There were three major transitions in Greek Art and Philosophy that took place during the Archaic Period (600-480 BCE), a broad Classical Period before the reign of Alexander the Great (490-323 BCE), and the Hellenistic Period after his death. In this discussion, we will be discussing the transition between the Archaic (600-480BCE) into the Early and High Classical Time period (480-400 BCE). The discussion asks if Philosophy could have influenced the style and motive of artistic convention during these periods.
During what is known as the Archaic age, the pre-socratic philosophers were a leading group of scholars whom fostered an investigation on the origin of nature and the physical world and created theories such as the law of the universe. They believed that the physical cosmos was the result ot the laws of causation and so it could inevitably be predicted and undertood. They discovered natural law, which believed if the phenomena were understood, they could explain why many other things occured. The first philosopher whose writing survived was Thales of Miletus, who analyzed the physical aspects of the world and attempted to make it intelligible. Some great Pre-Socratics were Anaximander (the first evolutionist) and Hippocrates (empiricist who carefully studied the aspects of the weighed and measurable world (Adler, 93). In order to understand many of their philosophies of nature, it required a sense of logic, mathematical reason, and keen observation. In juxtaposition, the Artistic style and architecture during this period consisted of the creation of some meticulous conventions, which required some insight to measurability. In regards to the Doric order (which influenced Ionic orders and Corinthian Orders) and the spacial plans of the temples, they required a keen understanding of geometric laws and an ability to weigh and measure in a precise manner. When they studied Egyptian art, they derived the canon of proportions such as the Statue of Menakaure and the Greek Kourai poses with the slightly extended foot, yet the Kourai were more athletic in appearance and expressed in a more Greek identity. Perhaps the beginning of aberrations from styles and thought that were not Greek. In doing this, they were creating an identity of their own with art and architecture in conjunction with innovating their philosophical world.
With the defeat of the Persians in 480 BCE, art and architecture made some great leaps and bounds as well as philosophical thought. Socrates (470-399BCE) and his follower Plato (427-347BCE) emerged into the scene to further inquiry into ethical and epistemological questions to stir minds through the ages (Adler, 93). Socrates was notorious for creating the Socratic method which was where they systematically questioned everything fearlessly and justified everything before taking it for truth. Plato formed a philosophical metaphor of the cave to take a sensory and cognitive approach in regognizing truth and reality. The theory stated that most people were only getting a glimpse of reality through a dim light in a cave seeking to find existence but could be obtained through finding light and becoming accustomed to unfamiliar realities just as the eyes must adjust in darkness and light (Adler, 94). Through philosophers like Socrates and Plato, philosophy was leading towards more sophistication and challenged ideas more deeply into what had been achieved during the Archaic time period and the past. Coincidentally, artworks appeared such as the Spear Bearer made by Polyeitos and was a more ideal sculpture that used an intricate canon of proportion and quadrant system with contrapposto elements to balance a detailed figure (Stokstad, 129). It was more lifelike than ever before. Applying the principle of questioning and higher reasoning, we can suppose that the ideal man in art may have been questioned into achieving a grear ideal image and greater understanding of the intricacies of the anatomical form.
As man's thirst for truth and knowledge advanced, evidence of artistic change became apparent during the Greek periods. Inversely, it is plausible that art may have influenced philosophy at times. Whichever the case both worlds changed and and progressed, relative to each other in the same time period. Some of the philosophical ideas are only a glimpse of what was achieved by philosophers in comparison to the whole, so if anyone has any interesting ideas it's be neat to hear them.
Source
Adler, Philip. World Civilizations. Ginger Clarke.
California: Thompson Higher Education, 2006.
Francisco Goya, "The sleep of reason produces monsters", Plate 43 of Los Caprichos, 1799.
