Cultural Paths and Aesthetic Signs: A Critical Hermeneutics of Aesthetic Validity
Authors
Zuidervaart, LambertAffiliation
Institute for Christian StudiesIssue Date
2003Keywords
Adorno, Theodor W., 1903-1969Art
Aesthetics
Gadamer, Hans Georg, 1900-2002
Habermas, Jürgen
Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804
Language and languages
Hermeneutics
Artistic truth
Validity
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770-1831
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Contemporary philosophical stances toward ‘artistic truth’ derive from Kant’s aesthetics. Whereas philosophers who share Kant’s emphasis on aesthetic validity discount art’s capacity for truth, philosophers who share Hegel’s critique of Kant render artistic truth inaccessible. This essay proposes a critical hermeneutic account of aesthetic validity that supports a non-esoteric notion of artistic truth. Using Gadamer and Adorno to read Kant through Hegelian eyes, I reconstruct the aesthetic dimension from three polarities in modern Western societies. Then I describe aesthetic validity as an horizon of imaginative cogency governing the exploration, presentation and creative interpretation of aesthetic signs. The essay argues that aesthetic processes, so construed, are crucial to cultural pathfinding, and that aesthetic validity-claims in art talk contribute significantly to this pursuit. Aesthetic validity, cultural orientation and art talk constitute the hermeneutical matrix from which questions of artistic truth emerge.Citation
Zuidervaart, Lambert. "Cultural Paths and Aesthetic Signs: A Critical Hermeneutics of Aesthetic Validity." Philosophy and Social Criticism v. 29 no. 3 (2003): 315-340Journal
Philosophy and Social CriticismAdditional Links
http://psc.sagepub.com/content/29/3.tocType
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
0191-4537Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Rights holder
The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in the journal Philosophy and Social Criticism, Volume 29, Issue 3, 2003 by SAGE Publications Ltd, All rights reserved.©Collections
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