Abstract
A consideration of the concept of “isolation” in contemporary aesthetic theory will enable me to suggest a position which denies that the aesthetic has to do only with what is immediately presented. The point will be made by arguing that a work of art exhibits aspects or elements which are tied to a historical period and that in some cases a work of art cannot be viewed aesthetically until these elements are considered or evaluated. An analysis of three uses of isolation in contemporary aesthetic theory will enable me to show the relevance of the historical components of a work of art to the aesthetic response.
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References
Susanne Langer, Feeling and Form (New York, 1953), p. 45.
Meyer Schapiro, “Style” in Aesthetics Today, ed. Morris Philipson (Cleveland, 1961), p. 81.
Bernard Berenson, Aesthetics and History ( Garden City, N.Y., 1954 ), pp. 62–63.
K. Mitchells, “The Work of Art in Its Social Setting and in Its Aesthetic Isolation,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, XXV (Summer 1967 ), 373.
French Poetry from Baudelaire to the Present, ed. Elaine Marks (New York, 1962) pp. 278–279.
Jerome Schiller, “An Alternative to ‘Aesthetic Disinterestedness’,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, XXII (Spring, 1964), 295.
Clive Bell, Art (New York, 1959) pp. 25–27.
T. S. Eliot, The Frontiers of Criticism (Minneapolis, 1956 ), pp. 18–19.
Jerome Stolnitz, Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art Criticism (Boston, 1960), p. 25.
Roger Fry, Vision and Design (Cleveland, 1956), pp. 269–270.
See George Dickie’s discussion of Stolnitz’s use of the terms “interestedly” and “disinterestedly” in “The Myth of the Aesthetic Attitude,” in American Philosophical Quarterly, I (January, 1969), 58.
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© 1970 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Cormier, R. (1970). The Concept of “Isolation” in Contemporary Aesthetic Theory. In: Aesthetics I. Tulane Studies in Philosophy, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3258-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-3258-2_1
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