Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Aesthetic consciousness: Aesthetic consciousness in philosophy refers to the awareness and appreciation of beauty, art, and the sensory experiences associated with them. It involves the subjective perception and interpretation of aesthetic qualities in objects, experiences, or expressions._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Hans-Georg Gadamer on Aesthetic Consciousness - Dictionary of Arguments
I 91 Aesthetic Consciousness/Gadamer: What we call a work of art and experience aesthetically is based (...) on an achievement of abstraction. By disregarding everything in which a work is rooted in its original context of life, of all religious or profane function in which it stood and in which it had its meaning, it becomes visible as the "pure work of art". The abstraction of the aesthetic consciousness thus achieves a positive achievement for itself. It lets us see and is for itself what the pure work of art is. I call this, its achievement, the "aesthetic distinction". >Truth of Art/Gadamer, >Truth of Art/Schiller. This is intended to designate - in contrast to the distinction that a content-filled and certain taste exercises in selecting and rejecting - the abstraction that selects solely on the basis of aesthetic quality as such. It takes place in the self-consciousness of the "aesthetic experience". What the aesthetic experience is aimed at is to be the actual work - what it is not aimed at are the non-aesthetic moments inherent in it: purpose, function, meaning of content. These moments may be significant enough, as long as they integrate the work into its world and thus determine the whole range of meaning that it originally owns. But the artistic nature of the work must be distinguishable from all that. It virtually defines the aesthetic consciousness, that it carries out precisely this distinction of the aesthetically meant from all that is non-aesthetic. It abstracts from all conditions of access under which a work shows itself to us. Such a distinction is therefore itself a specifically aesthetic one. It distinguishes the aesthetic quality of a work from all content-related moments that determine our position in terms of content, morality or religion, and only means itself in its aesthetic existence. >Aesthetics, >Art, >Art works. The aesthetic consciousness therefore has the character of simultaneity, because it claims that everything that has artistic value is gathered in it. I 92 The "aesthetic distinction" which it operates as aesthetic consciousness also creates its own external existence. It proves its productivity by preparing its sites for simultaneity, the "universal library" in the field of literature, the museum, the standing theatre, the concert hall etc. I 93 Thus, through "aesthetic distinction", the work loses its place and the world to which it belongs by becoming part of the aesthetic consciousness. This corresponds on the other hand to the fact that the artist also loses his/her place in the world. I 105 Aesthetic Consciousness/Gadamer: [In the aesthetic experience] there is no progress and no final exhaustion of what is contained in a work of art. >Aesthetic Experience/Gadamer. The experience of art knows that about itself. Nevertheless, the aesthetic consciousness should not simply assume what it thinks of as its experience. For it perceives it, as we have seen, ultimately as the discontinuity of experience. But we have recognized this consequence as unacceptable. >Truth of Art/Gadamer._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Gadamer I Hans-Georg Gadamer Wahrheit und Methode. Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik 7. durchgesehene Auflage Tübingen 1960/2010 Gadamer II H. G. Gadamer The Relevance of the Beautiful, London 1986 German Edition: Die Aktualität des Schönen: Kunst als Spiel, Symbol und Fest Stuttgart 1977 |
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> Counter arguments against Gadamer
> Counter arguments in relation to Aesthetic Consciousness
Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-24