AESTHETIC AS SCIENCE OF EXPRESSION

AND GENERAL LINGUISTIC

TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN OF BENEDETTO CROCE

BY

DOUGLAS AINSLIEB.A. (OXON.)

1909

THE AESTHETIC IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR TO THE MEMORY OF HIS PARENTSPASQUALE AND LUISA SIPARI AND OF HIS SISTER MARIA

NOTE

I give here a close translation of the complete Theory of Aesthetic,and in the Historical Summary, with the consent of the author, anabbreviation of the historical portion of the original work.

INTRODUCTION

THEORY

IINTUITION AND EXPRESSION

Intuitive knowledge—Its independence in respect to the intellect—Intuition and perception—Intuition and the concepts of space andtime—Intuition and sensation—Intuition and association—Intuitionand representation—Intuition and expression—Illusions as to theirdifference—Identity of intuition and expression.

IIINTUITION AND ART

Corollaries and explanations—Identity of art and of intuitive knowledge—No specific difference—No difference of intensity—Difference extensiveand empirical—Artistic genius—Content and form in Aesthetic—Critiqueof the imitation of nature and of the artistic illusion—Critique of artconceived as a sentimental, not a theoretic fact—The origin of Aesthetic,and sentiment—Critique of the theory of Aesthetic senses—Unity andindivisibility of the work of art—Art as deliverer.

IIIART AND PHILOSOPHY

Indissolubility of intellective and of intuitive knowledge—Critiqueof the negations of this thesis—Art and science—Content and form:another meaning. Prose and poetry—The relation of first and seconddegree—Inexistence of other cognoscitive forms—Historicity—Identityand difference in respect of art—Historical criticism—Historicalscepticism—Philosophy as perfect science. The so-called naturalsciences, and their limits—The phenomenon and the noumenon.

IVHISTORICISM AND INTELLECTUALISM IN AESTHETIC

Critique of the verisimilar and of naturalism—Critique of ideas inart, of art as thesis, and of the typical—Critique of the symbol andof the allegory—Critique of the theory of artistic and literarycategories—Errors derived from this theory in judgments on art—Empirical meaning of the divisions of the categories.

VANALOGOUS ERRORS IN HISTORY AND IN LOGIC

Critique of the philosophy of History—Aesthetic invasions of Logic—Logic in its essence—Distinction between logical and non-logicaljudgments—The syllogism—False Logic and true Aesthetic—Logicreformed.

VITHEORETIC AND PRACTICAL ACTIVITY

The will—The will as ulterior grade in respect of knowledge—Objectionsand explanations—Critique of practical judgments or judgments ofvalue—Exclusion of the practical from the aesthetic—Critique ofthe theory of the end of art and of the choice of content—Practicalinnocence of art—Independence of art—Critique of the saying: thestyle is the man—Critique of the concept of sincerity in art.