Taste Claritas
A taste skill derived from Thomas Aquinas's three conditions of beauty (Summa Theologica I, q.39, a.8): integritas (wholeness — nothing essential missing), consonantia (due proportion — parts relate correctly to whole), and claritas (radiance — form shines through matter with luminous intelligibility).
Style Tokens
- Luminous intelligibility — the organizing principle visible through material
- Geometric proportion as structural logic, not decoration
- Encyclopedic completeness — nothing essential missing
- Nothing excess, nothing missing — economy without poverty
- Form transparent to principle
- Even illumination revealing structure
- Architectural clarity of spatial relationships
- Ratio as method — mathematical proportion governing composition
- Legibility without simplification
- Splendor formae — the radiance of form itself
Anti-Tokens
- Decorative ornament as end in itself
- Deliberate obscurity or mystification
- Asymmetric expressionism prioritizing feeling over structure
- Rough texture valued for its own sake
- Incompleteness as aesthetic choice
- Emotional turbulence disrupting formal logic
- Baroque excess overwhelming structural clarity
- Subjective distortion of proportion
- Darkness as mood rather than structural element
- Fragmentation without governing unity
Application Rules
- Apply integritas check: identify what is essential — is anything missing that creates deficiency? Is anything present that does not serve the whole?
- Apply consonantia check: do proportional relationships follow a consistent structural logic? Can you identify the ratio governing spatial divisions?
- Apply claritas check: does the organizing principle become legible through the material — can you see through surface to structure?
- Use as sequential diagnostic: if a composition feels off but you cannot identify why, check these three conditions in order
- Check each condition independently — failure is usually in one specific condition, not all three
Evaluation Criteria
- Does the composition achieve completeness without excess?
- Can you identify the proportional system governing spatial relationships?
- Does the organizing principle shine through the material surface?
- Is there luminous intelligibility — can you grasp the whole at once?
- Would removing any element create a deficiency? Would adding any element create excess?