Our neighbors observe and we explain : Moses Mendelssohn's critical encounter with Edmund Burke's aesthetics

This essay traces the impact of Edmund Burke's Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757/59) on the evolution of German aesthetic theory in the second half of the eighteenth century, concentrating in particular on a close reading of the series of articles on aesthetics that Moses Mendelssohn published between 1755 and 1761. The essay argues that Burke's distinction between the sublime and the beautiful, his attempt to generate an empirical physiological aesthetic theory, and his radical severance of the links between aesthetics and ethics fundamentally challenged the rational metaphysical grounds of German aesthetic theory, provoking Mendelssohn into generating a series of creative but incompatible responses that both constituted a significant elaboration of German aesthetic theory and led into an impasse that only Kant could surmount

Editor\u27s Introduction

THE main theme of this year’s issue, “Aesthetic Theory and Practice in Hindu and Christian Experience,” takes a theological approach to the Hindu-Christian encounter that proceeds in a different direction than the more traditional attention to comparing doctrines. Reflection on aesthetic theory as presented in these essays proves useful in making sensory experience a starting point for Hindu-Christian comparison of religious experience

Dalit Aesthetic Theory

Dalit Aesthetic Theory has similarities with the theories of subaltern literature, African American Literature as well as with problem play, and Drama of Ideas. Dalit Aesthetic Theory is indigenous and is firmly rooted in the history, politics and culture of Dalits. In Indian literature the use of untouchability as a theme is not new. Caste consciousness is a motif in the writings of 14th century saint-poet Chokhamela, a village Mahar, Kabir, Ravidas, Jyotiba Phule, Mahatma Gandhi, and Tagore. Prior to Ambedkar the untouchable writers accepted tacitly the tenets of Hindu religion and philosophy, namely, the theory of Karma and Varnashramdharma. But at the same time they regretted their miserable condition and despicable status in the society. Contemporary Dalit Literature is Ambedkarite Literature in which there is a portrayal of agonizing reality, and the expression of a radical revolt against the age old, time honoured defective traditions, conventions, and dogmas of Hindu religion. Dalit Literature cuts at the very roots of Varnashramdharma. According to Ambedkar the root cause of social and cultural exploitation of the Dalit lies in the disparaging laws pertaining to the status of the Dalit ordained in ancient Indian scriptures of Hindu religion and philosophy. Contemporary Dalit Literature portrays dreadful and humiliating events of Dalit world. It represents inequality, sorrow, and misery of the oppressed class. Dalit Literature tells us about the cultural conflict of the socially, economically, and culturally deprived and disadvantaged group of people. It requires literature to be revolutionary, didactic, and doctrinaire

Dewey's aesthetic theory.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityDewey's aesthetic theory represents the culmination of his general philosophy of experience, and might best be interpreted as the final statements of his socio-ethical theory and his metaphysical world-view. Art As Experience is not only Dewey's explicit statement about art and aesthetic experience, but a further enrichment of his crucial concept of experience. This enriched focus upon experience enhances its significance and meaning only at the expense of certain distinctions and ambiguities with respect to terminology and method. In making a fundamental distinction between any ordinary process of experiencing and an aesthetic experience, Dewey seems to violate what, for him, is a basic methodological principle. To distinguish is to make an unnatural bifurcation; moreover, to select one thing as more meaningful and valuable than another is to commit the fallacy of artificial simplification, or to tear something out of context and give it an unnatural superiority over all else. [TRUNCATED

Labor, the State, and Aesthetic Theory in the Writings of Schiller

This essay is concerned with Schiller, but it investigates themes that can also be found in other writers, especially in Hegel and Marx. All of these writers attempt (and ultimately fail) to work out a particular ideal model for labor and political institutions. This model was patterned after the ideal cultural conditions of ancient Greece and based upon modern aesthetic concepts, espe cially the concept of a synthesis between sense and reason. It was a model designed to overcome fragmentation or alienation in the modern world that had been brought about by the development of the division of labor

An Aesthetic Theory of Gamesmanship

An Aesthetic Theory of Gamesmanship is an in-depth analysis of the personal, sociological, and historical elements contained within the art of Derek Fordjour with considerations given to artistic and literary influences that inform his intention and goals in the work. Also included are illustrations of specific art works and descriptions

Copyright Opinions and Aesthetic Theory

In this Article the author contends that judges should be conscious of aesthetics when deciding copyright cases. However, given the inherent ambiguity of aesthetics and the supposedly objective rules and principles that govern judicial opinions, courts implicitly assume a sharp divide between aesthetic reasoning and legal reasoning. Additionally, because aesthetic choices by judges could potentially be deemed government censorship, the two are further considered incompatible. The author argues, however, that this distinction is illusory in that a truly open-minded copyright jurisprudence requires explicit awareness of aesthetics. This argument is supported firstly by a description of four major movements from aesthetic theory, which represent some of our culture’s most thoughtful observations about art and its meaning. Secondly, case analyses from three major doctrines in copyright law illustrate how legal reasoning appears to avoid aesthetic issues in copyright. Lastly, the Article argues for explicit consciousness of aesthetics as the best way to treat varying aesthetic viewpoints fairly