The Intertwining of Aesthetics and Ethics

Exceeding of Expectations, Ecstasy, Sublimity

Jadranka Skorin-Kapov

The Intertwining of Aesthetics and Ethics: Exceeding of Expectations, Ecstasy, Sublimity analyzes the common experiential ground for both aesthetics and ethics by considering experiential environment (both nature and art), the precedents to desire, the notion of experience incorporating a break, and the reverberations of surprise leading to the intertwining of aesthetics and ethics. Jadranka Skorin-Kapov discusses different philosophical positions on the relationship between nature and art, in conversation with Kant, Hegel, Goethe, Gadamer, and Adorno. She argues that Kantian sublimity can carry over from nature to art. As part of the discussions of expectations and authenticity, the author interprets Husserl’s view on expectations, Heidegger’s view on death and authenticity, Blanchot’s view on death, and Arendt’s view on natality. As for understanding the aesthetic experience as the paradigmatic experience, Skorin-Kapov is informed by Dewey’s work on art as experience, Gadamer’s work on experience of art, and Jauss’s work on the aesthetics of reception and the horizon of expectations. After our sensibility and representational capability are broken, recuperation then leads to sublimity and the subsequent feelings of admiration and/or responsibility, allowing for the intertwining of aesthetics and ethics. Additionally, elements of Kantian morality, Foucault’s ethics, and Kierkegaard’s work on interactions between aesthetics and ethics together help to characterize the relation between aesthetics and ethics. Since we often encounter surprise due to unexpectedness in comedy, Skorin-Kapov also interprets philosophical views on the comedy and laughter (including Aristotle, Kierkegaard, Meredith, and Bergson), using the theatrical work of Dario Fo as an example.

The novel analysis in The Intertwining of Aesthetics and Ethics will be of particular interest to students and scholars working or teaching in aesthetics, phenomenology, art history, cultural studies, and ethics.

Lexington Books

Pages: 236 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-2456-8 • Hardback • April 2016 • $115.00 • (£88.00)

978-1-4985-2457-5 • eBook • April 2016 • $109.00 • (£84.00)

Subjects: Philosophy / Aesthetics, Philosophy / Continental Philosophy

The Intertwining of Aesthetics and Ethics

Exceeding of Expectations, Ecstasy, Sublimity

Hardback

eBook

Summary

The Intertwining of Aesthetics and Ethics: Exceeding of Expectations, Ecstasy, Sublimity analyzes the common experiential ground for both aesthetics and ethics by considering experiential environment (both nature and art), the precedents to desire, the notion of experience incorporating a break, and the reverberations of surprise leading to the intertwining of aesthetics and ethics. Jadranka Skorin-Kapov discusses different philosophical positions on the relationship between nature and art, in conversation with Kant, Hegel, Goethe, Gadamer, and Adorno. She argues that Kantian sublimity can carry over from nature to art. As part of the discussions of expectations and authenticity, the author interprets Husserl’s view on expectations, Heidegger’s view on death and authenticity, Blanchot’s view on death, and Arendt’s view on natality. As for understanding the aesthetic experience as the paradigmatic experience, Skorin-Kapov is informed by Dewey’s work on art as experience, Gadamer’s work on experience of art, and Jauss’s work on the aesthetics of reception and the horizon of expectations. After our sensibility and representational capability are broken, recuperation then leads to sublimity and the subsequent feelings of admiration and/or responsibility, allowing for the intertwining of aesthetics and ethics. Additionally, elements of Kantian morality, Foucault’s ethics, and Kierkegaard’s work on interactions between aesthetics and ethics together help to characterize the relation between aesthetics and ethics. Since we often encounter surprise due to unexpectedness in comedy, Skorin-Kapov also interprets philosophical views on the comedy and laughter (including Aristotle, Kierkegaard, Meredith, and Bergson), using the theatrical work of Dario Fo as an example.

The novel analysis in The Intertwining of Aesthetics and Ethics will be of particular interest to students and scholars working or teaching in aesthetics, phenomenology, art history, cultural studies, and ethics.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 236 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-2456-8 • Hardback • April 2016 • $115.00 • (£88.00)

978-1-4985-2457-5 • eBook • April 2016 • $109.00 • (£84.00)

Subjects: Philosophy / Aesthetics, Philosophy / Continental Philosophy

Author

Jadranka Skorin-Kapov is professor of operations research at Stony Brook University, with additional PhDs in philosophy and art history, and author of The Aesthetics of Desire and Surprise:
Phenomenology and Speculation.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: Experience versus Non-Experience
Chapter 1. Nature versus Art and the Aesthetic
Chapter 2. Expectations and Authenticity
Chapter 3. Experience and Art
Chapter 4. The Intertwining of Aesthetics and Ethics
Chapter 5. Laughter: A Two-Way Street between Art and Morality
Conclusion: Art, Morality, Society
Bibliography

Reviews

In this beautiful book, Jadranka Skorin-Kapov brings us to the edge of the impossible. She gives a rich and compelling philosophical account of the aesthetic encounter: how it surprises us, affects us, and takes us beyond ourselves.
— Steven Shaviro, emeritus professor of English, Wayne State University