1. Concept

Traditionally “aesthetics” has been defined as the science of the beautiful. The word comes from the Gk. adjective aisthētikē (from the verb aisthanomai, meaning “perceive, experience”), with which a noun is understood such as technē (art) or epistēmē (knowledge). Aisthētikē epistēmē was thus originally the science of perception. Then the adjective took on the sense of giving direct pleasure in contemplation or imagination—that is, beautiful, charming, and so forth.

A. Baumgart…