Brief Description
An important new monograph relating Hegel's aesthetics to his philosophies of religion and history and, in particular, his philosophy of right.
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This is an important new monograph relating Hegel's aesthetics to his philosophies of religion and history and, in particular, his philosophy of right. "Art, Myth and Society in Hegel's Aesthetics" returns to the student transcripts of Hegel's lectures on aesthetics, some of which have never been published and none of which have been translated into English, in an attempt to systematically relate Hegel's aesthetics to his philosophies of religion and history and, in particular, his philosophy of right. David James develops the idea that these transcripts show that Hegel was primarily interested in understanding art as an historical phenomenon and, in terms of its function in human history, more specifically, its role in the ethical life of the people. The book thus offers a thorough re-evaluation of Hegel's aesthetics and its relation to his theory of objective spirit, exposing the ways in which Hegel's views on this subject are anchored in his reflections on history and on different forms of ethical life.
Review Quotes
1. "James's work [offers] an almost unique discussion of Hegel's aesthetics as compared to other ones in the English-speaking world, and it is also suited to sparking an interest in Hegel's lectures on aesthetics which has been largely absent before." - Prof. Dr. Annemarie Gethmann-Siefert, FernUniversitat in Hagen, Germany
