The German Aesthetic Tradition

by Kai Hammermeister

This is the only available systematic critical overview of German aesthetics from 1750 to the present. The book begins with the work of Baumgarten and covers all the major writers on German aesthetics that Kant, Schiller, Schelling, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Gadamer and Adorno. It offers a clear and non-technical exposition of ideas, placing these in a wider philosophical context where necessary. Interest in this book extends far beyond the discipline of philosophy to those of literary studies, fine art and music.

Genres: Philosophy, Art, History

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the mid 18th century, German philosopher Alexander Baumgarten (1714-1762) coined the term "aesthetics" to designate a theory of sensibility that produces a certain kind of knowledge, that is, knowledge derived from our sensual perceptions. He had an uphill battle staking out this claim since much of the Western philosophical tradition going back to Plato and right up to Rene Descartes discounted sense perception as a legitimate mode of knowing. Also, the long tradition of Christianity, especially the Protestant Pietism of his day in Germany, frowned on the pleasures we derive from our senses.

But Baumgarten forged ahead with a philosophy embracing sense perception as a legitimate way of knowing. He termed such knowing "confused cognition" - confused in the sense that our knowing is not entirely rational (for example, our working problems in logic and mathematics) but combines sense perception with the rational (our judging the full moon to be circular). And, for Baumgarten, ‘confused cognition’ is not only uniquely ours (the way I smell a rose is my experience and your smelling the rose is your experience) but has its own richness and complexity. And extending his philosophy of legitimizing our sensual perception a bit further, art consequently receives a kind of dignity. Indeed, for Baumgarten, as successful aestheticians, we will combine attention to and love for the sensory world with our faculty of rational cognition. And our repeated encounters with the beauty of nature and art will help us become more well-balanced human beings.

Baumgarten is the first philosopher covered in Kai Hammermeister’s insightful book, The German Aesthetic Tradition. The author goes on to address the development of aesthetics – that branch of philosophy dealing with questions of beauty, the sublime and the philosophy of art – by devoting thirteen sections to other major German philosophers: Mendelssohn, Kant, Schiller, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard (a Dane who studied German philosophy) , Nietzsche, Cassirer, Lukacs, Heidegger, Gadamer and Adorno. Also, along the way, Hammermeister makes references to other influential thinkers such as Fichte, Holderlin and Marcuse. This is a one-of-a-kind work, the only published book specifically addressing the tradition of German aesthetics. And since these German thinkers are at the very core of aesthetic theory in the West, a reader will not find a better book providing a solid foundation on the topic. Highly, highly recommended.

In hopes of whetting a reader’s appetite for the subject, here is a brief overview of one of the most important German thinkers on aesthetics, Friedrich Nietzsche:

Nietzsche’s first phase of aesthetics is outlined in his book The Birth of Tragedy where we find two prime forces of nature and art, Apollonian and Dionysian. The Apollonian represents ethical conduct and an aesthetic attitude determined by reason, cognition and philosophic contemplation. The Dionysian, in stark contrast, represents intoxication, frenzy and chaos. For example: listening to energetic music we dance frantically, losing ourselves in the ecstasy of becoming one with the crowd, one with the throbbing pulse of nature (think of Rave Dancing) -- we unite with the spirit of Dionysus. And, standing before a classical Greek sculpture at a museum, we contemplate its serene beauty, the harmonious integration of all the parts and feel a sense of tranquility and order -- we participate in the world of Apollo.

The second phase of Nietzsche’s aesthetics was brief, where the German thinker took more of a scientific, positivist view of art, seeing art as a kind of arrested development, a dreamy yearning for a world beyond the senses. From the text: “The artist, as much as the religious believer, cannot shed his faith in “the fantastic, mythical, insecure, extreme, the predilection for the symbolic, the overvaluation of the person, the belief in something miraculous in the genius.”” As Hammermeister states, “Nietzsche’s positivist phase ends with a farewell to the fine arts.”

In the third and last phase of Nietzsche’s aesthetics, Hammermeister delineates how the great 19th century thinker makes something of a reversal and broadens aesthetics to embrace such areas as cosmology, ethics and anthropology. More specifically, he notes how Nietzsche sees art as a way of stimulating a person’s vital energies, such stimulation holding true both for the artist and the public partaking of the work of art. And, finally, in a number of important ways, Nietzsche underscores the romantic view running through the German aesthetic tradition: art offers us a unique vision to reveal and elucidate the depths of our lives and truths of our human existence beneath the conventional surface.

One final note: If anybody has any doubts about the seriousness of the subject of art and aesthetics, please take a look at this Youtube video –

Degenerate Art – Nazi Art vs. Expressionism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QE4L...


Author Kai Hammermeister

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a great companion guide to anyone wanting to study german aesthetics. Covering a a sizeable period of philosophy in admirable depth and clarity, I keep returning to this from time to time.

[Aike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get it, you don't like Schopenhauer.

[Aurora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kokkuvõtlik, ent detailitundlik, asjalik ja ajatu! Kantimine ja Hegeldamine hakkasid kohe rohkem meeldima tänu sellele.

[Josh Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of jargon but fairly short and detailed considering. If you're interested in study of beauty from that country that termed the word "aesthetic" then this is a good start.