The Foundations of Aesthetics

This paper summarizes the theory of aesthetics that comes from the new foundations for geometry developed in my books. The new geometric foundations are based on two principles: (1) maximizing transfer of structure, (2) maximizing recoverability of the generative operations. According to the foundations, these are the two basic principles of aesthetics. This paper shows that the two principles are fundamental to aesthetic judgement in (1) the arts, where we examine painting, music, and poetry; (2) the sciences, where we examine general relativity and quantum mechanics; and (3) computer programming, where we examine object-oriented programming. It is shown that all these areas are driven by the same two underlying principles: maximization of transfer and recoverability. Transfer is formalized in terms of particular products of groups. It is shown to be the basis of Gestalt. Recoverability is shown to depend on a new theory of symmetry-breaking, provided in the geometric theory. Together, transfer and recoverability are shown to be the basis of memory storage; and our rigorous theory of aesthetics says that the rules of aesthetics are the rules of memory storage. In particular, both the arts and the sciences are driven by the single goal of maximizing memory storage. Finally, these principles are applied to explain core phenomena in object-oriented programming.