ABSTRACT
All of the world's earliest theatrical theory deals with questions of the form and function of theatre - with aesthetic questions. Aesthetics, broadly speaking, is the study of what makes something beautiful, pleasing or good. The West has no shortage of aesthetic debates. Some of these are distinctly theatrical and others emerge from the visual arts and architecture. Aristotle is frequently understood to privilege the moral education theatre can provide over its entertainment value. The contrast between education and entertainment or between education and artistic expression seems to have shaped a good deal of the discussion of the purpose of the theatre in the West. This chapter suggests people that they have to consider the ways in which elements of a production fit together as an aesthetic question, but that one notion of unity cannot be applied across different aesthetic systems.
