Aesthetics as Philosophy of Art, or Hegel’s Reconciliation of Kantian Dualism

Abstract

Despite the extraordinary influence of Hegel’s aesthetics, the very term “aesthetics” features very seldom inhis body of work. Considering both ongoing radical uncertainty as to the status of aesthetics as well as Hegel’sprofound and persistent influence on aesthetics, it is worth reflecting on the reasons for, and potential alternatives to, Hegel’s use of the term “aesthetics.” This is the goal of this paper, which combines a reconstruction ofHegel’s variations on the topic with a broader perspective on what they can still teach us today. I begin by discussing Hegel’s presentations of the topic of his lectures on aesthetics (Section II). In Section III, I argue thatboth Hegel’s ambivalence towards aesthetics and his eventual identification of the latter with a philosophy ofart are rooted in his confrontation with Kant’s seminal, yet insufficient, attempt to surmount dualism throughhis theory of reflective judgment. The attempt to address Kant’s unresolved dualism ultimately leads to theequivalence, both conceptual and terminological, of aesthetics and philosophy of art, and to the autonomy ofart as a form of the absolute spirit (Section IV). In the concluding section, I outline the fundamental tensionsleft open by this equivalence as open challenges in contemporary aesthetics (Section V).