This is an important new monograph relating Hegel's aesthetics to his philosophies of religion and history and, in particular, his philosophy of right. "Art, Myth and Society in Hegel's Aesthetics" returns to the student transcripts of Hegel's lectures on aesthetics, some of which have never been published and none of which have been translated into English, in an attempt to systematically relate Hegel's aesthetics to his philosophies of religion and history and, in particular, his philosophy of right. David James develops the idea that these transcripts show that Hegel was primarily interested in understanding art as an historical phenomenon and, in terms of its function in human history, more specifically, its role in the ethical life of the people. The book thus offers a thorough re-evaluation of Hegel's aesthetics and its relation to his theory of objective spirit, exposing the ways in which Hegel's views on this subject are anchored in his reflections on history and on different forms of ethical life.
Author(s): David James
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 160
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Abbreviations of Works......Page 11
Introduction......Page 14
1. Kant’s Theory of the Mathematical Sublime and the ‘Boundlessness’ of the Symbolic Form of Art......Page 20
2. The Classical Sublimity of Judaism......Page 30
1. The Original Epic......Page 38
2. The Ideal......Page 44
1. The Revealed Religion......Page 53
2. Representational Thought and the Romantic Form of Art......Page 57
3. Traces of Left Hegelianism in Hegel’s Lectures on Aesthetics......Page 68
4. The End of Mythology......Page 74
1. The ‘End’ of Art......Page 85
2. The Opera as a Modern Art Form......Page 92
1. The Problem of the Modern Epic......Page 102
2. The Modern Epic and History......Page 109
3. Civil Society as the Background to the Modern Epic......Page 114
1. Sorel’s Myth of the General Strike......Page 125
2. Myth and Modern Ethical Life......Page 132
Notes......Page 142
Bibliography......Page 156
E......Page 159
P......Page 160
Z......Page 161
