Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic, By Benedetto Croce

Aesthetic as Science of Expression and GeneralLinguistic, by Benedetto Croce

Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Beth Trapagaand PG Distributed ProofreadersAESTHETIC AS SCIENCE OF EXPRESSIONAND GENERAL LINGUISTICTRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN OF BENEDETTO CROCEBY DOUGLAS AINSLIE B.A. (OXON.)1909THE AESTHETIC IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR TO THE MEMORY OF HIS PARENTSPASQUALE AND LUISA SIPARI AND OF HIS SISTER MARIANOTEI give here a close translation of the complete _Theory of Aesthetic_,and in the Historical Summary, with the consent of the author, anabbreviation of the historical portion of the original work.CONTENTSINTRODUCTIONTHEORYIINTUITION AND EXPRESSIONIntuitive knowledge--Its independence in respect to the intellect--Intuition and perception--Intuition and the concepts of space andtime--Intuition and sensation--Intuition and association--Intuitionand representation--Intuition and expression--Illusions as to their difference--Identity of intuition and expression.IIINTUITION AND ARTCorollaries and explanations--Identity of art and of intuitive knowledge--No specific difference--No difference of intensity--Difference extensiveand empirical--Artistic genius--Content and form in Aesthetic--Critiqueof the imitation of nature and of the artistic illusion--Critique of artconceived as a sentimental, not a theoretic fact--The origin of Aesthetic,and sentiment--Critique of the theory of Aesthetic senses--Unity andindivisibility of the work of art--Art as deliverer.

IIIART AND PHILOSOPHYIndissolubility of intellective and of intuitive knowledge--Critiqueof the negations of this thesis--Art and science--Content and form:another meaning. Prose and poetry--The relation of first and seconddegree--Inexistence of other cognoscitive forms--Historicity--Identityand difference in respect of art--Historical criticism--Historicalscepticism--Philosophy as perfect science. The so-called naturalsciences, and their limits--The phenomenon and the noumenon.IVHISTORICISM AND INTELLECTUALISM IN AESTHETICCritique of the verisimilar and of naturalism--Critique of ideas inart, of art as thesis, and of the typical--Critique of the symbol andof the allegory--Critique of the theory of artistic and literarycategories--Errors derived from this theory in judgments on art--Empirical meaning of the divisions of the categories.VANALOGOUS ERRORS IN HISTORY AND IN LOGICCritique of the philosophy of History--Aesthetic invasions of Logic--Logic in its essence--Distinction between logical and non-logical judgments--The syllogism--False Logic and true Aesthetic--Logicreformed.VITHEORETIC AND PRACTICAL ACTIVITYThe will--The will as ulterior grade in respect of knowledge--Objectionsand explanations--Critique of practical judgments or judgments of value--Exclusion of the practical from the aesthetic--Critique of the theory of the end of art and of the choice of content--Practicalinnocence of art--Independence of art--Critique of the saying: thestyle is the man--Critique of the concept of sincerity in art.VIIANALOGY BETWEEN THE THEORETIC AND THE PRACTICALThe two forms of practical activity--The economically useful--Distinction between the useful and the technical--Distinction betweenthe useful and the egoistic--Economic and moral volition--Pureeconomicity--The economic side of morality--The merely economical andthe error of the morally indifferent--Critique of utilitarianism andthe reform of Ethic and of Economic--Phenomenon and noumenon inpractical activity.VIII

EXCLUSION OF OTHER SPIRITUAL FORMSThe system of the spirit--The forms of genius--Inexistence of a fifthform of activity--Law; sociality--Religiosity--Metaphysic--Mentalimagination and the intuitive intellect--Mystical Aesthetic--Mortalityand immortality of art.IXINDIVISIBILITY OF EXPRESSION INTO MODES OR GRADES AND CRITIQUE OFRHETORICThe characteristics of art--Inexistence of modes of expression--Impossibility of translations--Critique of rhetorical categories--Empirical meaning of rhetorical categories--Their use as synonymsof the aesthetic fact--Their use as indicating various aestheticimperfections--Their use as transcending the aesthetic fact, andin the service of science--Rhetoric in schools--Similarities of expressions--Relative possibility of translations.XAESTHETIC SENTIMENTS AND THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE BEAUTIFUL AND THEUGLYVarious meanings of the word sentiment--Sentiment as activity--Identification of sentiment with economic activity--Critique of hedonism--Sentiment as concomitant of every form of activity--Meaningof certain ordinary distinctions of sentiments--Value and disvalue:the contraries and their union--The beautiful as the value of expression,or expression without adjunct--The ugly and the elements of beauty thatconstitute it--Illusion that there exist expressions neither beautifulnor ugly--Proper aesthetic sentiments and concomitant and accidentalsentiments--Critique of apparent sentiments.XICRITIQUE OF AESTHETIC HEDONISMCritique of the beautiful as what pleases the superior senses--Critiqueof the theory of play--Critique of the theory of sexuality and of thetriumph--Critique of the Aesthetic of the sympathetic--Meaning in it of content and of form--Aesthetic hedonism and moralism--The rigoristicnegation, and the pedagogic negation of art--Critique of pure beauty.XIITHE AESTHETIC OF THE SYMPATHETIC AND PSEUDO-AESTHETIC CONCEPTSPseudo-aesthetic concepts, and the Aesthetic of the sympathetic--Critique of the theory of the ugly in art and of its surmounting--Pseudo-aesthetic concepts appertain to Psychology--Impossibility of rigorous definitions of these--Examples: definitions of the sublime,of the comic, of the humorous--Relation between those concepts andaesthetic concepts.