End-of-Art Philosophy in Hegel, Nietzsche and Danto

312 Pages·2018·4.193 MB·English

by  Stephen Snyder

STEPHEN SNYDER
End-of-Art
Philosophy
in Hegel,
Nietzsche
& Danto
End-of-Art Philosophy in Hegel, Nietzsche
and Danto
Stephen Snyder
End-of-Art Philosophy
in Hegel, Nietzsche
and Danto
Stephen Snyder
Department of Philosophy
Boğaziçi University
Bebek/İstanbul, Turkey
ISBN 978-3-319-94071-7 ISBN 978-3-319-94072-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94072-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018945062
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Cover credit: Silvas Capitalis, Kielder Forest, Northumberland, UK by Simparch.
Photograph © 2010 Steven Rowell
Cover design: Tom Howey
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I dedicate this book to my mother and father, Angela, and Ulysses.
P
reface
This book began with the interest I took in Hegel’s prediction that ‘far
reaching spirit’ would ‘spread its wings’ and move beyond the current
form of art: art, as he knew it in his day would come to an end. Hegel’s
prognosis that art would become conceptual drew my interest; after all,
how often do philosophers predict the course of the future? I soon dis-
covered Arthur Danto’s Art After the Era of Art, an elaboration of his
own end-of-art thesis. At this point, my interest in the end-of-art topic
was set, and after nearly twenty years, this book is the result. Though
Nietzsche’s end-of-art claims seem more removed from the historical
approach of Hegel and Danto, his anti-dualistic bent makes his work the
best complement for them. The book began as a study of the relationship
of philosophy to art. More importantly, though, it has become a book
that philosophically explores the relationship of art to those who create
and behold it. There are many other philosophers who have written sig-
nificant tracts on the end-of-art topic, and books could have been written
on their ideas, as well. These books will have to be someone else’s story.
The theories of art presented by Hegel, Nietzsche, and Danto are
broad. Hegel studies the artistic forms of architecture, sculpture, paint-
ing, music, and poetry in great depth. Nietzsche focuses primarily on
music, in particular, the dramatic form of tragic opera, but his writings
extend to literature and, ultimately, the art of self-creation. The theo-
ries of Gombrich and Danto deal primarily with the visual arts, though
Danto’s writings on literature are, in my opinion, essential to his philos-
ophy of art. The final chapter will focus on the visual arts and to some
vii
viii PREFACE
extent literature. This is not because I do not feel that the theories pre-
sented by Danto, Gombrich, and myself do not apply to arts in general.
Rather, it is because the theory is best shown using the visual arts, and
my own knowledge of the arts is, for the most part, limited to the visual
arts. Therefore, outside of the visual arts, my conclusions are applied
sparingly.
Parts of Chapter 2 appeared in the essay “The End of Art: The
Consequence of Hegel’s Appropriation of Aristotle’s Nous” (The Modern
Schoolman 84 (4)). Sections of Chapters 4 and 5 were published previ-
ously in “Danto’s Narrative Philosophy of History and the End of Art:
Does Inexplicability Mean Freedom?” (Philosophy in the Contemporary
World, 22 (1)) and “Danto’s Narrative Notion of History and the Future
of Art” (The Aesthetic Dimension of Visual Culture, 2010).
I would like to thank the many people who helped me put this work
together: William Charron, for his indispensable guidance, especially in
shaping the chapters on Hegel and Nietzsche; Barry Stocker and Manuel
Knoll for their valuable comments on my Nietzsche chapter; thanks also
to Randall Auxier and Brian Soucek for their feedback on Chapter 4. I
appreciate the insights of James Bohman, who pushed me to reconsider
the role Habermas’ theory of communicative action could play in a com-
municative theory of art. I owe much to Susan Cahan for her advice on
the art historical questions raised in Chapter 5. I am in debt to Andreas
Hetzel for his thoughts and ideas regarding the comments Habermas
made on Danto in The Logic of the Social Sciences and in his late ’80s
lectures on aesthetics. I would like to thank the Fulbright scholar pro-
gram for the research grant that enabled me to complete the manuscript.
I give my thanks to the artists who granted me permission to publish
pictures of their works: Franco Mondini-Ruiz for the image of his Brillo
Box piñatas; Thomas Hirschhorn for permission to use a picture of his
Bataille Monument; Mike Bidlo for the photo of Not Andy Warhol; and
many thanks to Steven Badgett and Matt Lynch of Simparch for the
many hours they spent discussing art with me and for allowing me to
‘participate’ in their artist collective. Lastly, thanks to Angela Hamilton,
who bore the brunt of my seemingly endless revisions. I owe this book
to her.
Bebek/İstanbul, Turkey Stephen Snyder
c
ontents
1 The End of Art Debate 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 The Birth of Philosophy and the End of Art 4
1.3 The Problem Solving Narrative 6
Works Cited 8
2 Hegel: The End of Art as Truth Incarnate 9
2.1 The ‘Death of Art’ Topic 9
2.2 Overcoming Transcendent Metaphysics: Hegel
and Kant on Sublimity, Beauty, and Ugliness 14
2.3 The End of Art and Its Cause 43
2.4 The Superiority of Philosophy to Art 59
Works Cited 84
3 The Transformative Power of Creativity in Nietzsche’s
Saving Illusion 87
3.1 The Nature and Significance of Art in The Birth
of Tragedy 91
3.2 The Condition of Redemptive Art 105
3.3 The Causes of the End of Redemptive Art 108
3.4 The Art of the Self: Perspectivism and the
Transformation of Values 117
3.5 The Ideal and the Real: Philosophy and Art 134
Works Cited 145
ix
x CoNTENTS
4 Danto and the End of Art: Surrendering
to Unintelligibility 147
4.1 Introduction 147
4.2 Danto’s Theory of History and His Theory of Art 153
4.3 Style Is the Man: The Body/Body Problem and the
Anatomy of the Artwork 167
4.4 End of Art: A Changing Style of Conversation 187
Works Cited 202
5 Style of the Future 205
5.1 The End of Art? 205
5.2 Another Narrative: Gombrich’s Story of Art 215
5.3 Freedom in Seeking the New 226
5.4 Something the Narrative Cannot Descry:
A Problem-Solving Structure 238
Works Cited 274
Bibliography 279
Index 289
a
bbreviations
The following abbreviations are used in the text to cite works by Hegel:
HW Werke in 20 Bänden. In twenty volumes. Suhrkamp.
AE A esthetics: Lectures on Fine Art. In two volumes. Translated by T. M. Knox.
EN T he Encyclopedia of Logic: With the Zusätze. Translated by T. F. Geraets,
W. A. Suchting, and H. S. Harris.
LP1 L ectures on the History of Philosophy: Greek Philosophy to Plato. In three
volumes. Translated by E. S. Haldane.
LP2 L ectures on the History of Philosophy: Plato and the Platonists. In three
volumes. Translated by E. S. Haldane and Frances H. Simson.
LP3 L ectures on the History of Philosophy: Medieval and Modern Philosophy. In
three volumes. Translated by E. S. Haldane and Frances H. Simson.
PM Phenomenology of Mind. Translated by J. B. Baillie.
PR Philosophy of Right. Translated by H. B. Nisbet.
RH Reason in History. Translated by Robert S. Hartman.
SL Hegel’s Science of Logic. Translated by A. V. Miller.
The following abbreviations are used in the text to cite works by Kant:
KW Werke in zwölf Bänden. In twelve volumes. Suhrkamp.
K1 Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Norman Kemp Smith.
K2 Critique of Practical Reason. Translated by Lewis White Beck.
K3 Critique of Judgment. Translated by Werner S. Pluhar.
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