Sunday, August 7, 2016

Species and Artistic Genius

Freud conceives artistic creativity as a sublimation of sexuality.  However, the example of the very young Mozart suggests the converse--that sexuality is a special case of a more general creativity.  Kant attributes Art to Genius, the source of which is Spirit, which he characterizes as an "animating" principle.  Furthermore, his characterization of the genius artist as "nature's favorite" implies that Spirit is not a supernatural force, while the products of such Genius are exemplary for other humans.  So, it clearly follows that Genius is an expression of a Species-drive that, as animating the creativity of the artist, reveals the Psyche of the latter as fundamentally grounded in the Species, and, hence, is an expression of a Superid of which Sexuality, i. e. the Species Reproductive drive, is another special case.

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