Truth and Beauty

2019 ◽  
pp. 23-52
Author(s):  
Lydia L. Moland

This chapter provides the framework for Hegel’s philosophy of art within his philosophical system, as found in Part I in his lectures on aesthetics. It describes art’s place as one moment of Absolute Spirit and discusses Hegel’s definition of beauty as the “sensible appearance of the Idea.” It recounts theories of art Hegel dismisses and then turns to the general components he claims art must have. Together, these components—for instance setting, situation, action, and character—allow humans to experience truth sensuously. When they fail, they contribute to ways that art can end. Finally, Hegel discusses aspects of the artistic process such as genius, inspiration, and originality.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Thomas Leddy ◽  

Clive Bell’s Art, published in 1913, is widely seen as a founding document in contemporary aesthetics. Yet his formalism and his attendant definition of art as “significant form” is widely rejected in contemporary art discourse and in the philosophy of art. In this paper I argue for a reconsideration of his thought in connection with current discussions of “the aesthetics of everyday life.” Although some, notably Allen Carlson, have argued against application of Bell’s formalism to the aesthetics of everyday life, I claim that this is based on an interpretation of the concept that is overly narrow. First, Li Zehou offers an interpretation of “significant form” that allows in sedimented social meaning. Second, Bell himself offers a more complex theory of significant form by way of his “metaphysical hypothesis,” one that stresses perception of significant form outside the realm of art (for example in nature or in everyday life). Bell’s idea that the artist can perceive significant form in nature allows for significant form to not just be the surface-level formal properties of things. It stresses depth, although a different kind than the cognitive scientific depth Carlson wants. This is a depth that is consistent with the anti-dualism of Spinoza, Marx and Dewey. Reinterpreting Bell in this direction, we can say we are moved by certain relations of lines and colors because they direct our minds to the hidden aspect of things, the spiritual side of the material world referred to by Spinoza and developed by Dewey in his concept of experience. Bell hardly “reduces the everyday to a shadow of itself,” as Carlson puts it, since the everyday, as experienced by the artist or the aesthetically astute observer, has, or potentially has, deep meaning. If we reject Bell’s dualism and his downgrading of sensuous experience, we can rework his idea of pure form to refer to an aspect of things detached, yes, from practical use, but not from particularity or sedimented meaning, not purified of all associations.


Author(s):  
Endre Kiss

Gadamer’s hermeneutic philosophy avoids the problem of literary objectiveness altogether. His approach witnesses the general fact that an indifference towards literary objectiveness in particular, leads to a peculiar neglect of par excellence literariness as such. It seems obvious, however, that the constitutive aspects of the crisis of literary objectiveness cannot be shown to contain the underlying intention of bringing about this situation. At this point, one can identify what could probably be the most important element in a definition of literary objectiveness. In contrast to ‘natural’ objectiveness and objectiveness based on various societal conventions, the legitimacy of a literary work is solely guaranteed by its elements being organized in accordance with the rules of literary objectiveness. Thus when the crisis of literary objectiveness intensifies, literariness will also find itself in a crisis. This crisis detaches new, quasi-literary formations from various definitions of literariness. When literary objectiveness ceases, however, to be understood as a system constituted by various objective formations aiming to correspond in one way or another to the ‘world’, scientific analysis of literary objectiveness will be rendered impossible. The crisis of literary objectiveness thus brings about the crisis of the theory of literature and the philosophy of art. Gadamer explicitly argues that the scientific approach proves to be inadequate in the analysis of artistic experience. This attitude results in the categorical rejection of a scientific orientation (and so in a complete indifference towards literary objectiveness), but he seems to overemphasize an otherwise correct thesis on the non-reflexive character of artistic experience. It is the anti-mimetic and Platonic character of Gadamer’s aesthetic hermeneutics that determines the status of literary (artistic) objectiveness in his system of thought. What is of crucial importance, however, is to point out that this aesthetics entails a fundamental reduction of the significance of literary objectiveness. As soon as the essence of aesthetic object-constitution is taken to be re-cognition (plus the emanating aesthetic possibilities), the absolutely natural interest in the original object represented by a work of art.Undoubtedly, Gadamer’s conception answers a number of questions that tend to be ignored by other theories. It is just as obvious, however, that Gadamer completes here the aesthetic devaluation of the objective domain. It is not the characteristics of the ‘original’ that constitute the image, but in effect the image turns the original into an original. Paraphrasing this claim one arrives at a near paradox: not objectiveness makes a work of art possible, but a work of art lends objects their objectiveness.


Ramus ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 146-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan McCombie

J'ai voulu te dire simplement que je venais de jeter le plan de mon œuvre entier, après avoir trouvé la clef de moi-même, clef de voûte, ou centre de moi-même, où je me tiens comme une araignée sacrée, sur les principaux fils déjà sortis de mon esprit, et à l'aide desquels je tisserai aux points de rencontre de merveilleuses dentelles, que je devine, et qui existent déjà dans le sein de la Beauté.This paper will examine the central image of Ἱστοί (‘Looms’ or ‘Webs’), that of the web woven by the spider, as a Callimachean expression, or objectification, of the highly self-conscious treatment of art and play with illusion in the Imagines, that is, its play with the interaction of vision and text. In so doing, it will attempt to show in what ways Ἱστοί might be said to describe the artistic process of the work of which it forms a part, and to illuminate, from its context of painting and its ekphrastic oratory, something of the function and structure of ekphrasis itself. It will not be long enough to deal with the wider questions, about mimesis and the definition of ekphrasis, that it will perhaps have invited.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
TOMAS MCAULEY

ABSTRACT1770s Berlin saw the birth of a new theory of rhythm, first stated in Johann Georg Sulzer'sAllgemeine Theorie der schönen Künste(1771–1774), and later labelled theAkzenttheorie(theory of accents). Whereas previous eighteenth-century theories had seen rhythm as built up from the combination of distinct units, theAkzenttheoriesaw it as formed from the breaking down of a continual flow, achieved through the placing of accents on particular notes. In hisPhilosophie der Kunst(1802–1803) the philosopher Friedrich Schelling used Sulzer's definition of rhythm to suggest, astonishingly, that music can facilitate knowledge of the absolute, a philosophical concept denoting the ultimate ground of all reality. In this article I show how Schelling could come to interpret theAkzenttheoriein such extravagant terms by examining three theories of time and their relationships to rhythm: that of Sulzer and his predecessor Isaac Newton, that of Immanuel Kant and that of Schelling. I conclude by arguing that in Schelling's case – an important one, since his is the earliest systematic presentation of a view of music that came to predominate in the decades after 1800 – his view of music was driven neither by developments in contemporary music nor by changes in the philosophy of art as a discrete intellectual enterprise, but by revolutions in philosophy by and large unconcerned even with art in general.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-243
Author(s):  
Ângelo Cid Neto

Abstract This text is a reflection in action of an artistic process based on a scientific research. ENSAIO is the choreographic project that resulted from the translation mechanisms of laboratory concepts to a bodily approach, where it proposes a possible mainstreaming of artistic and scientific processes combined. This project joined artistic higher education schools in dance and scenic arts (ESD and FCSH) and Polavieja lab, a neuroscience research lab in Champalimaud Foundation – Center for the Unknown. This text aims to reveal the creative choreographic and performative potentials hidden in this scientific research concerning neurosciences. Identifying cross materials to artistic and scientific processes, it was possible to design a structure of the creation process and the construction of a choreographic performance. The common platform has been found in the process of translation and the definition of the same concept substrate, which made possible the approach of the two instances: studio and laboratory. One of its key features is the promotion of the communication among its agents: scientists and dancers. And the possibility of modelling and absorption from what it comes from this sharing and collaboration. The methods and the choreographic procedures mirrored and promoted this sharing and, therefore, the involvement of the body. Where, the body is the agent able to reflect and trigger this process, a body as an essay that is constantly in research. A body able to coordinate between various media and to expand the reflection on itself. Although science and art are individual instances that inevitably specialise and segregated away. Therefore, this text focuses on examples of cross-thinking of both scientific and artistic cultures, and the articulation of the theoretical and practical bodies in a practice-as-research on the development of the ENSAIO creative process.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Collins

In this thesis I show how Aristotle’s approach to ethics can be applied to aesthetics in order to address normative concerns relating to practices of artistic creation and spectatorship, and how R. G. Collingwood’s philosophy of art provides an understanding of these practices that works as a basis for such an approach. I begin by discussing the connection between aesthetic and ethical normativity as found in the thought of various prominent philosophers, and review the contemporary work done in the name of ‘virtue aesthetics’. I then explicate Aristotle’s ethics, with a particular focus on his definition of virtue and his discussion of practical wisdom, and give an overview of Collingwood’s understanding of art and the role of imagination in artistic expression and understanding, before synthesizing the structure of Aristotle’s ethics with the content of Collingwood’s philosophy of art in order to arrive at an outline of a Collingwoodian virtue aesthetics.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Collins

In this thesis I show how Aristotle’s approach to ethics can be applied to aesthetics in order to address normative concerns relating to practices of artistic creation and spectatorship, and how R. G. Collingwood’s philosophy of art provides an understanding of these practices that works as a basis for such an approach. I begin by discussing the connection between aesthetic and ethical normativity as found in the thought of various prominent philosophers, and review the contemporary work done in the name of ‘virtue aesthetics’. I then explicate Aristotle’s ethics, with a particular focus on his definition of virtue and his discussion of practical wisdom, and give an overview of Collingwood’s understanding of art and the role of imagination in artistic expression and understanding, before synthesizing the structure of Aristotle’s ethics with the content of Collingwood’s philosophy of art in order to arrive at an outline of a Collingwoodian virtue aesthetics.


2021 ◽  
pp. 86-92
Author(s):  
М.В. Логинова

Основная проблема исследования – определение выразительности в качестве методологического принципа современной культуры. Материалами при этом послужили результаты научных изысканий российских и зарубежных философов, культурологов, литературных критиков. Отмечено, что выразительность дает представление о формировании нового понимания взаимосвязи мира и человека, и ее обоснование является основой трансформация современной культуры. Проанализированы концепции Б. Кроче (выразительность как выражение духа в первичной форме), С. Лангер (выражение чувств символически), Т. Адорно (выразительность как критика невыразительного и узнавание выразительности фрагментарного), В. С. Соловьева (выразительность как выражение всеединства), П. А. Флоренского (выражение антиномичности феноменов культуры), А. Ф. Лосева (выразительность как мера человеческого). Выделены и классифицированы основные подходы к проблеме выразительности и определению собственной позиции категориального статуса данного понятия. The main problem of the research is the definition of expressiveness as a methodological principle of modern culture. The research materials were the results of investigations of Russian and foreign philosophers, culturologists, literary critics. The ontological approach allowed treating the expressiveness problem as something that assumes meeting the Other, as the expression of focusing on the Other. Moisei Kagan’s synergetic and systems approach contributes to the determination of the methodological significance of the expressiveness problem. This approach helps reveal the spirit of the transformations in modern culture, identify the connection between its different forms, and perceive the content of culture expression in the 21th century. The author notes that expressiveness gives an idea of how a new understanding of the relationship between the world and man forms. The substantiation of expressiveness is the basis for the transformation of modern culture. It is argued that in the existing humanitarian paradigm, when the consequences of a person’s self-expression in the world are ambiguous and an objective view cannot claim to be the world’s foremost authority, expressiveness is the condition for self-expression in the world, and it provides the opportunity to follow the transformation of self-expression in modern cultural practices. Reflection on expressiveness in modern culture is connected with social creativity, which brings the problem out of linguistics and art history towards a larger axiological context. The analysis of the problem of expressiveness in the humanities has made it possible to single out the following schools: artistic aspects of expressiveness (S. M. Volkonsky, S. M. Eisenstein); linguistic and literary aspects of linguistic expression (Yu. M. Lotman, A. A. Potebnya, E. Sapir, A. Hansen-Loeve, et al.); existentialist and philosophical perspective of expressiveness (M. M. Bakhtin, A. F. Losev, V. A. Podoroga, et al.). The connection with the philosophy of art and the history of philosophy creates new perspectives for the study of methodological aspects that influence the modern humanitarian paradigm. Reference to the concepts of B. Croce (expressiveness as a genius expression in its primary form), S. Langer (symbolic expression of feelings), T. Adorno (expressiveness as a criticism of the inexpressible and recognition of frank expression), V. S. Solovyov (expressiveness as an expression of unity), P. A. Florensky (expressiveness as an expression of antinomic cultural phenomena), A. F. Losev (expressiveness as a human dimension) allowed classifying the main approaches to the problem of expressiveness and defining its categorical status.


Problemos ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
Ieva Straukaitė

Šiuolaikinėje analitinėje meno filosofijoje viena pagrindinių problemų – ar įmanoma ir kaip įmanoma apibrėžti meną? Straipsnyje analizuojamas George’o Dickie’o institucinis meno apibrėžimas. Parodoma, kaip jis atsako į antiesencialistų argumentus, neigiančius meno apibrėžimo galimybę. Teigiama, kad meno apibrėžimą Dickie’s įrodinėja pasitelkdamas ekstensionalistinę metodologiją, kuria remdamasis meno ir ne-meno atskyrimo kriterijus aiškina kaip semantinius eksternalistinius, episteminius eksternalistiniusir normatyviai neutralius. Tvirtinama, kad Dickie’o suformuluotas institucinis meno apibrėžimas negali būti laikomas meno apibrėžimu, nes jis remiasi ydingo loginio rato principu. Iš to daroma išvada, kad Dickie’s nepagrindžia meno apibrėžimo galimybės, bet pasiūlo ekstensionalistinę institucinę meno sampratą.Indefiniteness of George Dickie’s Extensional-Institutional Definition of ArtIeva Straukaitė SummaryA major problem in contemporary analytic philosophy of art is whether and how it is possible to define art. The paper analyzes George Dickie’s institutional definition of art. His response to anti-essentialists’ arguments which deny the possibility to define art is presented. It is argued that Dickie attempts to substantiate his definition of art by invoking extensional methodology on the basis of which he construes the criteria for distinguishing between art and non-art as externalistic semantic, externalistic epistemic, and value-neutral. It is asserted that the institutional definition of art formulated by Dickie cannot be considered a definition of art as it is sustained by a logically vicious circle. Hence the conclusion that Dickie does not substantiate the possibility of a definition of art but introduces an extensional-institutional conception of art.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
Marat Khassanov ◽  
Vera Petrova ◽  
Assiya Khassanova

The borders of visual art on the eve of the 20th-21st centuries are being extremely expanded both at the empirical and theoretical levels and so is the agenda of contemporary philosophy of art. Is the unprecedented polyphony of discourses a methodological drawback or is it a heuristic opportunity that can help to broaden our knowledge about the essence of art and the notion of a work of art? What is visual art and what is artwork speaking the 21st century language? The study examines the current trends and innovations in the visual arts field and how they can be interpreted. Authors come to conclusion that the times of normative or negativist approaches are over. The plethora of transformations is a value-in-itself and can be seen as a legitimate methodological situation, namely, as a meta-relativist turn. Examples that are presented in the paper deal with different sides of “a work of art formula”: span of discourse, artist, audience, art space, art market, new technologies, etc. Those cases demonstrate the ambivalence of current visual art practices that can be interpreted either as complete negation of the preceding standards or as new discourses that are equally legitimate with the older ones. Meta-relativist approach treats all existing discourses and practices as equally legitimate and thus provides the method to broaden our understanding of the essence of art and definition of an artwork. The study suggests that it is a contemporary tool for further intra- and inter-disciplinary dialogue.


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