The Practices of the Enlightenment: Aesthetics, Authorship, and the Public

288 Pages·2015·3.25 MB·English

by  Dorothea E. von von Mücke

THE
PRACTICES
OF THE
ENLIGHTENMENT
COLUMBIA THEMES IN PHILOSOPHY,
SOCIAL CRITICISM, AND THE ARTS
COLUMBIA THEMES IN PHILOSOPHY, SOCIAL CRITICISM, AND THE ARTS
Lydia Goehr and Gregg M. Horowitz, editors
ADVISORY BOARD
Carolyn Abbate J. M. Bernstein
Eve Blau T.J. Clark
Arthur C. Danto John Hyman
Michael Kelly Paul Kottman
Columbia Themes in Philosophy, Social Criticism, and the Arts presents monographs, essay collections,
and short books on philosophy and aesthetic theory. It aims to publish books that show the ability of the arts
to stimulate critical reflection on modern and contemporary social, political, and cultural life. Art is not
now, if it ever was, a realm of human activity independent of the complex realities of social organization
and change, political authority and antagonism, cultural domination and resistance. The possibilities of
critical thought embedded in the arts are most fruitfully expressed when addressed to readers across the
various fields of social and humanistic inquiry. The idea of philosophy in the series title ought to be
understood, therefore, to embrace forms of discussion that begin where mere academic expertise exhausts
itself, where the rules of social, political, and cultural practice are both affirmed and challenged, and where
new thinking takes place. The series does not privilege any particular art, nor does it ask for the arts to be
mutually isolated. The series encourages writing from the many fields of thoughtful and critical inquiry.
For a list of books, see Series List
DOROTHEA E.
VON MÜCKE
THE
PRACTICES
OF THE
ENLIGHTENMENT
Aesthetics,
Authorship,
and the
Public
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2015 Columbia University Press All rights reserved E-ISBN 978-0-231-53933-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mücke, Dorothea E. von.
The practices of the Enlightenment : aesthetics, authorship, and the public/
Dorothea E. von Mücke.
pages cm — (Columbia themes in philosophy, social criticism, and the arts) Includes bibliographical
references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-17246-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-53933-3 (e-book) 1. Enlightenment. 2.
Aesthetics. 3. Authorship. I. Title.
B802.M79 2015
190.9'033—dc23
2014035520
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at [email protected].
COVER IMAGE
Attributed to Erwin von Steinbach. Sketch “B” of the Strasbourg Cathedral.
Reprinted from Marcel Aubert, The Art of the High Gothic Era, 1965.
COVER AND BOOK DESIGN
Lisa Hamm References to Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor
Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript
was prepared.
FOR PHILIPPE AND MIRIAM
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I THE BIRTH OF AESTHETICS, THE ENDS OF TELEOLOGY, AND
THE RISE OF GENIUS
1 THE SURPRISING ORIGINS OF ENLIGHTENMENT AESTHETICS
2 DISINTERESTED INTEREST: THE HUMAN ANIMAL’S LACK OF INSTINCT
3 BEAUTIFUL, NOT INTELLIGENT DESIGN
4 ENLIGHTENMENT DISCOURSES ON ORIGINAL GENIUS
5 “WHERE NATURE GIVES THE RULE TO ART”
6 THE STRASBOURG CATHEDRAL: EDIFICATION AND THEOPHANY
CONCLUSION
PART II CONFESSIONAL DISCOURSE, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, AND
AUTHORSHIP
7 PIETISM
The Valorization of Individual Experience
The Autobiography of Johanna Eleonora Petersen
8 ROUSSEAU
Confession/Profession
The Author and His Audiences in Rousseau’s Confessions
9 GOETHE: FROM THE “CONFESSIONS OF A BEAUTIFUL SOUL” TO POETRY AND TRUTH
The Confessions of a Beautiful Soul
Revealed Religion and the Function of the Bible
Experience, the Production of Presence, and the Function of Art
Beyond the Prophets: deus sive natura
Conclusion
PART III IMAGINED COMMUNITIES AND THE MOBILIZATION OF A
CRITICAL PUBLIC
10 PATRIOTIC INVOCATIONS OF THE PUBLIC
The Context of the Seven Years’ War
The Perspective of a Legally Trained High-Level Administrator
The Perspective of the Ambitious Young Scholar and Publicist
11 REAL AND VIRTUAL AUDIENCES IN HERDER’S CONCEPT OF THE MODERN PUBLIC
The Role of Language and Religion in Shaping the Public
Live and Virtual Publics of Art: The Function of Music and Imaginative Literature
12 MOBILIZING A CRITICAL PUBLIC
“Was ist Aufklärung?”
Gelehrte Streitigkeiten/Learned Battles
In the Beginning Was the Word
Conclusion
Notes
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It was first in classroom, conference, and lecture settings that I started to
explore some of the observations and ideas that ended up in this book. I am
grateful to my students at Columbia University who took my classes
“Aesthetics and the Philosophy of History,” “Enlightenment and Religion,” and
“Rousseau and Goethe” for their lively and engaged participation. I thank Jörn
Steigerwald and Rudolf Behrens for their hospitality in Bochum and Halle,
Helmut Schneider and Eva Geulen for inviting me to Bonn, Christoph Holzhey
for hosting me for an entire semester at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry, and
Heidi Reiss Wellbery for offering me a home in Berlin. Luciana Villas Bôas was
a most wonderful hostess, allowing me to present and discuss various aspects of
this book in Rio de Janeiro. Jonathan Sheehan, Niklas Largier, Reinhold Martin,
Joanna Stalnaker, and Irina Paperno provided me with felicitous feedback at the
right time. Earlier versions of some chapters of this book have appeared in
article form. I thank the editors of New Literary History, Grey Room,
Representations, and the Romanic Review for permission to use these materials.
For the past ten years Stefan Andriopoulos, Kelly Barry, and Caroline Bynum
have been the most reliable and supportive friends and interlocutors. They have
read many versions of many parts of this book and provided me with thorough
and constructive criticism and insightful advice. I am deeply grateful to them.
Without Bill Dellinger’s wit, patience, and superb administrative expertise, and
without Peggy Quisenberry’s kindness, I would not have been able to progress
with my research while serving as chair of my department. I am very thankful to
Brook Henkel and Sophie Alexander Salvo, who have given me much more than
reliable research assistance. They shared their thoughts and they cared about the
actual form of the book with great attention to detail.
I thank Lydia Goehr for graciously including my book in her series. It has
been a pleasure to work with Wendy Lochner, Christine Dunbar, and Susan
Pensak from Columbia University Press. I am thankful to the two anonymous
readers who have carefully read and commented on the manuscript for the press,
as I am also deeply grateful to David Bates, Paul Fleming, and Chris Cullens,
who have taken the trouble to read the entire manuscript, to provide insightful
comments, and to help me gain more distance and perspective toward it.