Camus Views on Aesthetics
Aesthetics deals with the expression and nature of beauty. It is related to the laws of perception. Aesthetics is also described as a response to art and beauty experiences and artistically pleasing or beautiful appearance. The traditional aesthetics assumed the existence of timeless and universal criteria of artistic value. Aesthetics is concerned with the nature of art as well as with the judgment related to beauty- a theme of what is artistically beautiful or valid.
For Camus, the existence of beauty provides sufficient ground for hope. He is a proponent of hope specifically oriented and tilted towards the present. Camus addressed the issue of literacy commitment and promise in terms of his hopes for social change. He believed that violence is acceptable only in the context of revolution if rebels, not only are prepared to be condemned but also face their deaths. He is against the theme that everything should be reduced to history and man and wonders about the place of love- of music- of nature- of art. His exclusive, affluent aesthetic sensitivity ultimately led Camus to recognize and perceive beauty regarding soil to develop a just civilization.
It is firmly believed by Camus that the eventual basis for sane behavior is not only present in unruly cities but also in the hills, in the sea, in the evening meditations, and in deliberations upon natural beauty. However, the value, to some extent, resides particularly in the natural sequence of things and indicates the priority existence of limits and boundaries that Camus hopes will motivate men to behave fairly and justly. However, the problem related to this claim is that it also contradicts the statements of Camus on what is included in ‘nature’ apart specifically from man.
Camus thinks that realistic art is not successful because it does not reject enough of reality. However, formal art rejects too much and seeks to remove all reality to reach a ‘subjective’ abstraction. He believes that if realism relinquishes the creative feature of the mind, formalism eventually loses sight specifically of the value related to temporal existence.
The description of art as the attempt to acclaim beauty, to some extent, in nature and not to enslave man to just imitation is, in fact, the aesthetic equivalent for Camus to the theme of a dynamic and lively value in nature. To understand the concept of dynamic value he provides a particular specification for a style that through style entire creative endeavors reconstructs the world, and with the same minor distortion which is the indication of both protest and art. Camus prefers a particular position that facilitates human freedom and ‘external reality to interact in both ethics and the creation of art.
Conclusion
Based on arguments presented in the paper, we agree with the views presented by Camus on aesthetics because his philosophy is modeled after specific aesthetic visions; the idea of appreciating the phenomenon of being alive engages the themes of clarity, beauty, fulfillment, creations as well as restoration of creating. Moreover, he believes that truly living does not need denial but consciousness. Existentialism and the focus of Camus on aesthetic pleasure supplement human reason; this apparent paradox signifies the creativity and exploration of mind and also its reason-driven acceptance of truth as well as the struggle of life. It also acknowledges confrontation with senselessness and ineffectiveness, elevating natural beauty.