ENGLISH

Diotima's Children: German Aesthetic Rationalism from Leibniz to Lessing

By Frederick C. Beiser

Book information

Year
2009
ISBN
0199573018, 9780199573011
LCC
BH221.G32 B45 2009
Open Library ID
OL23643413M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (1790887 bytes)
Edition
First Edition
Pages
320\306
Scanned
yes
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

Diotima's Children is a re-examination of the rationalist tradition of aesthetics which prevailed in Germany in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century. It is partly an historical survey of the central figures and themes of this tradition But it is also a philosophical defense of some of its leading ideas, viz., that beauty plays an integral role in life, that aesthetic pleasure is the perception of perfection, that aesthetic rules are inevitable and valuable. It shows that the criticisms of Kant and Nietzsche of this tradition are largely unfounded. The rationalist tradition deserves re-examination because it is of great historical significance, marking the beginning of modern aesthetics, art criticism, and art history.

Similar books