Ebook: German Aesthetics: Fundamental Concepts from Baumgarten to Adorno

This volume establishes for English-speaking audiences across the humanities the fundamental terms and conceptual narratives of the German tradition of philosophical aesthetics from Alexander Baumgarten to Theodor Adorno (roughly 1750–1970). Based on the foundational assertion that the German aesthetic tradition has played a role of unparalleled importance in providing critical theory more generally and aesthetic theory in particular with its intellectual terms and frames of reference, German Aesthetics presents accessible entry points to important questions and debates in the field(s) of philosophical aesthetics through explanation and analysis of significant concepts and works by figures such as Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Heidegger, Benjamin, and Adorno. Each entry is organized around a key term, concept, or related set of ideas—for example: beauty, judgment, value, truth, and committed art. The book’s organization proceeds from the condition that aesthetic concepts are often highly contested intellectual territory, that these terms have a history, and that their usage and meanings are prone to contextual shifting, especially as these concepts participate in philosophical, cultural, and political debates. Therefore, the entries provide introduction and fundamental background to important concepts in German aesthetics while also engaging creative possibilities within the further development of the concepts and the fields they address.