Thomas Aquinas estetiğinde güzel ve iyi kavramları

Beauty, or in its Latin version, pulchritudo, as the object of the aesthetic experience is defined precisely by Aquinas. According to him there are three conditions which constitute Beauty, and even if only one is missing, that would be enough for ugliness of the object. If we look closely into these conditions determined by Aquinas as integritas, proportio and claritas we notice that all of them in fact have a dual structure directed towards both the formal and the substantial. In his texts we see that the basis of beauty is established only through the self-realization of these three conditions in formal and spiritual levels. On the other hand if we consider the relationship Beauty has with Good, i.e. bonum, we note that both of these two concepts are the same for Aquinas. On the basis of this unity established among Beautiful, Good and True, there is God from which everything is derived. Besides, the view that form is always related to matter in Aquinas comes from the Aristotelian thought. Because for Aristotle, as well as for Aquinas, form cannot explain diverse individuals without the help of matter. For the latter the principe of individualization (individuationis principium) is matter that he calls materia signata. In the mind of an artist, the idea of the object which he is to produce is present as an image, and when the artist arranges this image in accordance with its substance in an accidental manner, he sets forth the synthesis of matter and form.