Description
Book SynopsisThe German philosopher Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714-1762) is known as the founder of modern aesthetics because he introduced the term “aesthetics” into philosophy in his Reflections on Poetry (1736), Metaphysics (1739), and in his unfinished Aesthetics (1750/1758). This volume is the first collection of essays in the English language devoted to Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten’s aesthetics. The essays collected in this volume explain the distinguishing features of Baumgarten’s aesthetics; situate it in its historical context; document its reception; and examine its contributions to contemporary philosophy.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Contributors
I. Baumgarten’s Aesthetics
1. Ursula Franke (Münster), “Baumgarten’s Discovery of Aesthetics” (translation)
2. Stefanie Buchenau (Paris), “Baumgarten’s Aesthetics and the Modern Art of Invention”
3. Matthew McAndrew (College of New Jersey), “Beauty and Appearance in Baumgarten’s Metaphysics and Aesthetics”
4. Angelica Nuzzo (CUNY), “Aesthetic Truth in Baumgarten’s Aesthetics”
II. Historical and Philosophical Contexts
5. Simon Grote (Wellesley), “Pietist Aisthesis and Moral Education in Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten” (translation)
6. J. Colin McQuillan (St. Mary’s), “Baumgarten’s Aesthetics and the Critique of Wolffian Rationalism”
7. Alessandro Nannini (Bucharest), “The Co-Founding of Aesthetics: Baumgarten and Meier”
8. Anne Pollok (South Carolina), “An Exercise in Humanity: Abbt and Mendelssohn on Baumgarten’s Notion of ‘Aesthetic Training’ and its Relation to the Vocation of Humanity”
9. Hans Adler (Wisconsin), “Perception, Cognition, Humanity: Herder’s Critical Appropriation of Baumgarten’s Aesthetics”
10. Robert Clewis (Gwynedd-Mercy), “The Majesty of Cognition: The Sublime in Baumgarten, Mendelssohn, and Kant”
III. Contemporary Perspectives
11. Christophe Menke (Frankfurt), “The Discipline of Aesthetics is the Aesthetic of Discipline: Baumgarten from Foucault’s Perspective” (translation)
12. Amelia Hruby (DePaul), “The Happy Aesthetician and the Feminist Killjoy: Baumgarten and Ahmed”
Bibliography
Index
