Philosophical Theories of Art and Nature in Classical Antiquity

Abstract

The various theories of art and nature which circulate in the prescriptive treatises, the philosophic or scientific works, and also the literature of entertainment of the Renaissance, have their origin in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages. Some of the precedents for these theories may be regarded as commonplaces of ancient and medieval literature; others may be described as arguments advanced by and identifiable with individual philosophers-arguments which very often take their starting point in the commonplaces.1 Here, I wish to examine the second type of precedent, confining my attention to classical antiquity. The purpose of this article is to elucidate and distinguish clearly among the Renaissance theories of art and nature, by tracing them back to the ancient contexts in which Renaissance philosophers, theorists, and writers learnt them. A central premise of this article is that however these theories were modified and elaborated in their transition from antiquity to the Renaissance, the basic presuppositions contained in them, and the important distinctions and divisions which one can perceive among them in classical antiquity, hold good in the Renaissance. Plato's influence on the subsequent development of these theories is of seminal importance. The most important passages in which he discusses the relationship of art to nature are (a) the discussion concerning cosmic creation in Laws X, and (b) the contexts in Republic X and the Sophist in which the arts are graded ontologically in relation to nature. The discussion near the beginning of Laws X has the aim of attacking the impious atheism of those who assert that religion is an invention of men, and that laws have no preordained justification in the universal scheme. The Athenian quotes the prevalent philosophical view (889a) that nature (0?6ai;) and chance (ru6rx) are the original creators of the cosmos-nature being identified with the elemental forces of earth, air, fire, and water.2 According to this view, art is a human, mortal,