Abstract

This article essentially calls attention to the distinction between the meanings and uses of the term ‘the aesthetic’ with regard to antiquity versus modernity. For this aim, firstly, the teachings of sensibility of Empedocles and Anaxagoras who are two eminent representatives of antique Greek thought are described and considered. Starting with these teachings, the paper establishes the relation between the concept of Being which is the fundamental presupposition of antique Greek thought and the problem of aisthesis, and it is this link that is emphasized. And secondly, two major figures who determined the use of the term ‘aesthetic’ in the modern thought are selected: Baumgarten ve Kant. From the definitions given by these philosophers, an attempt is made to trace the transformation of so-called ‘aesthetics’ from the teaching of sensibility to the philosophy of beauty and art