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Reprinted from The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, XXVI/4, Summer 1968. Printed in U.S.A.
ARCHIE J. BAHM
The Aesthetics of Organicism
CONCEIVING "the aesthetic" as intuition or intrinsic value,1 i.e., as any experience enjoyed as an end-in-itself or as complete in itself, places the aesthetic, or the subject-matter of aesthetics as a science, at the core, not only of philosophy of art and beauty but also of axiology, ethics, and religion (to say nothing here of political, social, and economic philosophy, and even logic and philosophy of science). The purpose of the present essay is to summarize for aesthetics some implications of this view in particular and of Organicism2 in general, under the following headings: Value, Beauty, Art, Morality, and Religion.
VALUE
Presupposing as obvious the distinction between means and ends, or instrumental and intrinsic values, we can state the Organicist view as holding that there are at least four distinguishable kinds of intrinsic value, namely, feelings of pleasure, enthusiasm, satisfaction, and contentment.
Each of these kinds has been exploited by a historical movement: Hedonism holds that pleasant feelings, whether sensuous or intellectual, are the only goods, and that unpleasant feelings, especially pains, are the only evils.3 Romanticism idealizes desireousness or willfulness, especially when occurring as enthusiasm, zest, gusto,
ARCHIE J. BAHм is professor of philosophy at the University of New Mexico. His last article in this journal was on Comparative Aesthetics in the Oriental issue (Fall, 1965).
eagerness, passion, or zeal, but also as hope, longing, and sentiment, as the only true good, with apathy as the ultimate evil.* Voluntarism claims that satisfaction is the only good, frustration the only evil. "Desire is the only basis of value; value itself does not exist until desire is being satisfied." 5 Anandism, the Hindu view that ultimate reality, knowledge, and value (sat-chit-ananda) consist in perfect quiescence, purified of all desires, objects, distinctions, regards bliss (nirvana) as a feeling of contentment completely freed from all anxiety."
Organicism incorporates the positive aspects of each of the foregoing theories by claiming that pleasure, enthusiasm, satisfaction, and contentment are all obvious kinds of enjoyment, and condemns each theory to the extent that each denies or neglects the positive claims of the other three. It contends, further, that the four kinds of value not only intermingle and blend, often indistinguishably, with each other but also supplement each other in providing a richness of variety of intrinsic value. Often the four may be experienced successively, as when, in eating, the pleasing flavor of a tasty tidbit arouses desire for more and the satisfaction experienced during chewing each bite gives way to contentment when one has eaten enough. Succession and intermingling combine in orgasm, which may begin with sensory stimulation, proceed through arousal and intensification of passion, subside with clear feeling of satisfaction, and be followed by a prevading sense of quiescent
