MAYMONID AESTHETICS: THERAPEUTIC VIEW ON BEAUTY VALUE

Abstract

In the work of the outstanding medieval philosopher, religious figure, scientist and doctor Moses Maimonides (RaMbaMa, 1138-1204), aesthetic issues were not in the center of concern. A philosophical reflection of the beauty existed on the periphery of his ontological and ethical thought and developed in line with Aristotelian rationalism and functionalism, supported by the experience of a practicing physician. Earthly beauty seemed to him not having a transcendental analogue and not reflecting any metaphysical archetypes. In the face of an ascetic Jewish community, the thinker “justified” the pleasure of the beautiful, declaring the healing power of beauty, which can have a beneficial effect on the psychophysical state and behavior of a person. Maimonides, a doctor, prescribed a “healthy dose of beauty” for people suffering from fatigue and depression, arguing that the most important task of aesthetic contemplation is to restore physical health, which in turn seemed to him a condition of clear thinking that could come closer to understanding God. Rambam noted the therapeutic (in the broad sense of the word: both in terms of impact on health, and in terms of impact on the social behavior of people) potential of beauty, but argued that the value of contemplating the beautiful and the benefits and satisfaction it gives (lying in sensory) are incomparably lower than the value of intellectual knowledge aimed at understanding God (belonging to the spiritual realm)