Between Transcendence and Historicism

Brian K. Etter

Description

Between Transcendence and Historicism explores Hegel's aesthetics within the larger context of the tradition of theoretical reflection to emphasize its unique ability to account for traditional artistic practice. Arguing that the concept of the ethical is central to Hegel's philosophy of art, Brian K. Etter examines the poverty of modernist aesthetic theories in contrast to the affirmation by Hegel of the necessity of art. He focuses on the individual arts in greater detail than is normally done for Hegel's aesthetics, and considers how the dual constitution of the ethical nature of art can be justified, both within Hegel's own philosophical system and in terms of its relevance to the dilemmas of modern social life. Etter concludes that the arts have a responsibility to represent the goodness of existence, the ideal, and the ethical life in dignifying the metaxological realm through their beauty.

Abbreviations
Introduction

Part I. Art between Transcendence and Historicism

1. Is Art Necessary?

2. Beauty and the Transcendence of the Ideal

3. The Historicity of the Ideal and the End of Art

Part II. The Ethical Nature of the Arts

4. Beauty, the Ideal, and Representational Art

5. The Sounds of the Ideal

6. The Ethical Function of Poetry

7. Beauty and Ornament in Architectural Styles

Part III. The Foundations of Art

8. Art and the Beauty of the Ethical Order

9. Normativity in the Arts and the Particularity of Tradition

10. Art and the Beauty of the Absolute

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Éthique et morale
• Esthétique et philosophie de l'art
• Ethique et morale

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791482285
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Between Transcendence and Historicism

SUNY Series in Hegelian Studies

Edited by William Desmond

Between Transcendence and Historicism

The Ethical Nature of the Arts in Hegelian Aesthetics

Brian K. Etter

 _______________ _______________

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2006 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Etter, Brian K. Between transcendence and historicism : the ethical nature of the arts in Hegelian aesthetics / Brian K. Etter. p. cm. — (SUNY series in Hegelian studies) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0–7914–6657–4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831—Aesthetics. 2. Aesthetics—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title. II. Series.

B2949.A4E88 2006 111.85092—dc22

2005007685

ISBN–13: 978–0–7914–6657–5 (hardcover : alk. paper)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents 

Preface Abbreviations Introduction Part I. Art between Transcendence and Historicism Chapter 1. Is Art Necessary? Chapter 2. Beauty and the Transcendence of the Ideal Chapter 3. The Historicity of the Ideal and the End of Art Part II. The Ethical Nature of the Arts

Chapter 4. Beauty, the Ideal, and Representational Art Chapter 5. The Sounds of the Ideal Chapter 6. The Ethical Function of Poetry Chapter 7. Beauty and Ornament in Architectural Styles Part III. The Foundations of Art Chapter 8. Art and the Beauty of the Ethical Order Chapter 9. Normativity in the Arts and the Particularity of Tradition Chapter 10. Art and the Beauty of the Absolute Notes Bibliography Index v

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Preface 

his book is written out of the conviction that, after a cen- tury of modernist avant-garde artistic movements, the for t T hose who are open to the possibility that the arts pose a problem nature of the arts needs to be rethought. It is intended within modern society; that criticism of the arts is a legitimate option; and that what philosophers and theorists of the past have said about art is potentially worthwhile. It argues, specifically, that what Hegel had to say about the arts is important for a perspective that is related to the characteristic attitudes of modernity, yet is able to ground criti- cisms of the arts both in his day and in our own time. It also argues that Hegel is important in the way he interprets artistic traditions as he knew them, transforming long-standing artistic theories into a genuine, philosophical understanding of the arts. While his aesthetic is not without problems of its own, these prove instructive for consid- ering the problems posed by the arts in the modern world. The argument in these pages, therefore, is not aimed at an exclu- sively Hegelian audience. Although it will be of interest to scholars of Hegel, the hope is that what it has to say will also be of interest to readers concerned with broader aesthetic questions. Whether I suc- ceed in addressing what is of fashionable concern at the moment, the issues of the ethical nature of the particular arts and the role of tradi- tion are serious and will not disappear. The tendency among philoso- phers to celebrate modernism and now postmodernism has worked to foreclose debate about fundamental aesthetic issues. I argue here that there are good reasons to see Hegel as pointing the way to a valid critique of these movements that are largely uncriticized in the aca- demic community.

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Preface

This book was undertaken out of a long effort to understand Hegel’s aesthetic within the context of his larger philosophical sys- tem, and out of a sense of the need to rearticulate an aesthetic that would explain the legitimacy of the inherited artistic traditions of Western culture. Hence I have explored some of the topics in this book already in articles and essays. Permission to use them has been graciously granted in the following cases: “The Sounds of the Ideal: Hegel’s Aesthetic of Music,”The Owl of Minerva26 (1994): 47–58, appearing in chapter 5; “Beauty, Ornament, and Style: The Problem of Classical Architecture in Hegel’sAesthetics,”The Owl of Minerva30 (1999): 211–35, appear- ing in chapter 7; and “Hegel’s Aesthetic and the Possibility of Art Criticism,” a paper read at the 1996 meeting of the Hegel Society of America, published inHegel and Aesthetics, ed. William Maker (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000), 31–43, part of which appears here in chapter 3. Quotations fromAesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art, by G. W. F. Hegel and translated by T. M. Knox are reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press © 1975 Oxford University Press. I gratefully acknowledge this permission as crucial to the analysis and critique of Hegel’s aesthetics. All quotations from theAestheticsare from Knox’s translation unless otherwise noted. I would like to thank Professor William Desmond, editor of the SUNY series in Hegelian Studies, for his encouragement to pursue this project. I also thank Kettering University for its generous support of a sabbatical to make this book possible. Finally, I want to thank my wife, Linda, for reading the manuscript with an eye both for typo- graphical errors and for nonsense masquerading as philosophy.

Abbreviations 

English translations follow the German editions of Hegel’s works. All quotations are from the English editions unless otherwise noted in the text. Enz.1–3Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften im Grundrissen (1830), Sämtliche Werke, vols. 8–10. Edited by E. Moldenhauer and K. Michel (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1970). EL The Encyclopaedia Logic. Translated by T. F. Geraets, W. A. Suchting, and H. S. Harris (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1991). PM Philosophy of Mind: Part Three of the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences (1830). Translated by William Wallace and A.V. Miller (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971). VÄ1–3Vorlesungen über die Ästhetik, Sämtliche Werke, vols. 13–15. Edited by Moldenhauer and Michel (1970). A1–2Aesthetics: Lectures on the Fine Arts. Translated by T. M. Knox. 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pagination is continuous; vol. 2 begins with p. 613. GPR Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts oder Naturrecht und Staatswissenschaft im Grundrisse, Sämtliche Werke, vol.7. Edited by Moldenhauer and Michel (1970). PR Philosophy of Right. Translated by T. M. Knox (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952). VPG Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte, Sämtliche Werke, vol.12. Edited by Moldenhauer and Michel (1970). PH The Philosophy of History. Translated by J. Sibree (New York: Dover, 1956).

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