Divine Beauty

Daniel A. Dombrowski

Description

Considered by many to be one of the greatest philosophers of religion and metaphysicians of the twentieth century, Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000) addressed questions of aesthetics throughout his long career. Yet his efforts in this area are perhaps the most neglected aspect of his extensive and highly nuanced thought. Divine Beauty offers the first detailed explication of Hartshorne's aesthetic theory and its place within his theocentric philosophy.

As Daniel A. Dombrowski explains, Hartshorne advanced a neoclassical or process theism that contrasted with the "classical" theism defended by traditionalist Jews, Christians, and Muslim believers. His conception of God was dipolar, which could attribute to God certain qualities that traditionalists would exclude. For example, in Hartshorne's view, God can embrace excellent aspects of both activity and passivity, or of permanence and change; classical theists, on the other hand, exclude passivity and change from their conceptions.

Dombrowski goes on to explain the ramifications of Hartshorne's view of God for aesthetics, which for him had both broad and narrow meanings: all sensory feeling or sensation, in the broad sense, and a disciplined feeling for beauty, in the narrow sense. Included are discussions on Hartshorne's famous appreciation for the aesthetics of bird song; his view of beauty as a mean between two sets of extremes; his idea of the aesthetic attitude, which concentrates on values that are intrinsic and immediately felt; and the place of death in his aesthetics, in which the value of our lives consists in the beauty or intensity of experience that we contribute to the divine life.

Filling an important gap in our understanding of Hartshorne, Divine Beauty also makes a persuasive case for the superiority of his neoclassical theism over classical theism.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 19 avril 2004
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780826591760
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

DIVIN E BEAU The AESTH  TICS OF CHARLES HATSHO R NE

Daniel A. Dombro  ski

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TÉ VĀÉï LïĀ Ô AÉïÇĀ PïÔŚÔ offers interpretive perspectives on the historical roots of American philosophy and on present innovative developments in Ameri- can thought, including studies of values, naturalism, social phi- losophy, cultural criticism, and applied ethics.

Series Editors Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr., General Editor (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis) Cornelis de Waal, Associate Editor (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis)

Editorial Advisory Board Kwame Anthony Appiah (Harvard) Larry Hickman (Southern Illinois University) John Lachs (Vanderbilt) John J. McDermott (Texas A&M) Joel Porte (Cornell) Hilary Putnam (Harvard) Ruth Anna Putnam (Wellesley) Beth J. Singer (Brooklyn College) John J. Stuhr (Pennsylvania State)

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Daniel A. Dombrowski

Vanderbilt University Press ĀŚïÉ

©  Vanderbilt University Press All rights reserved First Edition 

is book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dombrowski, Daniel A. Divine beauty : the aesthetics of Charles Hartshorne / by Daniel A. Dombrowski.—st ed. p. cm.—(e Vanderbilt library of American philosophy)  Includes bibliographical references and index. ïŚ ––– (alk. paper)  . Hartshorne, Charles, –—Aesthetics. . Aesthetics, Modern—th century. I. Title. II. Series. .  .’’—dc 

Notes 

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Contents

Acknowledgments Abbreviations of Works by Charles Hartshorne Introduction Historic and ematic Background Beauty as a Mean e Aesthetic Attitude Birdsong Sensation/Feeling Panexperientialism Beauty Merely in the Eye of the Beholder?

e Religious Dimensions of Aesthetic Experience Absolute Beauty? Death and Contributionism Notes Bibliography Name Index

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the two Vanderbilt University Press re- viewers who read two quite different versions of my manu- script and who made many helpful suggestions for improve- ment of the work. One of these readers was Donald Viney and the other remains anonymous. It is an understatement to say that I have benefited greatly from their efforts.

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Abbreviations of Works by Charles Hartshorne

“e Aesthetics of Birdsong” “e Acceptance of Death” Anselm’s Discovery “An Anglo-American Phenomenology” “Bergson’s Aesthetic Creationism Compared to Whitehead’s” Beyond Humanism Born to Sing Creativity in American Philosophy “God as Composer-Director, Enjoyer, and, in a Sense, Player of the Cosmic Drama” “Why Psychicalism? Comments on Keeling’s and Shepherd’s Criticisms” Creative Synthesis and Philosophic Method e Darkness and the Light e Divine Relativity “Darwin and Some Philosophers” Existence and Actuality “e Environmental Results of Technology” “Is God’s Existence a State of Affairs?” Hartshorne and Brightman on God, Process, and Persons: e Correspondence, 1922–1945 “Charles Hartshorne’s Letters to a Young Philosopher” “In Defense of Wordsworth’s View of Nature” Insights and Oversights of Great inkers “e Intelligibility of Sensations” e Logic of Perfection