The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

THE MECHANICALFALLACY

95

scientific methodthat, onlyin sofarasphenomena

couldsoberendered,

mightanyprofitableresultsbe

expected from their study. To this rule the arts

Jproved

noexception.-

Buttheywereaffectedbythe

prevailing

theories in two contrary directions. In

many minds, aesthetics,like all philosophy, became

subordinated tothe categories of materialistic and

mechanicalscience. Ontheotherhand,those who

valued

art

tendedmore

andmoretoclaimfor

each

artitsseparateconsideration. For,sincetheessence

ofthescientific procedurehad beentheisolation

of

fieldsof inquiry

—

^thesubjection ofeach toitsown

hypptheticaltreatment—^itwasnaturalthatthefine

arts,also,shouldwithdrawintoasphereofautonomy,

and demand exemption from any values but

their

own.

'

Artforart'ssake,'forallitsringof sestheti-

cism, wasthus, in a sense, amotto

typical of the

scientificage

;

andFlaubert, whogave itcurrency,

wasanessentiallyscientificartist.

Butthefinearts

employed theirautonomyonlytodemonstrate their

complete subservience to

the prevailing scientific

preoccupation. Eachbowedthe

kneein

a

different

'

way. ThusPainting, becomingconfessedlyimpres-

j

sionistic, concerned

itself solely with optical facts,

withstatementsaboutvisioninstead of

effortsafter

significance. Literature

becamerealistic, statistical,

and documentary.

Architecture, founded, as it is,

on construction,

could be rendered,

even

more