The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 1 (of 4)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Recorded or compiled by others
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~180,000 words · 845 passages
Cite this work
- APAHegel. (n.d.). The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 1 (of 4). Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-philosophy-of-fine-art-volume-1-of-4
- MLAHegel. The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 1 (of 4). Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-philosophy-of-fine-art-volume-1-of-4.
- ChicagoHegel. The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 1 (of 4). Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-philosophy-of-fine-art-volume-1-of-4.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The first volume of the lectures on aesthetics: what artistic beauty is, and why art is not a copy of the world.
Context and history
Hegel did not write these lectures either: editors put them together after his death from his notes and from students' notebooks of different years. The scheme people quote is his — symbolic, classical and romantic art, and the path from architecture to poetry — but the exact wording often is not. The opening definition is worth holding clearly: art is the sensuous appearing of the idea, and therefore neither decoration nor imitation of nature.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
such as family, fatherland, church, friendship, status, honour, and love. They are children of the one absolute Idea. Illustration of their contention (_β_) They must not act in discord with the main action. The position of evil powers as confronting them, and its treatment by classic and modern poetry (_γ_) Such forces must appear in Art as embodied in particular personalities. Contrast between ancient and modern art in this respect] (_b_) The individuals concerned in the action [(_α_) The relations between gods and men in classical art, and that between the Divine and the human in Christian art [_β_] Pathos considered in its relation to various modes of art] (_c_) Character [(_α_) Viewed as co-extensive or self-coherent individuality, relatively, that is, to the intrinsic wealth it connotes. Illustrations (_β_) Viewed relatively to the particular form under which it is bound to appear (_γ_) Viewed as a concrete unity coalescing wholly with its determinate form and as assured character. Illustrations classified in their stability and lack of such] III. The External Determination of the Ideal. 1. The abstract Externality as such. [(_a_) Spatiality, Uniformity, Figure, Time, and Colour. (_α_) How far such contribute to artistic production (_β_) The necessity of clear articulation of form and tone considered] 2. The Coalescence of the concrete Ideal with its external Reality [(_α_) The bond of unity regarded as no positive reality, but as a mysterious or secret connection. The relation of external Nature to the work of art. The Homeric poems contrasted with the "Niebelungenlied" in this respect (_b_) Where the unity is expressly due to human activity and human adaptation of means to ends [(_α_) The use made by man of ornament or of anything used for mere show, _e.g._, precious metals for statuary (_β_) The question how far objects used for practical purposes are suited for art.…