CHAPTER III.
OF IDEAS OF POWER.
The definition of art which I have just given, requires me to determine what kinds of ideas can be received from works of art, and which of these are the greatest, before proceeding to any practical application of the test.
[§ 1. What classes of ideas are conveyable by art.]
I think that all the sources of pleasure, or any other good, to be derived from works of art, may be referred to five distinct heads.
I. Ideas of Power.—The perception or conception of the mental or bodily powers by which the work has been produced.
II. Ideas of Imitation.—The perception that the thing produced resembles something else.
III. Ideas of Truth.—The perception of faithfulness in a statement of facts by the thing produced.
IV. Ideas of Beauty.—The perception of beauty, either in the thing produced, or in what it suggests or resembles.
V. Ideas of Relation.—The perception of intellectual relations, in the thing produced, or in what it suggests or resembles.