Status of Art among Muslim Thinkers
If the Islamic philosophy has a firm connection to the Greek philosophy and in Greek philosophy art is considered to highly affect philosophy and get affected by it, then in Islamic philosophy, too, there should be reciprocal effects between the two, but that is not the case.
Greece is the place where philosophy emerged and was written. In the field of theories of art, the most fundamental theory on philosophy of art is Greek. In Greek philosophy we see a serious relationship between art and philosophy since the very beginning. For example, there is an ancient Greek philosopher named Gorgias. He said that an artist should make the soul of his audience happy, and a work of art that cannot do that cannot be considered a work of art.
The essence of a work of art is conquering the soul of the audience. How should it be done? Gorgias says a painter should not use real color but should take a series of colors and mix them to use. This is among the first philosophical approaches to art and how philosophy affects art.
Aristotle is the hero in the field of philosophy of art and proving ontology of art. Man has three powers: theoretical, practical and creative, whose ultimate stage is art. This is the beginning of proving ontology of art from Aristotle’s point of view. There are many examples in the West that show that art in the West is advancing almost in step with philosophy. The Muslim world approach to Greece was very critical and at the same time intellectual.
The most important theory of philosophy of art is the theory of imitation. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) uses the term analogy and imitation. Farabi and his followers use the term imagination. This perception is close to the world of philosophy of art because if I want you to recreate a thing in painting, you cannot do it unless it goes through the filter of your imagination. So what is created is not the reality but a combination of the reality and your imagination.
In Islamic philosophy we have grand content but its function has been theological. The discussions in the Islamic civilization about the field of color, as the most important visual component of art, are among the most magnificent topics mentioned by mystics.
Therefore, if we consider arts to have very important bases such as imagination, color, light, idea, and the like, we come to realize that Muslims have done exquisite works in this field. So why a school of art was not created? Because it had theological function. But in the fields such as spiritual manners, mystical circles, our hand is full. Also this point should be mentioned that in all works of art in the Islamic civilization two fields are exceptions: music and architecture.
