In this paper, I will investigate Langer's notion of the "art symbol", or "form symbolic of human feeling", viewed from the standpoint of the "formal analogy" between art work and feeling. This formal analogy should be considered at two levels-an 'element' level and a 'whole' one. First, between the "dynamic element" of an art work and the "felt tension" exists the analogy of the "act form", which is determined by the phases of "acceleration", "consummation" and "conclusion". By such analogy, the dynamic element becomes the "natural symbol" of a felt tension, i.e. "illusory tension". Secondly, by the analogy of "organic pattern" which those illusory tensions constitute, an art work as a whole can become the symbol which articulates the idea of "a particular feeling" as the fabric of felt tensions. Even if the 'tensions' which we have in perceiving an art work are not illusory ones, but actually felt ones, the point can be supported that we can know through each art work the form of an unexperienced feeling which is analogous to the organic pattern peculiar to it. Although this assumption conflicts with Langer's fundamental notion of "symbol" as a vehicle only for ideas, on it Langer's theory of the art symbol, I think, may obtain more validity in general.
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