Aestheticism In Oscar Wilde's The Decay Of Lying

1.1 Aesthetics: A Philosophic Background
The debate on whether Aestheticism survived Greek and Roman literature and art usually concludes to be less recurrent than discussions on more modern literature and poetry. However, there are many in stances where architecture and paintings, have displayed evidence to suggest otherwise. More than often, observations, with regards to Aestheticism in Greek and Roman texts, of antiquity, can only be found in classical by particular philosophers who seldom partook in research of the visual arts. When considering the ancient Greek and Roman Aesthetics, it is important to note the numerous debates and discussions that developed over the centuries. Theories such as beauty being at the core of Aesthetics for

One example of Plato’s influence on Wilde is displayed in The Decay of Lying, where Wilde uses Plato’s Socratic manuscript Republic as a model for his denunciation of realism. Wilde uses the know-it-all Vivian and the naïve Cyril to create a storyline that is similar to Plato’s Parable of the Cave in Republic. In the Parable of the Cave, Plato illustrates allegorically the circumstance in which humankind finds itself and he recommends the idea of salvation. The parable suggests, in concise terms, Plato’s principle philosophical theories: his conviction that the world exposed by our interpretations is not a realistic world but an unreliable replica of it, and that the real world can only be understood intellectually; his theory that intelligence cannot be apprehended by a student from their teacher, but instead that education exists in focusing a student’s attention toward what is real, truthful and effective, permits them to understand it for themselves. Just like Plato, Wilde believed in only viewing the truth and what is real in all things. Oscar Wilde’s views about the deficiency of imagination in modern literature and the overall lack of creative inspiration in art, wholly, make an appearance during a conversation between the two characters, in which Wilde expresses his views through Vivian, while Cyril makes dubious attempts to hold a different opinion that elicit Vivian to elucidate

The moment of quantity helps us to understand that our detachment of the judgement of taste brings about the opinion of approval that is associated with one’s independence of their own personal surroundings, interests and aspirations. For this very reason, Immanuel Kant advocates that every person should expect to encounter these feelings justly in accordance with any object considered to be visually beautiful. Therefore, we have a universal feeling of admiration thriving in such judgements of taste: “beautiful is that which is universally appreciated, without a concept.” The third judgement of taste involved the moment of relation, and draws upon the meaning of “purpose”. Kant defines “purpose” as being the concept of an object, where its meaning indicates an intention or a plan. To call an object a purpose, is almost identical to saying that if we, mankind, did not posit some kind of intelligence as a metaphysical feature of the object, then the objects existence would be nonsensical. By giving the concept and the object a strong relationship, the notion of purposiveness makes an appearance by alluding to the concepts casual, and offhand relationship with the object. Therefore, the form purposiveness