The Philosophy and Politics of Aesthetic Experience: German Romanticism and Critical Theory PDF
Preview The Philosophy and Politics of Aesthetic Experience: German Romanticism and Critical Theory
Political Philosophy and Public Purpose T h e P h i l o s o p h y a n d P o l i t i c s o f A e s t h e t i c E x p e r i e n c e GERMAN ROMANTICISM AND CRITICAL THEORY NNAATTHHAANN RROOSSSS Political Philosophy and Public Purpose Series Editor Michael J. Thompson William Paterson University USA This series offers books that seek to explore new perspectives in social and political criticism. Seeing contemporary academic political theory and philosophy as largely dominated by hyper-academic and overly-technical debates, the books in this series seek to connect the politically engaged traditions of philosophical thought with contemporary social and political life. The idea of philosophy emphasized here is not as an aloof enterprise, but rather a publicly-oriented activity that emphasizes rational reflection as well as informed praxis. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14542 Nathan Ross The Philosophy and Politics of Aesthetic Experience German Romanticism and Critical Theory Nathan Ross Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA Political Philosophy and Public Purpose ISBN 978-3-319-52303-3 ISBN 978-3-319-52304-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-52304-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017933901 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu- tional affiliations. Cover design by Fatima Jamadar Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland M J. T , s e , ichael hoMpson eries diTor F n r ’ oreword To aThan oss The Philosophy and Politics of Aesthetic Experience: German Romanticism and Critical Theory The relation between aesthetics and philosophy, and between aesthetics and a critical form of social and political philosophy, is a topic of declining concern. Contemporary political philosophy, long under the spell of ana- lytic modes of reasoning, has cast such questions aside. But it is important to note that this was a major thread in the history of German philosophy. It encompassed not only classical German thought but also, well into the twentieth century, the fields of critical theory as well. At stake in reclaim- ing the link between aesthetics and critical reason is the ability to stave off the increasing dominance of analytic reason, of instrumental rational- ity, and one-dimensional thought. At stake is the possibility to reclaim a critical culture as well as a kind of art that speaks to human concerns and the social and political context that affects those concerns. The idea of a politics of aesthetics experience, which Nathan Ross asks us to explore and to reconsider, is therefore one that should command our attention. Classical German philosophy was deeply marked by its experience of the discovery of Greek and Roman art. The ideals of humanism opened up to an otherwise pious and Protestant world a new sensuousness, a libera- tion of aesthetic and philosophical ideals, no less than a new sensibility in morals and politics. German Romanticism was a result of this movement in ideas and this new shift in aesthetic and philosophical vision. Johann Joachim Winckelmann’s 1764 work Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums, or History of Art in Antiquity, was an opening to this idea of the power of art and its entwinement with social, political, and historical reality. Winckelmann opened up not only the treasures of classical Greek and Roman sculpture and architecture, but he also showed how the relation v vi MICHAEL J. THOMPSON, SERIES EDITOR, FOREWORD TO NATHAN ROSS’ between these classical forms were the expression of a kind of humanistic sensibility that had been lost. Greek art was seen as the embodiment of the whole man, of the realized, free and flourishing being. Early Romantics from Schiller and Hölderlin to Schlegel, among many others, began work- ing our aesthetic theories as well as works of poetry that expressed the capacity of art to transform our senses and act as an alternative form of cognition. This became a central idea in the unfolding of the German aesthetic tradition: the notion that art can act as an alternative form of knowledge and has the power to alter our experience of reality. Art, for them was not only an expression of feeling, but it was, more importantly, a distinct form of cognition. Nathan Ross’ excellent study raises this salient theme in German phi- losophy and its relevance for contemporary reflections on social criti- cism. His achievement is to provide a kind of connecting bridge between the Romantic poets and aestheticians of the late-eighteenth and early- nineteenth century with the critical theorists of the twentieth century. His basic thesis is that these two traditions are not in fact separate inso- far as they both see the work of art as an object of our experience, as a means of communicating a kind of knowledge about the world. But it also acts, Ross argues, as a subject as well insofar as it acts to alter and interpret the world. The key idea here is that critical rationality requires an aesthetic component in the sense that it possesses the ability to elevate our sensibilities to the moral and political concerns as well. Not merely concerned with the question of “beauty,” the thinkers that Ross probes hold out for us the idea that art can reveal to us perversions within our social and moral world; they can make us sensitive to problems of injustice and to equip critical rationality with a weightier sensibility toward human development, flourishing and real freedom. In this sense, thinkers such as Benjamin and Adorno form a continuity with their Romantic predecessors in their attempt to show art’s power to transform what has become com- mon to us: to bring to consciousness the real contradictions and experi- ences within modernity. In his exploration of this unique tradition in aesthetic theory, Ross thereby raises for us a crucial problem that still dogs an ever-increasing technical civilization: how much our powers of rationality are still col- onized by instrumental reason, how our moral and political ideas have been gutted of deeper questions about human freedom and the “good life,” and how we can call into question the pathologies of modernity that degrade the possibility for a humane culture and civilization. In a world of MICHAEL J. THOMPSON, SERIES EDITOR, FOREWORD TO NATHAN ROSS’ vii vapid literature, regressed installations and painting, banal musical forms, and facile cinema, Ross’ study is perhaps needed now more than ever. Art seems to be losing its power to achieve precisely what the German Romantics and critical theorists believed it could: to serve as a means to intensify our sensitivity to the contradictions and pathologies of our time. Far from reminding us of the powers of humanism or the extent of our reification, contemporary art forms seem to reflect back to us a kind of absurdist capitulation to the status quo, expressing a kind of adolescent rebellion against what all seem to accept as unchangeable. In this sense, Ross’ reconstruction of the politics of aesthetic experience in German phi- losophy reminds us of the public purpose of aesthetics. We can therefore only profit from the ideas Ross highlights for us here and hope for a revival of art’s powers to educate and enlighten once again. Michael J. Thompson New York City Fall, 2016 a cknowledgMenTs This book has been a labor of love and, as such, the most difficult and costly type of project to pursue over many years. I feel truly fortunate to have had the conditions of concentrated leisure (what the Germans better call Musse) required to engage in deep readings and follow the connec- tions that presented themselves as true to me. I would like to thank most of all my wife, Sokthan, for helping me in the completion of the manuscript and for providing me with the solace needed over the years. I would like to thank my colleague Scott Davidson for serving as a model of undaunted scholarly focus and for helping me in countless ways to protect the time needed to do scholarly work. I first discovered the key figures in this study, Hölderlin and Benjamin, as an undergraduate, but it was only well after graduate school that I could see the unique depth and wisdom to these writers who stand somewhat outside the ordinary scope of philosophy. Thus I would like to think that the seed for this book was planted in Arcata and Bielefeld by an atmo- sphere of learning that allowed me to follow unfashionable or eccentric ideas to my heart’s content. I would like to thank the many teachers and scholars who have guided me and influenced me over the years. Especially, Kay LaBahn for teaching me German and serving as a first guide into German literature; Elizabeth Millán for introducing me to the work of Schlegel; Georg Bertram for giving me contact to the still living and creative tradition of German aes- thetic thought; and the many people with whom I have had conversations about these thinkers, including Bill Behun, Roger Foster, Stéfane Symons, ix x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Marcia Morgan, Cat Moire, Corey McCall, and all of the contributors to my recent edited volume (whose voices I hope can be heard echoing in some of the later chapters). In addition, I benefited greatly from getting to read and discuss many of the sections of this book at conferences such as the APA, SPEP, the North American Adorno Association, and the Rome Critical Theory Conference. I am grateful to have received detailed and valuable feedback at such conferences from Elizabeth Millán, Rocío Zambrana, Tom Huhn, Ben Crowe, and Eduardo Mendietta, among others. And finally, I owe a great thanks to Michael Thompson and Marcia Morgan for supporting this project.
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