ABSTRACT
Aesthetics, as that field is now understood, does not form the subjectmatter of any single Aristotelian work. No treatise is devoted to such topics as the essential nature of a work of art, the function of art in general, the differences between art and craft, or the concepts of meaning and truth in the arts. Nor does Aristotle anywhere examine, in a general way, the status of what would now be called ‘aesthetic judgments’, or seek a rational foundation on which they might be based. He hardly even possessed a vocabulary in which such questions could be raised.
