Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Art, Contemplation, Communication

In #36 of World as Will and Representation, Schopenhauer asserts that the "sole aim" of Art is the "communication" of the "knowledge of Ideas".  Now, by 'knowledge of Ideas' he means Contemplation, which, according to his system, is a Will-less condition.  But, if it is Will-less, then it precludes any 'aim' that might motivate communication.  Furthermore, also in Contemplation, according to his theory, Individuality is dissolved, whereas Communication is a relation between at least two individuals.  So, granting him that Communication is at least part of Art, his system seems to lack the resources to represent that dimension of it.  In contrast, Kant's analysis of Aesthetic experience faces the converse problem--by preserving Individuality, it grounds the possibility of Communication, but to the neglect of an examination of both the absorption of an individual in an object of Beauty, and the subordination of one to impersonal Genius in the production of a work of Art.

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