), register (pitch), timbre or musical instrument and enter the results into a table.

So, who do you think will open the carnival and why?

Now you will listen to the first musical fragment and try to guess for yourself who it is. First, there will be a short introduction, during which you can imagine how the animals are preening, putting on masks, costumes, and everyone is in a joyful mood (I hope you are too!).

A) The "Royal Lion March" sounds. Children express their options.

Teacher: That's right! This is a lion, because everyone knows that he is the king of beasts. I think everyone heard the low piano passages very similar to the roar of a lion. What is he doing - running, hunting?

The lion walks, strides, roars.

Right. It is no coincidence that this music is called “Royal Lion March”, and a march is always a solemn procession.

What kind of lion is this?

Important, proud, independent, cheerful, frightening, with his head held high, etc.

How did the composer manage to convey to us the image of a lion so well? Using musical colors. Let's listen again and try together (or one of the children will come to the board) to identify the musical colors that show the lion. Appendix 3

Tempo – moderate, after all, the lion walks, not runs, register - short, since a lion cannot roar in a high voice! Timbre - cello and piano.

b) Sounds like “Hens and Roosters” - filling out the table with the teacher.

V) Sounds like “Antelopes” - fill out the table yourself.

G) Sounds like “Turtles” - fill out the table yourself.

d) Sounds like “Elephants” - fill out the table yourself.

Teacher: We have successfully filled out the table. Looking at it, answer the question: Is it possible to depict various pictures in music using tempo, register, and timbre?

Teacher:

Let's consolidate our knowledge: 1. Concert-mystery

(Checking results) mystery concert

2. Final questions.

1. What definition of genre did composer C. Saint-Saëns give to his work “Carnival of the Animals”?

2. What is a “suite”?

3. For what group of musicians was the work written?

4. What musical means did the composer use to depict the voices of birds, animals, and their movements?

5. What character themes did you recognize after listening to the ending of “Carnival of the Animals”?

6. Is it possible to depict the animal world with the help of music, what is needed for this?

D/z. (Drawings on the topic of the lesson)

Unfortunately, the study of fine arts is not provided for in high school, but this subject is in demand among schoolchildren with a penchant for fine arts. Moreover, the skills acquired in the fine arts are lost within two years by the time they study in special educational institutions related to visual arts. The elective course “Fundamentals of Decorative and Applied Arts” for high school allows students not only to consolidate existing knowledge in fine arts, but to acquire and systematize new ones.

General course objectives:
- facilitate the choice of training profile;
- develop abilities for self-determination;
- create responsibility for independent choice;
- develop motivation for your own activities.

Specific course objectives:
- increasing the importance of fine art as a factor of personal self-realization in new socio-economic conditions;
- connection of the educational material of the course with the cognitive and transformative creative activity of students;
- profiling of senior students in the field of decorative, applied and fine arts;
- systematization of knowledge, skills and abilities in the field of the basics of decorative and applied arts with the aim of their further application both in life and in subsequent training in fine arts.

The relevance of the program lies in the transition of the education system to pre-profile and specialized training. The proposed elective course program in decorative and applied arts is practical in nature and should be used for specialized education in grades 10-11 as a specialized elective course.

The novelty of the program is that it offers students, in a short period of time, in the course of practical activities, to systematize the knowledge gained from the basics of decorative and applied arts, obtained in fine arts lessons. Test and systematize new knowledge, skills and abilities acquired in an in-depth course in the same field, through specially integrated theoretical material and combinatorial practical exercises. Creates conditions for conscious choice students of specialized training in fine arts.

Pedagogical expediency is reflected in the systematization of theoretical and practical material in the process of performing combinatorial exercises focused on the final result. Through the activation of artistic and creative activity of students, which in this case consists of artistic and creative skills and a methodological approach to the implementation of these skills, where one of the effective ways to develop creativity is to master the techniques of artistic and decorative activities. Fine art activities are built on the principles of repetition, variation, improvisation, and design. Forms of work with students that contribute to solving artistic and visual problems at the stage of practical work are individual, group and collective. The leading method in teaching is educational cooperation, the presentation of theoretical material takes place in the joint activity of the teacher and students, when students, presenting previously studied printed theoretical material, focus on clarity on each specific topic, determine the logical structure of the material, and find a mutual connection between theory and practice. Great importance is given to frontal and individual forms of conversation, which should activate students to dialogue.
An important point of the program is the introduction of associative series, the methodology of which is based on the concept of T.A. Frankenko, teacher of the art and graphic department of the Tulun Pedagogical College.

As a result of mastering educational material on the basics of decorative and applied arts, students should:
1. Have ideas:
- about decorative and applied arts as a type of visual activity;
- about the practical application of this course in the sphere of life of an educated person;
- How to apply the knowledge gained from this course in practice.

2. Know:
- theoretical foundations of decorative and applied arts;
- general information about the history of the development of decorative and applied arts;
- stylization techniques and types of ornaments;
- basic laws, rules and means of decorative composition;
- basic laws of color science;
- properties and technical conditions for the use of basic materials.

3. Be able to:
- perform ornamental and decorative-thematic compositions;
- perform stylization of plant and animal forms;
- apply knowledge of color science in practice;
- systematize and integrate knowledge and skills in the final creative work “Associative Still Life”.

4. Own:
- basic skills in selecting materials, tools, equipment for performing decorative work;
- basic skills in setting tasks for decorative work;
- basic self-teaching skills in arts and crafts with the help of methodological literature and printed material.

Contents of the course program material
1. Introductory lesson. 1 hour
Theoretical part. Goals and objectives of the course for students. Familiarization with the course program, methods of completing the course and the form of the final work on theory and practice. General information about decorative and applied arts, its role in the professional sphere of human activity.
Types of paper, paints, brushes, their interaction and influence on the quality of decorative works.
Visual range: viewing multimedia presentations on types of decorative and applied arts, which will be offered in grades 10-11 during specialized training. “Batik”, “Ceramics”, “Decorative composition”.
Literature for teachers: Basics of decorative arts at school: tutorial. - M.: Education, 1981.

2. Stylization as a way to reveal the decorative qualities of an object. 2 hours
Theoretical part. Repetition of the concept of “stylization”. The role of stylization in decorative and applied arts. Stylization as a means of composition in ornament and decorative still life. Stylization techniques: contour, silhouette, deformation, point, color, stroke, association, decoration, plastic change. Styling process.
Practical part. Carrying out stylization of a plant based on illustrated material as preparatory work for the subsequent ornamental theme.
At the request of the students, a creative task is to stylize animals in color.

Literature for teachers:
Khaletskaya I.B. Decorative and applied arts: textbook. - Tulun, 2008.

3. Color science. 4 hours
Theoretical part. The meaning of color in decorative and applied arts. Physical explanation of the color spectrum. The location of colors in the color wheel and the rules for working with them. Concepts and principles of color production: primary colors, cold and warm colors (repetition), chromatic and achromatic colors, color saturation, contrast and nuance in color. The concept of emphasis on cold and warm colors.
Practical part:
1. Associative series for weather conditions and seasons.
2. Determination and selection of soft and hard brushes to the quality of paper, watercolor and gouache.
3. Practical work on mixing paints in order to consolidate theoretical material and perform samples for combinatorial color science exercises. Combinatorial exercises on chromatic contrast and nuance and on achromatic contrast and nuance. Combinatorics for accenting cold and warm colors.
Musical accompaniment. P.I. Tchaikovsky “Waltz of the Flowers”.
Literature for teachers:
Basov N.G. Light miracle of the century. - M.: Pedagogy, 1987.
Logvinenko G.M. Decorative composition: tutorial. - M.: Vlados, 2005.

3. Types of ornaments and methods of their composition. 2 hours
Theoretical part. History of the development of ornament. Types of ornament (repetition). Methods for constructing ribbon, closed and mesh ornaments. The concept of rhythm, rapport, motive and pause. Color harmony of the ornament. Symmetry and asymmetry in ornament.
Practical part:
1. Associations of emotions.
2. Drawing up a ribbon, mesh, closed ornament using plant stylization elements from previous lessons. Making gouache ornaments in chromatic and achromatic colors for contrast, nuance, accent of warm or cold colors of the students’ choice.
Advanced level at the request of students. Execution of closed ornamental compositions.
Musical accompaniment. Rimsky-Korsakov "Flight of the Bumblebee". Light orchestral music.
Literature for teachers:
Logvinenko G.M. Decorative composition: tutorial. - M.: Vlados, 2005.
Vorobyova O.Ya. Decorative and applied arts. //Teacher. - 2007.

4. Composition in a decorative still life. 2 hours
Theoretical part. The concept of “composition” in the course “Fine Arts” studied. Compositional center, integrity, rhythm, pause, contrast in a decorative composition. The relationship between image and background, large and small forms. Methods and techniques for solving compositional problems. Statics and dynamics in composition.
Practical part:
1. Exercises on associations of statics and dynamics.
2. Combinatorial exercises for solving compositional problems using the appliqué technique from pre-painted paper from the previous topic “Color Science”. Execution of schemes for composition techniques.
Musical accompaniment. Rimsky-Korsakov "Flight of the Bumblebee". Light orchestral music. P.I. Tchaikovsky “Seasons”.
Literature for teachers:
Logvinenko G.M. Decorative composition: tutorial. - M.: Vlados, 2005.
Shorokhov E.V. Composition. - M.: Education, 1986.
5. Associative still life. 4 hours. Final work
Theoretical part. Stages of work on a clause. Texture and its application in decorative still life.
Practical part:
1. Carrying out an associative series on the topic “Still Life” and choosing successful options as clauses.
2. Development of clauses to solve the composition of a still life in color.
3. Implementation of a decorative composition based on a combination of various visual techniques and artistic techniques: watercolor, gouache, monotype, collage, appliqué technique using textures, using stylization techniques and ornamental decor of the students’ choice.
Musical accompaniment. Light orchestral music.
Results of students’ activities within the framework of the elective course “Fundamentals of Decorative and Applied Arts.”

Control materials
Questions for compiling tests to update basic knowledge or theoretical control at the end of the course
1. What are the possibilities of transforming objects when depicting them decoratively?
2. Explain what decorative drawing, close to reality, means?
3. What is the meaning of decorative drawing of stylized objects?
4. What ways of stylizing natural forms are possible?
5. What is the difference between chromatic and achromatic colors?
6. List the main characteristics of color.
7. List the types of color contrasts and describe them.
8. Describe the color contrast triangle model.
9. What color shades are produced by mixing different pairs of contrasting complementary colors?
10. What is the process of creating a composition?
11. What does the concept of “equilibrium” mean in composition and on what factors does it depend?
12. How is dynamism achieved in composition?
13. The use of what techniques gives the composition a decorative quality?
14. List ways to organize a compositional center.
15. What is the purpose of dividing a plane into parts?
16. What is the role of the dominant in composition?

Bibliography
1. Vygotsky L.S. Imagination and creativity. - M.: Education, 1991.
2. Introduction to psychology / ed. A.V. Petrovsky. - M.: Academy, 1996.
3. Brief pedagogical dictionary: educational reference manual / G.A. Andreeva, G.S. Vyalikova,
I.A. Tyutkova. - M.: V. Sekachev, 2005.
4. Pedagogy: textbook. aid for students higher pedagogical educational institutions / V.A. Slastenin, I.F. Isev, E.N. Shiyanov; edited by V.A. Slastenina. - 3rd ed. - M.: Academy, 2004.
5. Rostovtsev N.N., Terentyev A.E. Development of creative abilities in drawing classes: textbook. a manual for students of art and graphic faculties of pedagogical institutes. - M.: Education, 1987.
6. Rubinstein S. L. Fundamentals of general psychology: in 2 volumes - M.: Pedagogika, 1989.
7. Soloviev S.A. Decorative design. - M.: Education, 1987.
8. Shorokhov E.V. Composition. - M.: Education, 1986.
9. Logvinenko G.M. Decorative composition: textbook. allowance. - M.: Vlados, 2005.
10. Fundamentals of decorative art at school: textbook. allowance. - M.: Education, 1981.
11. Basov N.G. Light miracle of the century. - M.: Pedagogy, 1987.
12. Nemensky B.M. The wisdom of beauty. - M.: Education, 1987.
13. Vesnin A.F. Mixing colors: method. recommendations. - Irkutsk, 2006.
14. Yablonsky V.A. Drawing and composition basics. - M.: Higher School, 1978.
15. Zolotareva E.M. Let's learn to draw. - M.: Pedagogy, 1993.
16. Khaletskaya I.B. Decorative and applied art: textbook. allowance. - Tulun, 2008.
17. Proshchitskaya E.N. Choose a profession: academic. allowance. - M.: Education, 1991.
18. Moleva N.M. Outstanding Russian artists and teachers. - M.: Education, 1991.
19. Ovsyannikov M.F. Brief dictionary on aesthetics: a book for teachers. - M.: Education, 1983.
20. Borodulin V.A. Fundamentals of artistic craft. - M.: Education, 1979.
21. School and production: scientific and methodological journal. - 2008. - No. 3.
22. Ivanov G.I. Formulas of creativity, or How to learn to invent: a book for high school students. - M.: Education, 1994.
23. Vorobyova O.Ya. Arts and crafts.//Teacher. - 2007.
24. Kulagin B.V. Fundamentals of professional psychodiagnostics. - M., 1984.

Note ed. Presentation for the course and lesson scenarios are published on the Teacher’s Newspaper website http://www.site/method_article/872

Olga DMITRIEVA, teacher of technology, drawing and fine arts of secondary school No. 25 in the city of Tulun, Irkutsk region, winner of the XVI All-Russian competition of methodological developments “One Hundred Friends”

Man also shapes matter according to the laws of beauty.

Beauty is widespread in the world around us. It's not just works of art that are beautiful. Both a scientific theory and a separate scientific experiment can be beautiful. We call an athlete's jump, a masterfully scored goal, or a chess game beautiful. A beautiful thing made by a worker - a master of his craft. The woman’s face and the sunrise in the mountains are beautiful. This means that in the process of perceiving all these objects, which are so different from each other, there is something in common. What is this?

It is incredibly difficult to define in words what exactly prompts us to recognize an object as beautiful. Beauty eludes us as soon as we try to explain it in words, to translate it from the language of images to the language of logical concepts. “The phenomenon of beauty,” writes philosopher A.V. Gulyga, “contains a certain secret, comprehended only intuitively and inaccessible to discursive thinking.” “The need to distinguish between “science” and “humanities” (the kingdom of science and the kingdom of values. – P.S.), – continues this thought L.B. Bazhenov, – inevitably follows from the difference between thought and experience. Thought is objective, experience is subjective. We can, of course, make an experience the object of thought, but then it disappears as an experience. No objective description can replace the subjective reality of experience.”

So, beauty is, first of all, an experience, an emotion, and a positive emotion - a unique feeling of pleasure, different from the pleasures given to us by many useful, vital objects that are not endowed with qualities capable of generating a feeling of beauty. But we know that “any emotion is a reflection by the human brain of any current need and the likelihood (possibility) of satisfying this need, which the subject evaluates by involuntarily comparing information about the means predictably necessary to achieve the goal (satisfying the need) with the information received at the moment" (see "Science and Life" No. 3, 1965).

If beauty is an experience, an emotional reaction to a contemplated object, but we are not able to explain it in words, we will at least try to find an answer to a number of questions that lead to solving this riddle.

First question. In connection with the satisfaction of what need (or needs) does the emotion of pleasure delivered by beauty arise? Information about what exactly comes to us from outside world in this moment?

Second question. How is this emotional experience, this pleasure, different from all others?

And finally, the third question. Why, in the process of the long evolution of living beings, including the cultural and historical development of man, did such a mysterious, but apparently necessary, sense of beauty arise?

Perhaps the most complete enumeration of the distinctive features of beauty was given by the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant in his “Analyst of the Beautiful”. Let's look at each of his four definitions.

“A beautiful object evokes pleasure, free from all interest”

The first “law of beauty”, as formulated by Kant, causes some confusion. Kant's statement contradicts the need-information theory of emotions, which we referred to above. From this theory it follows that behind any interest lies the need that gave rise to it. According to Kant, the pleasure delivered by beauty turns out to be an emotion... without need! Apparently, this is not the case. Speaking about freedom from “interest,” Kant meant only the vital, material and social needs of a person for food, clothing, procreation, social recognition, justice, compliance with ethical standards, etc. However, a person has a number of other needs, including those that are commonly called “aesthetic needs.”

First of all, this is the need for knowledge, a craving for something new, still unknown, not encountered before. Kant himself defined beauty as “the play of the cognitive faculties.” Exploratory behavior, free from the search for food, a female, material for building a nest, etc., can be observed even in animals. In humans, it reaches its highest manifestations in disinterested knowledge. However, is it selfless? Experiments have shown that if a person is completely deprived of the influx of new impressions, while satisfying all his physical needs (food, comfortable bed, temperature comfort), he will very quickly develop severe neuropsychic disorders in such an information-poor environment.

The need for new, previously unknown information, the pragmatic meaning of which has not yet been clarified, can be satisfied in two ways: by directly extracting information from the environment or by recombining traces of previously received impressions, that is, with the help of creative imagination. Most often both channels are used together. Imagination forms a hypothesis, which is compared with reality, and if it corresponds objective reality, new knowledge is born about the world and about ourselves.

In order to satisfy the need for cognition, an object that we evaluate as beautiful must contain an element of novelty, surprise, unusualness, and must stand out from the background. average norm characteristics characteristic of other related objects. Note that not every degree of novelty evokes a positive emotion. In experiments on young animals and children, the American psychologist T. Schneirla found that only moderate novelty attracts, where elements of the new are combined with previously known characteristics. Excessively new and unexpected frightens, causes displeasure and fear. These data are in good agreement with the need-information theory of emotions, since not only newly received information is important for an emotional reaction, but also its comparison with previously existing ideas.

The need for knowledge and curiosity encourage us to contemplate objects that do not promise anything to satisfy our material and social needs, giving us the opportunity to see in these objects something significant that distinguishes them from many other similar objects. “Disinterested” attention to the subject is an important, but clearly insufficient condition for discovering beauty. The need for cognition must be joined by some additional needs in order for the emotional experience of beauty to ultimately arise.

Analyzing many examples of human activity, where the end result is assessed not only as useful, but also beautiful, we see that the need to save effort, the need to be equipped with the knowledge, skills and abilities that lead to the shortest and surest path to achieving the goal.

Using the example of the game of chess, the esthetician and playwright V.M. Wolkenstein showed that we evaluate a game as beautiful not when a win is achieved through a long positional struggle, but when it arises unpredictably, as a result of a spectacularly sacrificed piece, using a tactical device that we least expected. Formulating the general rule of aesthetics, the author concludes: “beauty is a purposeful and complex (difficult) overcoming.” Writer Bertolt Brecht defined beauty as overcoming difficulties. In the very general view we can say that beauty is the reduction of complexity to simplicity. According to physicist W. Heisenberg, such reduction is achieved in the process of scientific activity by the discovery of a general principle that facilitates the understanding of phenomena. We perceive such a discovery as a manifestation of beauty. Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences M.V. Wolkenstein recently proposed a formula according to which the aesthetic value of solving a scientific problem is determined by the ratio of its complexity to the minimum research program, that is, to the most universal pattern that allows us to overcome the complexity of the initial conditions (see “Science and Life” No. 9, 1988).

Beauty in science arises from the combination of three conditions: the objective correctness of a solution (a quality that in itself does not have aesthetic value), its unexpectedness and economy.

We encounter beauty as the overcoming of complexity not only in the activities of a scientist. The result of an athlete’s efforts can be measured in seconds and centimeters, but we will call his jump and his run beautiful only if a record sports result is achieved in the most economical way. We admire the work of a virtuoso carpenter, demonstrating the highest class of professional skill, which is based on the maximum availability of relevant skills with minimal expenditure of effort.

The combination of these three needs - knowledge, equipment (competence, equipment) and economy of energy, their simultaneous satisfaction in the process of activity or when assessing the results of the activities of other people gives us a feeling of pleasure from contact with what we call beauty.

“What is beautiful is what everyone likes”

Since we are unable to logically justify why a given object is perceived as beautiful, the only confirmation of the objectivity of our aesthetic assessment is the ability of this object to evoke a similar experience in other people. In other words, empathy comes to the aid of consciousness as divided, socialized knowledge, knowledge together with someone.

Kant, and after him the author of these lines, one can object that aesthetic assessments are extremely subjective, depend on the culture in which a given person was raised, and in general - “there is no arguing about tastes.” The art critic will now give examples of innovative works of painting, which were at first called illiterate daubs, and then proclaimed masterpieces and placed in the best museums in the world. Without denying the dependence of aesthetic assessments on historically established norms accepted in a given social environment, on the level of a person’s intellectual development, his education, conditions of upbringing, etc., we can offer a certain universal measure of beauty. Its only criterion is the phenomenon of empathy, which cannot be translated into the language of logical proof.

The wonderful thing is that it has been recognized as such by quite a large number of people for quite a long time. Massive but short-term fascination or long-term veneration by a limited circle of connoisseurs cannot indicate the outstanding aesthetic merits of an object. Only wide public recognition for many years serves as an objective measure of these merits. The truth of what has been said is most clearly manifested in the fate of great works of art, to which people have turned for centuries as a source of aesthetic pleasure.

“Beauty is the purposefulness of an object without any idea of purpose”

Kant's third "law of beauty" can be interpreted as follows. Since we are not able to define in words what qualities an object must have in order to be beautiful, we cannot set ourselves the goal of making an absolutely beautiful object. We are forced to first do it (make a thing, perform a sports exercise, perform an act, create a work of art, etc.), and then evaluate whether it is beautiful or not. In other words, the object turns out to correspond to a goal that was not specified in advance. So what kind of conformity is Kant talking about? Conformity to what?

Every time the beauty of an object is discussed, the importance of its form is emphasized. “A work of art,” Hegel wrote, “that lacks the proper form is precisely why it is not genuine, that is, a true work of art.” In a broader sense, not limited to the sphere of art, philosopher A.V. Gulyga considers beauty as a “value-significant form.” But in what case does a form become value-significant, and what is “value” in general? Academician P.N. Fedoseev, formulating the problem of values, recalls that for Marxism “... the highest cultural and moral values are those that most contribute to the development of society and the comprehensive development of the individual.” Let us remember this emphasis on development; it will be useful to us more than once.

We can say that beauty is the maximum correspondence of the form (organization, structure) of a phenomenon to its purpose in human life. This correspondence is expediency. For example, an athlete’s jump, despite a record result, we will perceive as ugly if the result is achieved by extreme exertion of strength, a convulsive jerk, with an almost pained grimace on the face. After all, sport is a means of harmonious development, physical improvement of a person, and only secondarily – a means of social success and a way of obtaining material rewards.

It is truly useful because it is beautiful, said Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. But he couldn’t say: it’s truly beautiful because... it’s useful. There is no inverse relationship here.

We do not recognize as beautiful a thing that is utilitarianly worthless, a football player’s shot past the goal, professionally illiterate work, an immoral act. But just the utilitarian usefulness of a thing, action, deed does not make them beautiful.

However, we got carried away with the analysis and almost violated with our reasoning the fourth and last “law of beauty”, namely that

“The beautiful is known without the medium of concept”

In the language of modern science, this means that the brain activity that results in the emotional reaction of pleasure from contemplating beauty occurs at an unconscious level.

Let us briefly recall that the higher nervous (mental) activity of a person has a three-level (consciousness, subconsciousness, superconsciousness) functional organization (see “Science and Life” No. 12, 1975).

As we mentioned above, consciousness is a specific form of reflection of reality, the operation of knowledge, which with the help of words, mathematical symbols, samples of technology, images of works of art can be transmitted to other people, including other generations in the form of cultural monuments. By transferring his knowledge to another, a person thereby separates himself from this other and from the world, the knowledge about which he transmits. Communication with others secondarily gives rise to the ability of mental dialogue with oneself, that is, it leads to the emergence of self-awareness. The inner “I” that judges my own actions is nothing other than the “others” stored in my memory.

The subconscious is a type of unconscious psyche, which includes everything that was conscious or can become conscious under certain conditions. These are well-automated and therefore no longer conscious skills, motivational conflicts that have been repressed from the sphere of consciousness, social norms of behavior deeply internalized by the subject, the regulatory function of which is experienced as the “voice of conscience,” “call of the heart,” “command of duty,” etc. In addition to this previously realized experience, which fills the subconscious with specific content that is external in origin, there is also a direct channel of influence on the subconscious - imitative behavior.

Imitative behavior plays a decisive role in mastering skills that give human activity (industrial, sports, artistic, etc.) the features of art. We are talking about the so-called “personal knowledge”, which is not realized by either the teacher or the learner and which can be transmitted exclusively non-verbally, without the help of words. The goal is achieved by following a series of implicit norms or rules. By observing the teacher and striving to surpass him, the student subconsciously masters these norms.

Superconsciousness in the form of creative intuition reveals itself at the initial stages of any creative process, not controlled by consciousness and will. The neurophysiological basis of superconsciousness is the transformation and recombination of traces of previously received impressions stored in the subject’s memory. The activity of the superconscious is always focused on satisfying the dominant vital, social or ideal need, the specific content of which determines the nature of the emerging hypotheses. The second guiding factor is the subject’s life experience, recorded in his subconscious and consciousness. It is consciousness that has the most important function of selecting emerging hypotheses: first through their logical analysis, and later using such a criterion of truth as practice.

To which of the spheres of the unconscious psyche - the subconscious or the superconscious - does the activity of the mechanism belong, as a result of which the emotional experience of beauty arises?

Here, undoubtedly, the role of the subconscious is great. Throughout their existence, people have repeatedly been convinced of the advantages of certain forms of organization both in their own actions and in the things created by man. The list of such forms includes the proportionality of the parts of the whole, the absence of unnecessary parts that “do not work” for the main idea, the coordination of combined efforts, the rhythm of repeated actions, and much, much more. Since these rules turned out to be valid for a wide variety of objects, they acquired independent value, were generalized, and their use became automated, applied “without the mediation of a concept,” i.e. unconsciously.

But all the assessments we have listed (and others similar to them) indicate the correct, expedient organization of actions and things, that is, only useful. What about beauty? She has escaped logical analysis again!

The fact is that the subconscious fixes and generalizes norms, something repeating, average, stable, sometimes fair throughout the history of mankind.

Beauty is always a violation of the norm, a deviation from it, a surprise, a discovery, a joyful surprise. For a positive emotion to arise, it is necessary that the received information exceeds the previously existing forecast, so that the probability of achieving the goal at that moment increases significantly. Many of our emotions - positive and negative - arise at the unconscious level of human higher nervous activity. The subconscious is able to assess changes in the likelihood of needs being met. But the subconscious by itself is not able to identify or extract from an object something new that, in comparison with the “standards” stored in the subconscious, will give a positive emotion of pleasure from the perception of beauty. The discovery of beauty is a function of the superconscious.

Direction finder of creative thought

Since positive emotions indicate approaching the goal (satisfying a need), and negative emotions indicate moving away from it, higher animals and humans strive to maximize (strengthen, repeat) the former and minimize (interrupt, prevent) the latter. According to the figurative expression of Academician P. Anokhin, emotions play the role of “bearings” of behavior: by striving for the pleasant, the body masters the useful, and by avoiding the unpleasant, it prevents encounters with the harmful, dangerous, and destructive. It is absolutely clear why evolution “created” and natural selection fixed the brain mechanisms of emotions - their vital importance for the existence of living systems is obvious.

Well, what about the emotion of pleasure from the perception of beauty? What does it serve? Why is she? Why do we find joy in something that doesn’t satisfy hunger, doesn’t protect us from bad weather, doesn’t help us increase our rank in the group hierarchy, or doesn’t provide us with utilitarian useful knowledge?

We can formulate the answer to the question about the origin of aesthetic feeling in the process of anthropogenesis and the subsequent cultural and historical evolution of man as follows; the ability to perceive beauty is a necessary tool for creativity.

The basis of any creativity is the mechanism of creating hypotheses, conjectures, assumptions, peculiar “mental mutations and recombinations” of traces of previously accumulated experience, including the experience of previous generations. From these hypotheses a selection occurs - the determination of their truth, that is, their correspondence to objective reality. As we said above, the selection function belongs to consciousness, and then to practice. But there are so many hypotheses, the vast majority of which will be rejected, that testing them all is clearly an unrealistic task, just as it is unrealistic for a chess player to go through all possible options each next move. This is why a preliminary “sieve” is absolutely necessary to weed out hypotheses that are not worthy of testing at the level of consciousness.

It is precisely this kind of preliminary selection that superconsciousness, usually called creative intuition, is engaged in. What criteria is it guided by? First of all, it is not formulated in words (i.e., unconscious) criterion of beauty, emotionally experienced pleasure.

Prominent cultural figures have spoken about this more than once. Physicist W. Heisenberg: “...a glimpse of beauty in exact natural science makes it possible to recognize the great relationship even before its detailed understanding, before it can be rationally proven.” Mathematician J. Hadamard. “Among the numerous combinations formed by our subconscious, most are uninteresting and useless, but therefore they are not capable of influencing our aesthetic sense; they will never be realized by us; only some are harmonious and therefore both beautiful and useful; they are capable of arousing our special geometric intuition, which will attract our attention to them and thus give them the opportunity to become conscious... Whoever is deprived of it (the aesthetic sense) will never become a real inventor.” Aviation designer O.K. Antonov: “We know very well that a beautiful plane flies well, but an ugly one flies poorly, or even won’t fly at all... The desire for beauty helps to make the right decision and makes up for the lack of data.”

The reader may note that we borrow all these arguments in favor of the heuristic function of the emotional experience of beauty from the field of scientific and technical creativity. But what should we do with the beauty of natural phenomena, with the beauty of a human face or action?

The world according to the laws of beauty

In other words, a person discovers beauty in natural phenomena, perceiving them as creations of Nature. He, most often unconsciously, transfers the criteria of his own creative abilities, his creative activity, to natural phenomena. Depending on the worldview of a given person, as such a “creator” they mean either the objective course of evolution, the process of self-development of nature, or God, as the creator of all things. In any case, a person’s consciousness does not so much reflect the beauty that initially exists in the world around him, but rather projects onto this world the objective laws of his creative activity - the laws of beauty.

Maybe this is why “beauty will save the world” (F.M. Dostoevsky).

Pavel Vasilievich Simonov is an academician, a specialist in the field of studying higher nervous activity.

“Science and Life” No. 4, 1989.

3. “BY THE LAWS OF BEAUTY”

In the “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844” there is one place where Marx seemingly directly speaks about beauty and the role of its “laws” in human production practice. It has become an indispensable tradition for all those who write about the problems of aesthetics to cite these lines in order to further continue to develop their own ideas, silently proceeding, as it were, from Marx’s position. For example, L. Stolovich refers to Marx’s thought about creativity “according to the laws of beauty” and draws his conclusion: “The laws of nature become the laws of beauty when, through them, a person affirms himself in reality” 14. It seems that Marx actually supports the rather controversial idea of modifying objective laws and depending on the degree of “self-affirmation” of a person. L. Zedenov, having quoted the same place, adds his own phrase to it, the meaning of which is that a person creates in relation to “the measure of the human race” 15. Yu. Filipev, mentioning the same place, notes in accordance with his concept that “ the meaning of the concept expressed by Marx by the term “measure” is very close to that expressed in modern science the concept of a signal" 16. K. Kantor writes that "the 'laws of beauty' are precisely the laws of purposeful labor" 17. Examples can be multiplied until almost the entire circle of authors dealing with the problem of the aesthetic is exhausted.

It seems that we are faced with the very case when the established tradition (without in any way questioning the sincerity of the motives of the predecessors) is still better to break than to continue. Let us quote in full a paragraph from the “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844”, which is usually referred to.

"Practical creation object world, processing inorganic nature is the self-affirmation of man as a conscious generic being, that is, a being that relates to the genus as its own essence, or to itself as a generic being. The animal, however, also produces. It builds a nest or dwelling for itself, just as a bee, beaver, ant, etc. do. But an animal produces only what it itself or its young directly needs; it produces one-sidedly, whereas man produces universally; it produces only under the power of immediate physical need, while a person produces even when free from physical need, and in the true sense of the word only produces when he is free from it; the animal produces only itself, while man reproduces all of nature; the product of the animal is directly related to his physical organism, while man freely confronts his product. An animal forms matter only in accordance with the standards and needs of the species to which it belongs, while man knows how to produce according to the standards of any species and everywhere he knows how to apply the appropriate measure to an object; because of this, man also forms matter according to the laws of beauty” 16.

The general meaning of this passage is obvious. Marx speaks here about the fundamental difference between the free, universal creative labor of man and animal life. Despite the multiplicity of put forward aspects of a deep and comprehensive consideration of the issue, each of which could form the subject of a special study, the situation as a whole is presented crystal clear and does not require any comments. The only exception is the final phrase, where, as an addition to what has been said, the only ral is introduced, sounded throughout Marx’s colossal theoretical heritage, the idea that man “shapes matter also according to the laws of beauty"(italics mine. - O.V.). It is precisely this thought that has not been explained anywhere, either before or later, that every aesthetician strives to interpret in his own way.

What could Marx really mean here? Strictly speaking, one can only guess about this. While there was a translation of the “Manuscripts”, where “measure” appeared instead of the word “measure”, one could assume, as G. Pospelov does, for example, that to form matter according to the laws of beauty means “to create material objects [...] in accordance with the relationships between “quality” and “quantity” that underlie the entire internal structure of objects of each type, a relationship arising from appointments this species."

“People,” writes G. Pospelov, “are aware that the objects they produce, in their internal structure and external proportions, fully correspond to their purpose, that they are created according to their appearance, that they are even to one degree or another perfect in their own way and therefore can fulfill their purpose with varying degrees of perfection” 19.

This interpretation of production “according to the laws of beauty,” although it attributes to the young Marx an understanding of beauty as perfection in its own way (which is hardly justified), would have been possible if it had not appeared new translation, Where philosophical concept“measure,” expressing the relationship between quantity and quality, was replaced by the word “measure,” which exactly corresponds to the original. The word “measure” allows us to interpret Marx’s thought more broadly. Judging by the content of the entire passage, “measure” refers to one’s own internal pattern of any kind. The ability to apply an appropriate measure to an object during its production must obviously mean the ability to produce an object in accordance with its own known law. This is what distinguishes conscious and free, universal human creativity from the life activity of an animal, which is not able to go beyond the limits of its “measure”, remaining identical to its own life activity.

But what role do the “laws of beauty” play here, according to which man “also” forms matter? There can be no doubt that we must immediately abandon any attempts to see in this phrase the discovery of some special objective-aesthetic laws of material creativity, one way or another operating parallel with the laws of truth, reflecting the laws of nature itself. Such an idea, although it would have greatly pleased some seekers of the “objective-aesthetic outside consciousness,” of course, could not have inspired the young Marx, since creativity according to such “laws” can only lead to the creation of special “parallel” real phenomena, such as we remember rationally unknowable, mysterious “objective-aesthetic” phenomena. It seems that in general, speaking seriously, there is no reason to impose on Marx the desire to solve the problem of beauty in the above passage in a fundamentally new way for his time.

The great scientist could not allow himself, having thought about such a complex problem, much less having found or at least outlined its solution, to limit himself to just one phrase thrown out at once. Most likely, we have the right to consider this phrase as incidental comment, stating that the new thing that he was really busy with finds confirmation in something already generally accepted.

Indeed. Arguing that man as a species being humanly, and not egoistically, “contrary to the existence and properties of things” 20 transforms reality, Marx internally polemicizes with the Hegelian understanding of material labor only as “finite”, “unfree”, “one-sided” activity of man, opposed to nature. And in order to once again confirm his thought, he compares the creative capabilities of man with the capabilities of nature itself, which, thanks to labor, has become the “inorganic body” of man. To do this, he turns to Hegel’s interpretation of the beauty of nature, which is not the subject of dispute, and argues that from this point of view, man shapes matter in the same way that nature itself is capable of shaping it.

“[...] We are fascinated,” we read from Hegel, “by a natural crystal with its correct form, which is generated not by external mechanical influence, but by its own internal determination [...] In crystals, the formative activity is not alien to the object, but such an active the form which belongs to that mineral according to its own nature." As we see, the beauty of natural form is born here precisely as a result of the formation of natural material according to the object’s own internal laws. In other words, according to the very “appropriate measure” that a universally creative person knows how to apply to the object he creates. Forming matter according to the standards of any kind, that is, in the same way as nature itself does, Marx completes his thought, man in the strength of this is able to shape it also “according to the laws of beauty.”

Bringing to the reader’s attention this interpretation of a phrase that has confused many minds, we emphasize once again that this, of course, is only an assumption, since neither direct nor indirect explanations of its meaning have reached us. That is why it seems theoretically incorrect to use Marx’s remark as proof of the correctness of our reasoning. The true, indisputable meaning of the above passage, including, by the way, its final phrase, is seen in the fact that Marx here affirms a repeatedly confirmed idea: human labor creating new human phenomena of reality, there is reasonable creativity according to the known laws of nature itself, there is reasonable, purposeful natural creation. “Labor,” we read in “Capital,” “is, first of all, a process taking place between man and nature, a process in which man, by his own activity, mediates, regulates and controls the exchange of substances between himself and nature. He himself opposes the substance of nature as a force of nature [...] At the end of the labor process, a result is obtained that was already in the human mind at the beginning of this process, i.e. ideally. Man not only changes the form of what is given by nature; in what is given by nature, he at the same time realizes his conscious goal, which, like a law, determines the method and nature of his actions and to which he must subordinate his will” 22.

We proceeded from this Marxist idea of a new human stage of conscious and purposeful self-transformation of nature in all our reasoning.

“A beautiful object evokes pleasure, free from all interest”

“What is beautiful is what everyone likes”

“Beauty is the purposefulness of an object without any idea of ​​purpose”

“The beautiful is known without the medium of concept”

Direction finder of creative thought

The world according to the laws of beauty

“Beauty is the purposefulness of an object without any idea of purpose”