| OCR Text |
Show ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT LXI term. This practice will be found convenient in the science of psychology and in all of the sciences of human activities. I shall therefore sometimes speak of pleasure and pain in terms of pleasure, implying the antithetic term pain. Sometimes we have a word which has the force of its etymologic significance and also of its antithesis. " Welfare" is a word of this character. Pleasures are teleologic; that is, they are potent motives for human activities. There is a group of activities produced by forms which result from pleasures. These may be denominated the pleasures of form from the standpoint of motive, or the arts of decoration from the standpoint of activities. Because there are pleasures of form there are activities of decoration and hence there are arts of decoration. Many activities produce objects solely to gratify the feelings of pleasure. Many activities are induced primarily by other motives and secondarily by pleasure. In the production of these objects, thought and labor are expended oyer and above the amount necessary to produce the object for utility in order that it may give pleasure, and if it does not give this additional pleasure it gives pain. Decorative activities are often of this character. An ornament may be designed wholly for decoration, as when jewels are worn; but a garment may have its chief purpose in utility, through a secondary purpose in ornamentation, and the form and color of the garment may be considered as having an importance almost equal to that derived from its utility. Man is rarely content with utility, but he also desires pleasure from the objects which are produced through his activities. In both classes of endeavor the decorative arts are involved. The decorative arts are arts of form. Architectural structures are designed primarily for a utilitarian purpose, but they are decorated. Vehicles have utilitarian purposes, yet many devices of decoration are used in their construction in order that they may be pleasing. Such illustrations serve to show the general nature of the decorative arts. |
