The founding of aesthetics in the German Enlightenment : the art of invention and the invention of art

When, In 1735, Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten Added A New Discipline To The Philosophical System, He Not Only Founded Modern Aesthetics But Also Contributed To Shaping The Modern Concept Of Art Or 'fine Art'. In The Founding Of Aesthetics In The German Enlightenment, Stefanie Buchenau Offers A Rich Analysis And Reconstruction Of The Origins Of This New Discipline In Its Wider Context Of German Enlightenment Philosophy. Present-day Scholars Commonly Regard Baumgarten's Views As An Imperfect Prefiguration Of Kantian And Post-kantian Aesthetics, But Buchenau Argues That Baumgarten Defended A Consistent And Original Project Which Must Be Viewed In The Context Of The Modern Debate On The Art Of Invention. Her Book Offers New Perspectives On Kantian Aesthetics And Beauty In Art And Science-- Introduction -- 1. Wolff And The Modern Debate On A Method Of Invention -- 2. Wolff On The Pleasure Of Invention -- 3. Leibniz And Wolff On Invention And Language: Hieroglyphs, Images And Poetry -- 4. Poetry As Revelation: Bodmer, Breitinger, And Gottsched On The Imitation Of Nature -- 5. Invention, Judgement, Literary Criticism -- 6. The Rhetorical Shift: Baumgarten's Founding Of Aesthetics In The Meditationes Philosophicae -- 7. Baumgarten's Aesthetica: Topics And The Modern Ars Inveniendi -- 8. Aesthetics And Anthropology -- 9. Aesthetics And Ethics -- 10. 'a General Heuristic Is Impossible'. Kant And The Wolffian Ars Inveniendi -- Conclusion. Stefanie Buchenau. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 237-264) And Indexes Cover 1 The Founding of Aesthetics in the German Enlightenment 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 11 The invention of art and aesthetics 12 The standard line of interpretation and its problems 13 The alternative hermeneutic approach: aesthetics in context 16 The invention of art and the art of invention 20 Brief chapter outline 23 Chapter 1 Wolff and the modern debate on a method of invention 25 Early modern premises on invention and genius 26 Wolff’s critical response: the mathematician’s bad fictions 40 The philosopher and the arts 45 Wolff’s ars inveniendi and technology 51 Architecture: art and science 58 Conclusion 61 Chapter 2 Wolff on the pleasure of invention 63 The pleasure of knowledge and invention 64 The pleasure of beauty 69 Conclusion 74 Chapter 3 Leibniz and Wolff on invention and language: hieroglyphs, images, and poetry 76 Leibniz’s ars characteristica: the quest for ‘real characters’ 77 Ambivalent poetics: reading Opitz as a logical exercise 78 Wolff’s art of fiction: ‘images in which there is truth’ 84 Conclusion 92 Chapter 4 Poetry as revelation: Bodmer, Breitinger, and Gottsched on the imitation of nature 94 Poetry and the logic of the imagination 95 Imitation and the revelation of nature 103 Conclusion 108 chapter 5 Invention, judgment, literary criticism 109 Criticism and the method of invention 110 De gustibus non est disputandum? The case of the Milton controversy 115 The first aesthetic antinomy of the German Enlightenment: thesis 118 Antithesis 120 Conclusion 122 Chapter 6 The rhetorical shift: Baumgarten’s founding of aesthetics in the Meditationes philosophicae 124 A return to ancient rhetoric? 126 The modern expulsion of inventio from rhetoric 127 The restitution of poetry within the modern setting: extensive clarity 131 Methodology 140 Semiotics 144 Conclusion 145 Chapter 7 Baumgarten’s Aesthetica: topics and the modern ars inveniendi 147 Cicero and Baumgarten: elective affinities 147 Attributes of particular beauty in the Aesthetica 149 Character aesthetici 150 Ubertas and brevitas 150 Magnitudo (dignitas and magnamitas) 151 Veritas/falsitas/verisimilitudo 152 Lux 154 Persuasio 154 The construction of a second method of invention 155 Conclusion 161 Chapter 8 Aesthetics and anthropology 162 The hierarchy of sense and intellect in the Leibnizian and Wolffian tradition 165 Baumgarten on language and thought 175 Human sensibility 178 Reason 184 Conclusion 187 chapter 9 Aesthetics and ethics 188 Moral cosmology and moral semiotics 189 Toward the moral rehabilitation of art and poetry 193 The moral status of poetry 198 Conclusion 200 Chapter 10 ‘A general heuristic is impossible’: Kant and the Wolffian ars inveniendi 203 Kant’s condemnation of Wolffian natural logic 206 Wolffian logic: organon or sophistry? 211 Kant’s dual genealogy: a return to dialectics 214 Invention in Kantian aesthetics 221 The battle against rules continued 221 The expulsion of method from aesthetics 224 Natural beauty 225 Kant’s formalization of purposiveness 228 Genius: Homer versus Newton 232 Conclusion 234 Conclusion 236 Summary 236 Perspectives 241 Bibliography 247 Primary sources 247 Secondary sources 258 Index of names 275 Subject index 278 "When, in 1735, Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten added a new discipline to the philosophical system, he not only founded modern aesthetics but also contributed to shaping the modern concept of art or 'fine art'. In The Founding of Aesthetics in the German Enlightenment, Stefanie Buchenau offers a rich analysis and reconstruction of the origins of this new discipline in its wider context of German Enlightenment philosophy. Present-day scholars commonly regard Baumgarten's views as an imperfect prefiguration of Kantian and post-Kantian aesthetics, but Buchenau argues that Baumgarten defended a consistent and original project which must be viewed in the context of the modern debate on the art of invention. Her book offers new perspectives on Kantian aesthetics and beauty in art and science"-- Résumé de l'éditeur This book explores the forgotten philosophical and conceptual origins of aesthetics in eighteenth-century Germany. It offers fresh perspectives on Kantian aesthetics and will appeal to students and scholars who are interested in the history of aesthetics and the beginnings of the German aesthetic tradition.