Æ′sop, the Greek fabulist, is said to have been a contemporary of Crœsus and Solon, and thus probably lived about the middle of the sixth century (620-550) B.C. But so little is known of his life that his existence has been called in question. He is said to have been originally a slave, and to have received his freedom from a Samian master, Iadmon. He then visited the court of Crœsus, and is also said to have visited Pisistratus at Athens. Finally he was sent by Crœsus to Delphi to distribute a sum of money to each of the citizens. For some reason he refused to distribute the money, whereupon the Delphians, enraged, threw him from a precipice and killed him. No works of Æsop are extant, and it is doubtful whether he wrote any. Bentley
inclined to the supposition that his fables were delivered orally and perpetuated by repetition. Such fables are spoken of both by Aristophanes and Plato. Phædrus turned into Latin verse the Æsopian fables current in his day, with additions of his own. In modern times several collections claiming to be Æsop's fables have been published. Cf. J. Jacobs, The Fables of Æsop.
Æsthet′ics (Gr. aisthētikos, pertaining to perception), the philosophy of the beautiful; the name given to the branch of philosophy or of science which is concerned with that class of emotions, or with those attributes, real or apparent, of objects generally comprehended under the term beauty, and other related expressions. The term æsthetics first received this application from Baumgarten (1714-62), a German philosopher, who was the first modern writer to deal systematically with the subject, though the beautiful had received attention at the hands of philosophers from early times. Socrates, according to Xenophon, regarded the beautiful as coincident with the good, and both as resolvable into the useful. Plato, in accordance with his idealistic theory, held the existence of an absolute beauty, which is the ground of beauty in all things. He also asserted the intimate union of the good, the beautiful, and the true. Aristotle treated of the subject in much more detail than Plato, but chiefly from the scientific or critical point of view. In his treatises on Poetics and Rhetoric he lays down a theory of art, and establishes principles of beauty. His philosophical views were in many respects opposed to those of Plato. He does not admit an absolute conception of the beautiful; but he distinguishes beauty from the good, the useful, the fit, and the necessary. He resolves beauty into certain elements, as order, symmetry, definiteness. A distinction of beauty, according to him, is the absence of lust or desire in the pleasure it excites. Beauty has no utilitarian or ethical object; the aim of art is merely to give immediate pleasure; its essence is imitation. Plotinus agrees with Plato, and disagrees with Aristotle, in holding that beauty may subsist in single and simple objects, and consequently in restoring the absolute conception of beauty. He differs from Plato and Aristotle in raising art above nature. Baumgarten's treatment of æsthetics is essentially Platonic. He made the division of philosophy into logic, ethics, and æsthetics; the first dealing with knowledge, the second with action (will and desire), the third with beauty. He limits æsthetics to the conceptions derived from the senses, and makes them consist in confused or obscured conceptions, in contradistinction to logical knowledge, which consists in clear conceptions. Kant, in his Critique of the Power of Judgment, defines beauty in reference to his four categories, quantity, quality, relation, and modality. In accordance with the subjective character of his system he denies an absolute conception of beauty, but his detailed treatment of the subject is inconsistent with the denial. Thus he attributes a beauty to single colours and tones, not on any plea of complexity, but on the ground of purity. He holds also that the highest meaning of beauty is to symbolize moral good, and arbitrarily attaches moral characters to the seven primary colours. The value of art is mediate, and the beauty of art is inferior to that of nature. The treatment of beauty in the systems of Schelling and Hegel could with difficulty be made comprehensible without a detailed reference to the principles of these remarkable speculations. English writers on beauty are numerous, but they rarely ascend to the heights of German speculation. Shaftesbury adopted the notion that beauty is perceived by a special internal sense; in which he was followed by Hutcheson, who held that beauty existed only in the perceiving mind, and not in the object. Numerous English writers, among whom the principal are Alison and Jeffrey, have supported the theory that the source of beauty is to be found in association—a theory analogous to that which places morality in sympathy. The ability of its supporters gave this view a temporary popularity, but its baselessness has been effectively exposed by successive critics. Dugald Stewart attempted to show that there is no common quality in the beautiful beyond that of producing a certain refined pleasure; and Bain agrees with this criticism, but endeavours to restrict the beautiful within a group of emotions chiefly excited by association or combination of simpler elementary feelings. Herbert Spencer has a theory of beauty which is subservient to the theory of evolution. He makes beauty consist in the play of the higher powers of perception and emotion, defined as an activity not directly subservient to any processes conducive to life, but being gratifications sought for themselves alone. He classifies æsthetic pleasures according to the complexity of the emotions excited, or the number of powers duly exercised; and he attributes the depth and apparent vagueness of musical emotions to associations with vocal tones built up during vast ages. Among numerous writers who have made valuable contributions to the scientific discussion of æsthetics may be mentioned Winckelmann, Lessing, Richter, the Schlegels, Gervinus, Helmholtz, Ruskin, Home, Hogarth, Burke, Taine, and others.—Bibliography: Herbert Spencer, Principles of Psychology; Grant Allen, Physiological Æsthetics; A. Bain, Emotions and Will; B. Bosanquet,
History of Æsthetics; W. Knight, Philosophy of the Beautiful.
Æstiva′tion, a botanical term applied to the arrangement of the parts of a flower in the flower-bud previous to the opening of the bud.—The term is also applied to the summer sleep of animals. See Dormant State.
Æth′eling. See Atheling.
Æ′ther. See Ether.
Æthio′pia. See Ethiopia.
Æ′thrioscope (Gr. aithrios, clear, cloudless), an instrument (devised by Sir John Leslie) for measuring radiation towards a clear sky, consisting of a metallic cup with a highly-polished interior of paraboloid shape, in the focus of which is placed one bulb of a differential thermometer, the other being outside. The inside bulb at once begins to radiate heat when exposed to a clear sky, and the extent to which this takes place is shown by the scale of the thermometer. The æthrioscope also indicates the presence of invisible aqueous vapour in the atmosphere, radiation being less than when the air is dry.
Æthu′sa, a genus of umbelliferous plants. See Fool's Parsley.