# Aesthetics glossary

Aesthetics - The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of [beauty and taste](values-quality.md) values.

## What should we define as quality?

Aestheticism - Art should be beautiful, but not necessarily have a [purpose](purpose.md).

Formalism (aesthetics) - Things should be assessed by their inherent [created](creations.md) quality or qualities, not by the social or historical context that it was made in or how much it evokes a feeling.

Romanticism - Art is an emotional experience based on the consumers' [feelings](mind-feelings.md).

## How should we [create](mind-creativity.md)?

Automatism/surrealist automatism - Spontaneously creating without any conscious self-censorship.

Classicism - Creating with a high regard for classical antiquity. A type of aesthetic absolutism. Contrasts against romanticism.

Expressionism - Creating by over-exaggerating to create an emotional effect. Contrasts to moral realism.

Modernism - Borrowing from humanism (see above), create with an emphasis on [science](science.md) and [technology](technology.md).

Primitivism - Pushing against intellectualism (see above), create with an emphasis on low-[technology](technology.md) experience and [feelings](mind-feelings.md).

Surrealism - Creating by using the element of surprise and unrelated things. Most of the creators tend to declare that they made a philosophical movement first and the works were just its byproduct.

Symbolism - Creating by using [representations](symbols.md) that carry particular meanings and patterns, which allow broader interpretation than literal representations would.