Definition of the beautiful is one of the central problems of aesthetics. In the past aesthetics has often been called the science of the beautiful and is sometimes still referred to as such today. Yet, as already pointed out in Chapter I, aesthetics is not a theory of the beautiful, but a science concerned with man’s aesthetic grasp of the real world, and above all with the laws of the development of art and a theory of artistic creativity. However, it is no coincidence that during the history of aesthetic theory the idea did take root that aesthetics was not concerned with anything other than the beautiful. The beautiful is an aesthetic category of fundamental importance and no aesthetic phenomenon can be explained if this category is ignored. If the essence of the beautiful is not singled out and defined, neither the universal laws of art nor the nature of artistic creativity can be fully understood.