Classicism, its philosophical and aesthetic foundations. Aesthetics of classicism

Lecture: It originates in Italy, but reaches its highest peak in France. Latin - classicus - sample. Classicism is based on the philosophy of Rene Descartes, rationalism. Rationalism is the ability of thinking based on reason. Sensory knowledge is denied or viewed as imperfect. In the works of classicism, everything is subject to the judgment of reason. The main conflict of Classicism is the conflict of reason and feelings. Aesthetics of Classicism: the idea of eternity and immutability of the laws of reason =) the laws by which works of art are created are eternal and immutable. Sources of plots: ancient literature or mythology. Laws of art: 1. High (ode, tragedy) and low genres (comedy, epigram, fable). Mixing is impossible. The heroes of tragedies are people from the upper class. Heroes of low genres are commoners; 2. The rule of trinity (time, place, action). The storyline is completed within a day. The location of the action should not change. One main storyline without side plots (the function of art is educational = the viewer does not need to be distracted from the most important thoughts in the play).

Theory and practice of Baroque in the 17th century. The classicist doctrine was resolutely opposed. The aesthetics of classicism (the term goes back to the Latin classicus; the original meaning is a citizen of the highest property class; a later figurative meaning is exemplary, including in the field of art), like the aesthetic concept of the Baroque, developed gradually.

Interpreters of classicism usually declare that the most important feature of classicist poetics is its normative character. The normativity of this poetics is completely obvious. And although the most complete and authoritative set of classicist laws that received pan-European significance - “Poetic Art” by Nicolas Boileau - was published only in 1674, long before that, often ahead of artistic practice, the theoretical thought of classicism gradually formed a strict set of laws and rules, mandatory for all artists. And yet, in the creative practice of many supporters of classicism, one can observe that these rules are not always strictly observed. It does not follow from this, however, that the outstanding artists of classicism (in particular, Moliere) “went beyond” classicism in their literary activities. Even violating some of the particular requirements of classicist poetics, the writers remained faithful to its basic, fundamental principles. The artistic potential of classicism was undoubtedly broader than a set of strict rules and was capable of providing an in-depth understanding of some essential aspects of reality, in comparison with previous literature, and their truthful and artistically complete recreation.

It follows from this that, for all the importance of normativity for the art of classicism, it is not its most important feature. Moreover, normativity is only the result of the fundamental anti-historicism inherent in classicism. The classicists declared “good taste”, conditioned by the “eternal and unchanging” laws of reason, to be the supreme “judge” of beauty. The classicists recognized ancient art as a model and ideal for the embodiment of the laws of reason and, therefore, “good taste,” and the poetics of Aristotle and Horace were interpreted as an exposition of these laws.

Recognition of the existence of eternal and objective laws of art, that is, independent of the artist’s consciousness, entailed the requirement of strict discipline of creativity, the denial of “unorganized” inspiration and willful imagination. For classicists, of course, the baroque exaltation of the imagination as the most important source of creative impulses is completely unacceptable. Supporters of classicism return to the Renaissance principle of “imitation of nature,” but interpret it more narrowly. Considering the harmony of the Universe, conditioned by the underlying spiritual principle, to be the source of beauty, the aesthetics of classicism set the artist the task of bringing this harmony into the depiction of reality. The principle of “imitation of nature,” thus, as interpreted by the classicists, did not imply the truthfulness of the reproduction of reality, but verisimilitude, by which they meant the depiction of things not as they are in reality, but as they should be according to reason. Hence the most important conclusion: the subject of art is not all of nature, but only a part of it, identified after careful selection and essentially reduced to human nature, taken only in its conscious manifestations. Life, its ugly sides should appear in art as ennobled, aesthetically beautiful, nature - as “beautiful nature”, delivering aesthetic pleasure. But this aesthetic pleasure is not an end in itself, it is only a path to the improvement of human nature, and, consequently, society.

In practice, the principle of “imitation of beautiful nature” was often declared equivalent to a call to imitate ancient works as ideal examples of the embodiment of the laws of reason in art.

The rationalism of the aesthetics of classicism is fundamentally different from the rationalistic tendencies of the aesthetics of the Renaissance and, even more so, from the rationalism of the Baroque. In Renaissance art, recognition of the special role of reason did not violate ideas about the harmony of the material and ideal, reason and feeling, duty and passion. The opposition of reason and feeling, duty and drive, public and personal reflects a certain real historical moment, the isolation of social relations characteristic of modern times into an independent force abstract for the individual. If the Baroque figures opposed reason to the abstraction of the state as a force that gives the individual the opportunity to resist the chaos of life, then classicism, delimiting the private and the state, puts reason at the service of the abstraction of the state. At the same time, as the Soviet researcher S. Bocharov rightly wrote, “the great works of classicism were not court art; they did not contain a figurative design of state policy, but a reflection and knowledge of the collisions of a historical era. The concept of Corneille’s tragedies was therefore not the simple subordination of the personal to the general, passion, and duty (which would have fully satisfied the official requirements), but the irreconcilable antagonism of these principles, as a result of which the internal struggle in the souls of the heroes became the nerve of the tragedy and the main source of drama.”

The preference for reason over feeling, the rational over the emotional, the general over the particular, their constant opposition largely explains both the strengths and weaknesses of classicism. On the one hand, this determines the great attention of classicism to the inner world of man, to psychology: the world of passions and experiences, the logic of mental movements and the development of thought are at the center of both classicist tragedy and classicist prose. On the other hand, among classic writers, the general and the individual are in complete rupture, and the heroes embody the contradiction of human essence as abstract, devoid of individuality, containing only the general. Moreover, the distinction between public and personal life is recognized as an eternal contradiction of human nature.

This misunderstanding of the dialectic of the general and the individual also determines the way of constructing character in classicism. The rationalistic method of “dividing difficulties”, formulated by the greatest rationalist philosopher of the 17th century. Rene Descartes, when applied to art, meant highlighting, as a rule, one leading, main feature in human character. Thus, the way of typing characters here is deeply rationalistic. One can, using Lessing’s expression, say that the classicists’ heroes are more “personified characters” than “characterized personalities.” It does not follow from this, however, that characters in classicism are abstract entities, formal-logical categories of the universal mind; they, according to the fair remark of the Soviet researcher E. N. Kupreyanova, are “images of universal human, natural characters, created on the model of historical ones, but purified from everything random, external that is contained in historical biographies.”

The classicist method of typifying characters by highlighting the main, defining trait in them undoubtedly contributed to the improvement of the art of psychological analysis and the satirical sharpening of themes in comedies. At the same time, the requirement for “reasonable” integrity, unity and logical consistency of character interferes with its development. An exclusive interest in the “conscious” inner life of a person often forces one to ignore the external environment and material conditions of life. In general, the characters in classicist works, especially tragedies, lack historical specificity. Mythological and ancient heroes in them feel, think and act like nobles of the 17th century. A greater connection between character and circumstances, although within the limits of classicist typification, is found in comedy, the action of which usually takes place in modern times, and the images acquire, for all their generality, life-like authenticity.

From the general aesthetic principles of classicism flow the specific requirements of its poetics, most fully formulated in Boileau’s “Poetic Art”: harmony and proportionality of parts, logical harmony and laconicism of composition, simplicity of plot, clarity and clarity of language. The consistent rationalism of the aesthetics of classicism leads to the denial of fantasy (except for ancient mythology, interpreted as “reasonable”).

One of the fundamental and stable theoretical principles of classicism is the principle of dividing each art into genres and their hierarchical correlation. The hierarchy of genres in classicist poetics is taken to its logical end and concerns all aspects of art.

Genres are divided into “high” and “low”, and mixing them is considered unacceptable. “High” genres - epic, tragedy, ode - are designed to embody state or historical events, that is, the life of monarchs, generals, mythological heroes; “low” - satire, fable, comedy - should depict the private, everyday life of “mere mortals”, people of the middle classes. The style and language must strictly correspond to the chosen genre. In matters of language, the classicists were purists: they limited the vocabulary allowed in poetry, trying to avoid ordinary “low” words, and sometimes even specific names of everyday objects. Hence the use of allegories, descriptive expressions, and a predilection for conventional poetic cliches. On the other hand, classicism fought against excessive ornamentation and pretentiousness of poetic language, against far-fetched, sophisticated metaphors and comparisons, puns and similar stylistic devices that obscured the meaning.

Related information.

Classicism (from Latin classicus - first-class) is a movement in art, literature and aesthetics of the 17th-18th centuries. The aesthetics of classicism guided poets, artists, and composers to create works of art distinguished by clarity, logic, strict balance and harmony. All this, according to classicists, found its full expression in ancient artistic culture. For them, reason and antiquity are synonymous. The rationalistic nature of the aesthetics of classicism manifested itself in the abstract typification of images, strict regulation of genres and forms, in the abstract interpretation of the ancient artistic heritage, in the appeal of art to reason rather than to feelings, in the desire to subordinate the creative process to unshakable rules and canons. He formed the most holistic aesthetic system French classicism. His ideological basis was the French rationalism of Remé Descartes(1596-1650). In his programmatic work “Discourses on Method” (1637), the philosopher emphasized that the structure of the rational completely coincides with the structure of the real world, and rationalism is the idea of fundamental mutual understanding. Submission to the state, fulfillment of public duty is the highest virtue of an individual. The human thinker is no longer a free being, which is characteristic of the Renaissance worldview, but subordinate to norms and rules alien to him, limited by forces beyond his control. This period is characterized not only by the consolidation of absolutist power, but also by the flourishing of manufacturing, which the Renaissance did not know. Thus, the period being characterized is distinguished by the victory of regulating manufacturing production, successes in the field of exact sciences, and the flourishing of rationalism in philosophy. Under these conditions, the theory and practice of the aesthetics of classicism takes shape.

Rationalism and normativism of the aesthetics of classicism. Classicism is one of the most important areas of art. Having established itself in the works and creativity of many generations, putting forward a brilliant galaxy of poets and writers, painters and musicians, architects, sculptors and actors, classicism left such milestones on the path of artistic development of mankind as tragedies Corneille, Racine, Milton, Voltaire, comedy Moliere, music Lully, poetry Lafontaine, park and architectural ensemble of Versailles, paintings by Poussin.

According to the codes of art, the artist was first required to have “nobility of design.” The plot of the picture must have had edifying value. Therefore, all kinds of allegories were especially highly valued, in which more or less conventionally taken images of life directly expressed general ideas. The highest genre was considered “historical,” which included ancient mythology, stories from famous literary works, from the Bible, and the like. Portraits, landscapes, and scenes of real life were considered “minor genres.” The most insignificant genre was still life.

The establishment of strict rules of creativity is one of the characteristic features of the aesthetics of classicism. The classicists understood a work of art not as a naturally occurring organism; but as an artificial work, created, created by human hands according to a plan, with a specific task and purpose.

The largest theoretician of this movement most fully outlined the rules and norms of classicism Nicola Boileau(1636-1711) in the treatise "The Poetic Art", which was conceived on the model of Horace's "Science of Poetry" ("Epistle to the Piso") and completed in 1674.

Ethical and aesthetic program

The initial principle of the aesthetic code of classicism is imitation of beautiful nature. Objective beauty for the theorists of classicism (Boileau, Andre) is the harmony and regularity of the universe, which has as its source a spiritual principle that shapes matter and puts it in order. Beauty, therefore, as an eternal spiritual law, is the opposite of everything sensual, material, changeable. Therefore, moral beauty is higher than physical beauty; the creation of human hands is more beautiful than the rough beauty of nature.

The laws of beauty do not depend on the experience of observation; they are extracted from the analysis of internal spiritual activity.

The ideal of the artistic language of classicism is the language of logic - accuracy, clarity, consistency. The linguistic poetics of classicism avoids, as far as possible, the objective figurativeness of the word. Her usual remedy is an abstract epithet.

The relationship between the individual elements of a work of art is built on the same principles, i.e. a composition that is usually a geometrically balanced structure based on a strict symmetrical division of the material. Thus, the laws of art are likened to the laws of formal logic.

The political ideal of classicism

In their political struggle, the revolutionary bourgeois and plebeians in France, both in the decades preceding the revolution and in the turbulent years of 1789-1794, widely used ancient traditions, ideological heritage and external forms of Roman democracy. So, at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. In European literature and art, a new type of classicism emerged, new in its ideological and social content in relation to the classicism of the 17th century, to the aesthetic theory and practice of Boileau, Corneille, Racine, Poussin.

The art of classicism of the era of the bourgeois revolution was strictly rationalistic, i.e. required complete logical correspondence of all elements of the artistic form to an extremely clearly expressed plan.

Classicism of the 18th-19th centuries. was not a homogeneous phenomenon. In France, the heroic period of the bourgeois revolution of 1789-1794. preceded and accompanied the development of revolutionary republican classicism, which was embodied in the dramas of M.Zh. Chenier, in the early painting of David, etc. In contrast, during the years of the Directory and especially the Consulate and the Napoleonic Empire, classicism lost its revolutionary spirit and turned into a conservative academic movement.

Sometimes, under the direct influence of French art and the events of the French Revolution, and in some cases, independently of them and even preceding them in time, a new classicism developed in Italy, Spain, the Scandinavian countries, and the USA. In Russia, classicism reached its greatest heights in the architecture of the first third of the 19th century.

One of the most significant ideological and artistic achievements of this time was the work of the great German poets and thinkers - Goethe and Schiller.

With all the variety of variants of classicist art, there was much in common. And the revolutionary classicism of the Jacobins, and the philosophical-humanistic classicism of Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, and the conservative classicism of the Napoleonic Empire, and the very diverse - sometimes progressive-patriotic, sometimes reactionary-great-power - classicism in Russia were contradictory products of the same historical era.

Peoples' Friendship University of Russia

Faculty of Philology

Department of Russian and Foreign Literature

course "History of Russian literature of the 19th century"

Subject:

"Classicism. Basic principles. The originality of Russian classicism"

Performed by student Ivanova I.A.

Group FZHB-11

Scientific supervisor:

Associate Professor Pryakhin M.N.

Moscow

The concept of classicism

Philosophical teaching

Ethical and aesthetic program

Genre system

List of used literature

The concept of classicism

Classicism is one of the most important trends in the literature of the past. Having established itself in the works and creativity of many generations, putting forward a brilliant galaxy of poets and writers, classicism left such milestones on the path of artistic development of mankind as the tragedies of Corneille, Racine, Milton, Voltaire, the comedies of Moliere and many other literary works. History itself confirms the viability of the traditions of the classicist artistic system and the value of the underlying concepts of the world and human personality, primarily the moral imperative characteristic of classicism.

Classicism did not always remain identical to itself in everything, but was constantly developing and improving. This is especially obvious if we consider classicism from the perspective of its three-century existence and in the different national versions in which it appears to us in France, Germany and Russia. Taking its first steps in the 16th century, that is, during the mature Renaissance, classicism absorbed and reflected the atmosphere of this revolutionary era, and at the same time it carried new trends that were destined to manifest themselves energetically only in the next century.

Classicism is one of the most studied and theoretically thought-out literary movements. But, despite this, its detailed study is still an extremely relevant topic for modern researchers, largely due to the fact that it requires special flexibility and subtlety of analysis.

The formation of the concept of classicism requires systematic, purposeful work of the researcher based on attitudes towards artistic perception and the development of value judgments when analyzing the text.

Russian classicism literature

Therefore, in modern science, contradictions often arise between new tasks of literary research and old approaches to the formation of theoretical and literary concepts about classicism.

Basic principles of classicism

Classicism as an artistic movement tends to reflect life in ideal images that gravitate toward the universal “norm” model. Hence the cult of antiquity of classicism: classical antiquity appears in it as an example of perfect and harmonious art.

Both high and low genres were obliged to instruct the public, elevate its morals, and enlighten its feelings.

The most important standards of classicism are the unity of action, place and time. In order to more accurately convey the idea to the viewer and inspire him to selfless feelings, the author should not have complicated anything. The main intrigue should be simple enough so as not to confuse the viewer and not deprive the picture of its integrity. The requirement for the unity of time was closely related to the unity of action. The unity of the place was expressed in different ways. This could be the space of one palace, one room, one city, and even the distance that the hero could cover within twenty-four hours.

Classicism is formed, experiencing the influence of other pan-European trends in art that are directly in contact with it: it builds on the aesthetics of the Renaissance that preceded it and opposes Baroque.

Historical basis of classicism

The history of classicism begins in Western Europe at the end of the 16th century. In the 17th century reaches its highest development, associated with the heyday of the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV in France and the highest rise of theatrical art in the country. Classicism continued to exist fruitfully in the 18th and early 19th centuries, until it was replaced by sentimentalism and romanticism.

As an artistic system, classicism finally took shape in the 17th century, although the concept of classicism itself was born later, in the 19th century, when an irreconcilable war was declared on it by romance.

Having studied the poetics of Aristotle and the practice of Greek theater, the French classics proposed rules of construction in their works, based on the foundations of rationalistic thinking of the 17th century. First of all, this is strict adherence to the laws of the genre, division into the highest genres - ode (a solemn song (lyric) poem glorifying glory, praise, greatness, victory, etc.), tragedy (a dramatic or stage work that depicts an irreconcilable conflict between the individual and forces opposing it), epic (depicts actions or events in an objective narrative form, characterized by a calmly contemplative attitude towards the depicted object) and lower - comedy (a dramatic performance or composition for the theater, where society is presented in a funny, amusing form), satire (a type of comic , differing from other types (humor, irony) in the sharpness of its exposure).

The laws of classicism are most characteristically expressed in the rules for constructing tragedy. The author of the play was, first of all, required that the plot of the tragedy, as well as the passions of the characters, be believable. But the classicists have their own understanding of verisimilitude: not just the similarity of what is depicted on stage with reality, but the consistency of what is happening with the requirements of reason, with a certain moral and ethical norm.

Philosophical teaching

The central place in Classicism was occupied by the idea of order, in the establishment of which the leading role belongs to reason and knowledge. From the idea of the priority of order and reason followed a characteristic concept of man, which could be reduced to three leading principles or principles:

) the principle of the priority of reason over passions, the belief that the highest virtue consists in resolving contradictions between reason and passions in favor of the former, and the highest valor and justice lie respectively in actions prescribed not by passions, but by reason;

) the principle of primordial morality and law-abidingness of the human mind, the belief that it is reason that is capable of leading a person to truth, goodness and justice in the shortest way;

) the principle of social service, which asserted that the duty prescribed by reason lies in the honest and selfless service of a person to his sovereign and the state.

In socio-historical, moral and legal terms, Classicism was associated with the process of centralization of power and the strengthening of absolutism in a number of European states. He took on the role of ideology, defending the interests of the royal houses seeking to unite the nations around them.

Ethical and aesthetic program

The laws of beauty do not depend on the experience of observation; they are extracted from the analysis of internal spiritual activity.

The political ideal of classicism

One of the most significant ideological and artistic achievements of this time was the work of the great German poets and thinkers - Goethe and Schiller.

Genre system

Classicism establishes a strict hierarchy of genres, which are divided into high (ode, tragedy, epic) and low (comedy, satire, fable).

ABOUT́ Yes- a poetic, as well as musical and poetic work, distinguished by solemnity and sublimity, dedicated to some event or hero.

The tragedy is marked by stern seriousness, depicts reality in the most pointed way, as a clot of internal contradictions, reveals the deepest conflicts of reality in an extremely intense and rich form, acquiring the meaning of an artistic symbol; It is no coincidence that most tragedies are written in verse.

Epić I- generic designation for large epic and similar works:

.An extensive narrative in verse or prose about outstanding national historical events.

2.A complex, long history of something, including a number of major events.

Comá diya- a genre of fiction characterized by a humorous or satirical approach.

Satire- a manifestation of the comic in art, which is a poetic, humiliating denunciation of phenomena using various comic means: sarcasm, irony, hyperbole, grotesque, allegory, parody, etc.

Bá sleeping- a poetic or prosaic literary work of a moralizing, satirical nature. At the end of the fable there is a short moralizing conclusion - the so-called morality. The characters are usually animals, plants, things. The fable ridicules the vices of people.

Representatives of classicism

In literature, Russian classicism is represented by the works of A.D. Kantemira, V.K. Trediakovsky, M.V. Lomonosov, A.P. Sumarokova.

HELL. Kantemir was the founder of Russian classicism, the founder of the most vital real-satirical direction in it - such are his famous satires.

V.K. Trediakovsky, with his theoretical works, contributed to the establishment of classicism, but in his poetic works the new ideological content did not find a corresponding artistic form.

The traditions of Russian classicism manifested themselves differently in the works of A.P. Sumarokov, who defended the idea of the inseparability of the interests of the nobility and the monarchy. Sumarokov laid the foundation for the dramatic system of classicism. In his tragedies, under the influence of the reality of that time, he often turns to the theme of the uprising against tsarism. In his work, Sumarokov pursued social and educational goals, preaching high civic feelings and noble deeds.

The next prominent representative of Russian classicism, whose name is known to everyone without exception, is M.V. Lomonosov (1711-1765). Lomonosov, unlike Kantemir, rarely ridicules enemies of enlightenment. He managed to almost completely rework the grammar based on the French canons, and made changes to the versification. Actually, it was Mikhail Lomonosov who became the first who was able to introduce the canonical principles of classicism into Russian literature. Depending on the quantitative mixture of words of three kinds, one or another style is created. This is how the “three calms” of Russian poetry emerged: “high” - Church Slavonic words and Russian ones.

The pinnacle of Russian classicism is the work of D.I. Fonvizin (Brigadier, Minor), the creator of a truly original national comedy, who laid the foundations of critical realism within this system.

Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin was the last in a row of the largest representatives of Russian classicism. Derzhavin managed to combine not only the themes of these two genres, but also the vocabulary: “Felitsa” organically combines the words of “high calm” and vernacular. Thus, Gabriel Derzhavin, who fully developed the possibilities of classicism in his works, simultaneously became the first Russian poet to overcome the canons of classicism.

Russian classicism, its originality

A significant role in the shift in the dominant genre in the artistic system of Russian classicism was played by the qualitatively different attitude of our authors to the traditions of the national culture of previous periods, in particular to national folklore. The theoretical code of French classicism - "Poetic Art" Boileau demonstrates a sharply hostile attitude towards everything that in one way or another had a connection with the art of the masses. In his attack on Tabarin's theater, Boileau denies the traditions of popular farce, finding traces of this tradition in Molière. The harsh criticism of burlesque poetry also testifies to the well-known anti-democratic nature of his aesthetic program. There was no place in Boileau’s treatise to characterize such a literary genre as the fable, which is closely connected with the traditions of the democratic culture of the masses.

Russian classicism did not shy away from national folklore. On the contrary, in the perception of the traditions of folk poetic culture in certain genres, he found incentives for his enrichment. Even at the origins of the new direction, when undertaking a reform of Russian versification, Trediakovsky directly refers to the songs of the common people as a model that he followed in establishing his rules.

The absence of a break between the literature of Russian classicism and the traditions of national folklore explains its other features. Thus, in the system of poetic genres of Russian literature of the 18th century, in particular in the work of Sumarokov, the genre of lyrical love song, which Boileau does not mention at all, receives an unexpected flourishing. In “Epistole 1 on poetry” Sumarokov gives a detailed description of this genre along with the characteristics of recognized genres of classicism, such as ode, tragedy, idyll, etc. In his “Epistole” Sumarokov also includes a description of the fable genre, relying on the experience of La Fontaine . And in his poetic practice, both in songs and in fables, Sumarokov, as we will see, was often directly guided by folklore traditions.

The originality of the literary process of the late XVII - early XVIII centuries. explains another feature of Russian classicism: its connection with the Baroque artistic system in its Russian version.

1. Natural-legal philosophy of classicism of the 17th century. #"justify">Books:

5.O.Yu. Schmidt "Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Volume 32." Ed. "Soviet Encyclopedia" 1936

6.A.M. Prokhorov. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Volume 12. "Published "Soviet Encyclopedia" 1973

.S.V. Turaev "Literature. Reference materials". Ed. "Enlightenment" 1988

In the art and aesthetics of classicism (17th century), based on the ideas of French absolutism, the center appeared as an active active personality - the hero. His character is not characterized by the titanic scale that distinguished the heroes. Renaissance, as well as integrity of character and active direction of will to achieve the goal that defined the heroes of Greek antiquity.

In line with the ideas of mechanistic materialism of the era, he divided the world into two independent substances - spiritual and material, thinking and sensual, the hero of the art of classicism appears as an individualized personification of these opposites and is called upon to decide on priorities. He becomes a heroic figure due to the provision of advantages to values that personify the “universal”, and by “universal” classicism understood such rather conventional values as noble honor, the feudal lord’s knightly devotion to his moral duty to the ruler and so on. The dominance of philosophical rationalism is not a positive direction in the sense of affirming the ideas of the integrity of the state under the rule of a strong personality. In art, it determined the speculative nature of the characters and conflicts of the heroes of the tragedy. Researchers rightly note that classicism "extracted a harmonious principle not from the depths of human nature itself (this humanistic "illusion" was overcome), but from the social sphere in which the hero acted."

The rationalistic method became the methodological basis of the aesthetics of classicism. Descartes, based on mathematical knowledge. It corresponded to the content of the ideology of absolutism, which sought to regulate all areas of culture and life. The theory of passions, motivated by the philosopher, relieved souls of bodily excitement caused by external stimuli. The rationalistic method was used by the theory of tragedy in the spirit of Cartesianism and applied the principles of poetics. Aristotle. This trend can be clearly seen in the tragedies of the most outstanding playwrights of classicism -. P. Corneille and. J. Racine Racine.

outstanding theorist of the aesthetics of classicism. O. Boileau (1636-1711) in his work “Poetic Art” (1674) teaches the aesthetic principles of the art of classicism. The author considers the basis of the aesthetic to be the subordination of duties to the laws of rational thought. However, this does not mean denying the poetry of art. The measure of the artistry of a work depends on the degree of truth of the work and the verisimilitude of its paintings. Identifying the perception of beauty with the knowledge of truth with the help of reason, he also strengthens the creative imagination and intuition of the artist with reason.

O. Boileau encourages artists to understand nature, but advises subjecting it to a certain purification and correction. The researcher paid much attention to aesthetic means of expressing content. To achieve the ideal in art, he considered it necessary to be guided by strict rules arising from certain universal principles; he adhered to the idea of the existence of a certain absolute beauty, and therefore the possible means of its creation. The main purpose of art, according to. O. Boileau, - a presentation of rational ideas, shrouded in a veil of poetically beautiful. The goal of his perception is the combination of reasonableness of thought and sensual pleasure of docile and fortu forms.

The rationalization of forms of experience, including art, is also reflected in the differentiation of genres of art; the aesthetics of classicism divides into “high” and “low.” The author believes that they cannot be mixed, since they never turn into each other. By. O. Boileau, heroic actions and noble passions are the sphere of high genres. The life of ordinary ordinary people is the sphere of “low” genres. That is why I give or credit to the works. Jean-Baptiste. Moliere, he considered their disadvantage to be close to the folk theater. So, aesthetics. O. Boileau is focused on the creation of regulations that the artist must adhere to so that his work would embody the idea of beauty as the orderliness of content and form, taking into account the reasonable expediency of the content and the proper poetry of its form and the proper poeticity of its form.

Certain aesthetic ideas are contained in treatises. P. Corneille, dedicated to the theory of drama. The playwright sees the main meaning of the latter in the “cleansing” action of the theater, like Aristotle’s “catharsis.” The theater must explain the events of the work to the audience so that they can leave the theater, dispelling all doubts and contradictions. Valuable for the theory of aesthetics is the idea of taste, justified. F La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680) in his work "Maxims" The author examines the opposite tendencies in knowledge, caused by differences between tastes and the mind. In the middle of the said aesthetic sphere, the opposites recur in the form of taste: passionate, related to our interests, and general, which directs us to the truth, although the difference between them is relative. The shades of taste are varied, the value of his judgments undergoes changes. The philosopher recognizes the existence of good taste, which opens the path to truth. Despite the declarative nature of the aesthetic ideas of classicism, the spiritual and social soil on which they grew, namely the formation of national states with strong individual power (king, emperor) - turned out to be extremely fruitful for the practice of art. Based on the ideas of classicism, drama, theater, architecture, poetry, music, and painting flourished. In all these types of art, national art schools were formed and national art schools were formed.