Vanessa asked:

I wanted to know what the writer George Santayana thought about the essence of art. I know his
position on beauty since he focuses on that topic, but I was curious as to know what he thought about
art as it relates to beauty.

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Beauty is the promise of the "conformity between the soul and nature", but it also has moral dignity.
Since for Santayana, everything is art, Fine Arts are an instance of the beauty which surrounds us.
However, there is a distinction between good and bad art, and good art, the most beautiful, must
promote a conformity between the soul and nature as well as exhibit moral dignity. For this reason,
Santayana thinks that art must have a function, or utility and it must be determinate. The moral dignity
of beauty cannot be a messy matter of indistinct feelings and sensations. The conformity of soul and
nature must be rational, perceptual and functional.

The fine arts are related to the world as art. Firstly, because natural beauty is the muse of art insofar
as in perceiving the world, the artist gets ideas for new ways of portraying the aesthetic world in
"plastic" form. Secondly, because in doing this the artist is bringing us to see the world in a new
essential way meaning that more aesthetic essences can be perceived in the natural world. This is
the function and utility of art. But also it must be determinate if it is to have this function. An
ambiguous work of art, which is indeterminate and fails to create an aesthetic essence, will lack this
function. Such a work would not be good art. As perception absorbs us in the world, and as such is
both functional and provides us with determinate forms, so art, answering to Santayana's conditions
of beauty can provide conformity between soul and nature. This is in itself is a moral dignity. It does
not just provide enjoyment for the romantic aesthete. Rather, it increases our purposeful relationship
with the aesthetic nature of the world.

Rachel Browne