A Study on the Evolution of Aesthetic Ideas in Four Treatises of Islamic Practical Wisdom

Practical wisdom is one of the neglected fields in studying the theoric principles of Islamic art. One of the basic topics of practical wisdom which can be a basis for discussing about aesthetics and craftsmanship, is human practice and its realtion with “justice” or in other words “equilibrium”. In early treatises of practical wisdom such as Tahḏib al-aḵlāq wa-taṭhir al-arāq written by Abū Alī Meskawayh, equilibrium is the pivot point of ethical discussions. In Aḵlāq-e Nāṣerī written by Ḵhāja Naṣīr-al-dīn Ṭūsī, equilibrium gradually implies some aesthetic aspects and becomes equivalent to concepts like unity, beauty and proportion. Davānī’s reflection on aesthetics in Aḵlāq-e Jalālī, consolidates his former discussions. Jāme’ al-sa’ādāt written by Mollā Mohammad-e Narāqī, is one of the last important treatises that confirms previous aesthetic ideas with a more religious approach. Reflecting on this intellectual process, a kind of aesthetic theory can be recognized which is based on equilibrium and states that there is a common meaning which is called equilibrium of humors when it appears through four elements, harmonic melodies when it appears in musical notes, rhetoric when it appears in combination of words, beauty when it appears in members of a body and justice when it appears in human morality.