First Question on Nehamas

What does the phrase "to see the object as in itself it really is" mean?


This phrase, while worded very strangely, may not be a very difficult question to answer, or rather, it is one of those questions that one knows the answer to, but has a hard time putting into words.  "To see the object as in itself it really is" essentially means to see the object--in this case art--for what it truly is, or for what the artist tried to convey from it.  However, while this may take on the appearance of a purely subjective view, this is not so.  It does take a bit of an objective view to understand what an object "in itself" really is.  While one must observe the object as a painting or sculpture, etc., one must also look at specifically what the piece of art is.  Is it a landscape? Does it resemble that of something in reality?  Or is it abstract? A strange arrangement of colors and lines and shapes?

Then, one must delve even deeper into what the artwork is.  What does it represent?  What does it mean?  What was the artist trying to communicate?  What is this a painting/sculpture/what have you of anyway?  Is there more to this?  These are the questions one must ask themselves to truly find what an object in itself really is.  It is, for lack of a better word, to find the true essence of the piece (while this word is highly misleading and misused in this case, but the writer hopes that the reader will understand the point he is trying to make).  Picking apart every piece of the object and truly finding what it is.