Following the new reading of Kant?s third critique, which was proposed by
Hannah Arendt in her Lectures on Kant?s Political Philosophy, in this paper,
the author deals with the function of art in the establishment, organization
and profiling of political communities. The focus is primarily on the field
of music. The analysis begins with ancient philosophers (Pythagoras, Plato,
Aristotle) and continues with the problems which relate to artistic shaping
of citizens? lives in modern epoch (Rousseau, Kant, Schiller). The goal of
the paper is to show that the philosophy of art and the philosophy of music,
could be taken as a political philosophy, precisely because the analysis of
these phenomena constantly convinces a close intertwining of politics and
aesthetics, i.e. art and power, music and power. As a conclusion, we might
say that a general aesthetic sense can be seen as a kind of human organ for
public aesthetic gathering of citizens. Music, poetry, visual arts, etc.,
have become tools for the political shaping of citizens, i.e. the tools of
their political life.
On artistic shaping of citizens’ political gatherings