Universal Aesthetics

According to Baumgarten (1714-1762), the founder of Western Aesthetics, the object of logical knowledge is "Truth"; the objective of aesthetic knowledge is "Beauty". Beauty is the perfect perceived by the senses. Truth is the perfect perceived by reason. The good is the perfect attained by the moral will.

Lord Shaftesbury (1671-1713) felt Beauty is known only by the spirit (unlike Baumgarten who postulated that Beauty is perceived by the senses.) God is the principal Beauty - the beautiful & the good proceed from a single source.

This is more similar to Hindu thought which equates Satyam (Truth), Shivam (God) & Sundaram (Beauty).

In Kannada Literature, even though Kuvempu & DVG have written about this subject, the in-depth study is the doctoral thesis of S. L. Bhyrappa, "Truth & Beauty." It is so comprehensive that it covers everything from the beauty of babies to the beauty in Beethoven's String Quartet op.135!

An extremely erudite volume on this subject is the little known work of Leo Tolstoy, "What is Art" in which he firmly repudiates the thesis of Art for Art's Sake. He views Art from a Western Christian point of view & presents an iconoclastic, polemical viewpoint.