The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 1 (of 4): Hegel's AesthetikHegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Philosophy
The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 1 (of 4): Hegel's Aesthetik
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Aesthetics
All the situations to which we have hitherto directed attention are,
as already observed, neither true actions in themselves nor indeed the
stimulative source of such action. Their determination was to a greater
or less degree the purely occasional circumstance or condition, or an
action in itself of no significance, in which a substantive content was
expressed in such a way that its specific character appeared as a mere
harmless play, in which nothing of a truly serious nature was implied.
The full seriousness and weighty import of a situation can only begin
when we find in it the element of disruption, where the determination
itself exposes an essential aspect of difference, and by its opposition
to something else becomes the source of a collision.
The _collision_ arises, as we are now considering it, in an act of
_violation_, which is unable to retain its character as such, but is
compelled to find a new principle of unity; it is a change in the
previously existent condition of harmony, a change which is still in
process. The collision is, however, not an _action_, and is to be taken
simply as stimulus to action to all that characterizes the situation.
And this is true, although the contradiction in which the collision
is enclosed may be the result of previous action. As an example of
this we may cite the trilogies of the ancients, which carry forward
the main theme by presenting at the close of one drama the collision
which forms the stimulative impulse of the next, which, in its return,
renders necessary the resolution which is carried out by the third.
And, moreover, for this very reason that the collision always requires
some resolution attendant on this conflict of opposing elements, the
more a situation is full of it the more it is peculiarly adapted to the
subject-matter of dramatic art, it being the especial claim of that
art to present beauty in its completest and profoundest development.
Sculpture, on the contrary, is not wholly suited to give embodiment to
any action, through which the great spiritual forces are manifested
either in their division or reconciliation, and indeed the art of
painting, despite its more extended spatial significance, is only able
to objectify a single moment of action.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account