Diotima's Children German Aesthetic Rationalism from Leibniz to Lessing

by Beiser, Frederick C.

• ISBN13: 9780199573011
• ISBN10: 0199573018
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-01-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Diotima's Childrenis a re-examination of the rationalist tradition of aesthetics which prevailed in Germany in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century. It is partly an historical survey of the central figures and themes of this tradition But it is also a philosophical defense of some of its leading ideas, viz., that beauty plays an integral role in life, that aesthetic pleasure is the perception of perfection, that aesthetic rules are inevitable and valuable. It shows that the criticisms of Kant and Nietzsche of this tradition are largely unfounded. The rationalist tradition deserves re-examination because it is of great historical significance, marking the beginning of modern aesthetics, art criticism, and art history.

Author Biography

Frederick Beiser was educated at Oriel College Oxford (B.A. 1972-74) and Wolfson College Oxford (1975-1981). He has had several major research fellowships: NEH, Guggenheim, Thyssen and Humboldt and has taught at seven US universities: Harvard, Yale, Colorado, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Syracuse. He is currently Professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Reappraising Aesthetic Rationalism	p. 1
A Glorious Relic?	p. 1
Theory of Aesthetic Judgment	p. 4
The Rationalist Aesthetic	p. 9
The Meaning of Rules	p. 12
Kant's Paltry Polemic	p. 16
Diotima versus Dionysus	p. 20
The Challenge of Irrationalism	p. 23
Gadamer and the Rationalist Tradition	p. 27
Leibniz and the Roots of Aesthetic Rationalism	p. 31
The Grandfather's Strange Case	p. 31
Theory of Beauty	p. 35
Analysis of Sense	p. 37
The Classical Trinity	p. 41
Wolff and the Birth of Aesthetic Rationalism	p. 45
Wolff and the Aesthetic Tradition	p. 45
Theory of the Arts	p. 50
Psychology	p. 56
Theory ofBeauty	p. 60
Foundations of Neo-Classicism	p. 64
Gottsched and the High Noon of Rationalism	p. 72
Herr Professor Gottsched's Peruke	p. 72
The Importance of Taste	p. 76
Defense of Tragedy	p. 80
Theory of Taste	p. 83
Poetics	p. 87
The Rules	p. 93
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	p. 96
The Poets' War	p. 101
Leipzig versus Zurich	p. 101
Misreading of the Dispute	p. 105
The Point in Dispute	p. 112
Bamngarten's Science of Aesthetics	p. 118
The Father of Aesthetics?	p. 118
A Philosophical Poetics	p. 123
A Science of Beauty	p. 133
Theory of Sensation	p. 138
Analysis of Beauty	p. 143
Status of Aesthetics	p. 149
An Ambiguous Legacy	p. 152
Winckeknann and Neo-Classicism	p. 156
Winckeknann as Philosopher
Historical Influence	p. 160
Imitating the Ancients	p. 163
A Neo-Classical Aesthetic	p. 171
Ancients versus Modems	p. 175
Aesthetic Theory	p. 181
Painting and Allegory	p. 187
Eros and Dionysus	p. 191
Mendelssohn's Defense of Reason	p. 196
The Guardian of Enlightenment	p. 196
The Analysis of Sensation	p. 199
The Grin of Silenus	p. 206
Second Thoughts	p. 211
Taming the Sublime	p. 217
Reckoning with Burke	p. 221
Encounter with Jean-Jacques	p. 224
The Claims of Genius	p. 230
First Clash with Hamann	p. 233
Abelard and Fulbert's Brief Spat	p. 235
The Three-Faculty Theory	p. 240
Lessing and the Reformation of Aesthetic Rationalism	p. 244
Lessing and the Rationalist Tradition	p. 244
Genius and Rules	p. 247
The Irrationality of Genius?	p. 254
Rationalism and Sentimentalism in Lessing's Ethics	p. 259
Laokoon: Thesis and Inductive Argument	p. 266
Laokoon: The Deductive Argument	p. 274
Laokoon: Its Hidden Agenda	p. 277
Bibliography	p. 283
Index	p. 293
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