Inledning till estetiken

by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Sven-Olov Wallenstein (Translator)

Librarian note: an alternate cover for this edition can be found here.

For Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), art almost ranked with religion and philosophy in its power to reveal the fundamental nature of existence. But although he lived in the German golden age of Goethe, Schiller and Mozart, he also believed that art was in terminal decline.

To resolve this apparent paradox, as Michael Inwood explains in his incisive Introduction, we must understand the particular place of aesthetics in Hegel's vast intellectual edifice. Its central pillars consist of logic, philosophy of nature and philosophy of spirit. Art derives its value from offering a sensory vision of the God-like absolute, from its harmonious fusion of form and content, and from summing up the world-view of an age such as Homer's. While it scaled supreme heights in ancient Greece, Hegel doubted art's ability to encompass Christian belief or the reflective irony characteristic of modern societies. Many such challenging ideas are developed in this superb treatise; it counts among the most stimulating works of a master thinker.

Table of Contents
Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics Introduction A Note on the Translation and Commentary
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES ON AESTHETICS

Chapter I: The Range of Aesthetic Defined, and Some Objections against the Philosophy of Art Refuted
[α Aesthetic confined to Beauty of Art
β Does Art merit Scientific Treatment?
γ Is Scientific Treatment appropriate to Art?
δ Answer to β
ε Answer to γ]

Chapter II: Methods of Science Applicable to Beauty and Art
[1. Empirical Method - Art-scholarship
(a) Its Range
(b) It generates Rules and Theories
(c) The Rights of Genius
2. Abstract Reflection
3. The Philosophical Conception of Artistic Beauty, general notion of]

Chapter III: The Conception of Artistic Beauty
Part I - The Work of Art as Made and as Sensuous
1. Work of Art as Product of Human Activity
[(a) Conscious Production by Rule
(b) Artistic Inspiration
(c) Dignity of Production by Man
(d) Man's Need to produce Works of Art]
2. Work of Art as addressed to Man's Sense
[(a) Object of Art - Pleasant Feeling?
(b) Feeling of Beauty - Taste
(c) Art-scholarship
(d) Profounder Consequences of Sensuous Nature of Art
(α) Relations of the Sensuous to the Mind
(αα) Desire
(ββ) Theory
(γγ) Sensuous as Symbol of Spiritual
(β) The Sensuous Element, how Present in the Artist
(γ) The Content of Art Sensuous]

Part II - The End of Art
3. [The Interest or End of Art
(a) Imitation of Nature?
(α) Mere Repetition of Nature is -
(αα) Superfluous
(ββ) Imperfect
(γγ) Amusing Merely as Sleight of Hand
(β) What is Good to Imitate?
(γ) Some Arts cannot be called Imitative
(b) Humani nihil - ?
(c) Mitigation of the Passions?
(α) How Art mitigates the Passions
(β) How Art purifies the Passions
(αα) It must have a Worthy Content
(ββ) But ought not to be Didactic
(γγ) Nor explicitly addressed to a Moral Purpose
(d) Art has its own Purpose as Revelation of Truth]

Chapter IV: Historical Deducation of the True Idea of Art in Modern Philosophy
1. Kant
[(a) Pleasure in Beauty not Appetitive
(b) Pleasure in Beauty Universal
(c) The Beautiful in its Teleological Aspect
(d) Delight in the Beautiful necessary though felt]
2. Schiller, Winckelmann, Schelling
3. The Irony

Chapter V: Division of the Subject
[1. The Condition of Artistic Presentation is the Correspondence of Matter and Plastic Form
2. Part I - The Ideal
3. Part II - The Types of Art
(α) Symbolic Art
(β) Classical Art
(γ) Romantic Art
4. Part III - The Several Arts
(α) Architecture
(β) Sculpture
(γ) Romantic Art, comprising
(i) Painting
(ii) Music
(iii) Poetry
5. Conclusion]

Commentary

Genres: Philosophy, Art, Nonfiction, Classics

First published September 27, 2015

About the author

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) was a German philosopher and one of the founding figures of German Idealism. Influenced by Kant's transcendental idealism and Rousseau's politics, Hegel formulated an elaborate system of historical development of ethics, government, and religion through the dialectical unfolding of the Absolute. Hegel was one of the most well-known historicist philosopher, and his thought presaged continental philosophy, including postmodernism. His system was inverted into a materialist ideology by Karl Marx, originally a member of the Young Hegelian faction.

Reviews

[Mikael Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jag är inte längre lika övertygad om det hegelianska projektet som jag var förra gången jag läste texten. På det sättet så är jag inte längre övertygad om att Hegels estetik är särskilt relevant för vår tid. Den präglas av en stark fetischisering av det abstrakta som jag uppfattar som missriktad. Att konsten inlemmas i världsandens process gör att den får en tydlig riktning och förlorar sin autonomi. Jag tror att det är just i konstens autonomi som den blir mest meningsfull. Samtidigt är detta en bra introduktion till Hegel, den är förhållandevis lättläst (åtminstone jämfört med Fenomenologin) och gör att man får åtminstone grundläggande förståelse av Hegels dialektiska tillvägagångssätt och förstår att det inte rör sig om motsatsernas spel utan om begreppens, andens och världshistoriens självutveckling.

[Laia · Rating 4 out of 5]

último libro del año! MUY BUENAS REFLEXIONES es cierto que le da mil millones de vueltas a la misma cosa pero a mi eso me gusta mucho ngl creo que el libro me ha elegido en el momento exacto pq lo encontré de casualidad en la biblioteca justo cuando estaba teniendo una crisi sobre mi propósito en el arte

[Talivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta introducción de Hegel nos hace ser más conscientes y apreciativos del arte en general.

Desde su creación hasta la percepción. por medio de los sentidos. las emociones y la espiritualidad de las personas.

Es un libro que nos recuerda porque las bellas artes se consideran junto con la filosofía, las áreas más altas en un suprasistema social.

desde la pintura hasta la arquitectura. nos hace un recorrido por varias críticas y pensamientos sobre la objetividad del arte.

no es una lectura ligera. y aunque el libro no es grande si requiere atención. e ir de apoco para no perderse

[Daniel Blasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy interesante, una buena introducción a la estética, se nota de que época es a pesar de todo. Me he leído este libro, como intruducción a la estética de Hegel para introducirme a la escuela de Frankfurt. A pesar de ser de que yo sea materialista, su concepto de espíritu se puede entender perfectamente en todos los planos.

[Aarón Zurbano · Rating 1 out of 5]

La puntuación va para mi en vez de para el libro por no haber entendido nada

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5; ibland oläslig, ibland underbar.

[Joseph Dunning]

Roughly: Spirit + Nature = Subject matter.

[Dominic Nordenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book was OK. Style was dry. Ideas interesting. Great dive into the art history that was merely glossed over in the phenomenology. Fits well with the other parts of his system I’ve encountered.