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Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education The refereed scholarly journal of the Volume 2, No. 2 December 2003 Thomas A. Regelski, Editor Wayne Bowman, Associate Editor Darryl A. Coan, Publishing Editor Electronic Article Aesthetics Beyond Aesthetics Wolfgang Welsch © Wolfgang Welsch 2003 All rights reserved. The content of this article is the sole responsibility of the author. The ACT Journal, the MayDay Group, and their agents are not liable for any legal actions that may arise involving the article's content, including but not limited to, copyright infringement. ISSN 1545-4517 This article is part of an issue of our online journal: ACT Journal http://act.maydaygroup.org See the MayDay Group website at: http://www.maydaygroup.org Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education Electronic Article Page 2 of 26 _____________________________________________________________________________________ Aesthetics Beyond Aesthetics Wolfgang Welsch Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena Institut für Philosophie Introduction: Outline of the Problems 1. The prevailing understanding: aesthetics centered on art What is aesthetics? The answer given by the encyclopedias is clear. The Italian Enciclopedia Filosofica defines aesthetics as "disciplina filosofica che ha per oggetto la 1 bellezza e l'arte". Correspondingly, the French Vocabulaire d'Esthétique determines 2 aesthetics as "étude réflexive du beau" and "philosophie et science de l'art". The Academic American Encyclopedia says: "Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy that aims 3 to establish the general principles of art and beauty." And the German Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie explains (a bit more complicatedly, because it is German): "Das Wort `Ästhetik' hat sich als Titel des Zweiges der Philosophie eingebürgert, in dem 4 sie sich den Künsten und dem Schönen [...] zuwendet" . In short, aesthetics is considered as ‘artistics’, as an explication of art with particular attention to beauty. The discipline's traditional name as ’aesthetics’ seems to be wrong, because in fact it doesn't have - as the name suggests - aesthetics as its point of reference, but art; so the name ‘artistics’ would be much more appropriate. However, as the title of my paper indicates, I intend to advocate an understanding of aesthetics that goes beyond this traditional understanding, beyond even the scope of an artistics. But can such an attempt be legitimate? Does the term ‘aesthetics’ lend itself to a transartistic meaning? With respect to the older aesthetic tradition this clearly is the case. Baumgarten, the founding father of aesthetics, created the expression ‘aesthetics’ precisely with Welsch, W. (2003). Aesthetics beyond aesthetics. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Vol. 2, #2 (November 2003). http://act.maydaygroup.org/articlesWelsch2_2English.pdf Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education Electronic Article Page 3 of 26 _____________________________________________________________________________________ recourse to the Greek word-class aisthesis, aisthanesthai, aisthetos and aisthetikos - that is, to expressions which designate sensation and perception altogether, prior to any artistic meaning. Baumgarten established the new discipline in order to improve our sensuous capacity for cognition. This is why he defined it as the "science of sensuous cognition" and gave it the name ‘aesthetics’. It was to comprehend all kinds of sensuous cognition. Even the prophecy from the birds' flight was - quite naturally, given the basic 5 line of this understanding - to be an issue of aesthetics. The arts, on the other hand, 6 didn't even get a mention among the scope of aesthetics. Current usage of the word - beyond the academic sphere - is not restricted to art, either. In everyday language we use the term ‘aesthetic’ even more often outside of than within the artistic sphere; when speaking, for instance, of aesthetic behavior or an aesthetic lifestyle, or of aesthetic peculiarities of media, or an increasing aestheticization of the world. The discipline of “aesthetics,” however, has restricted itself for a long time to questions concerning art - and more concerning conceptual than sensuous issues of art. This tendency began with Kant's 1790 Critique of Judgment and was definitely established between 1817 and 1829 through Hegel's Lectures on Aesthetics. Since then aesthetics has been understood exclusively as a philosophy of art. For centuries this conception remained the dominant understanding of aesthetics, shared by philosophers as different as Hegel and Heidegger, or Ingarden and Adorno. Today the mainstream of aesthetics still follows this conception. The academic discipline tends to restrict itself to artistics - no matter how uncertain the notion of art itself may have become in the meantime. 7 Certainly, there have been counter-tendencies to this predominant conception in the history of aesthetics. For some authors, aesthetics did not aim at art but at alternative forms of life. Think, for example, of Schiller and his shift first from artistic to political and then to pedagogical art, and finally to the "art of life" ("Lebenskunst") - an idea picked up on by Marcuse's advocacy of a new social sensibility. Or think of Kierkegaard Welsch, W. (2003). Aesthetics beyond aesthetics. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Vol. 2, #2 (November 2003). http://act.maydaygroup.org/articlesWelsch2_2English.pdf Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education Electronic Article Page 4 of 26 _____________________________________________________________________________________ and his description of aesthetic existence, or of Nietzsche's fundamentalization of aesthetic activity, and finally of Dewey's integration of art into life. But these countertendencies didn't really manage to change the pattern of the discipline. To a certain extent they even shared the basic presumption of traditional aesthetics, that art forms the focus of aesthetics. These reformers also continued to consider art as being the very model of aesthetic practice altogether, as well as the paradigm for the shift to the new understanding they advocated. In sum, then, traditional as well as contemporary aestheticians seem to be held captive by the picture of aesthetics as artistics. And, continuing this by allusion to Wittgenstein, one could say, "And we cannot get outside this picture, for it lies in our 8 discipline and this discipline seems to repeat it to us inexorably." 2. Overcoming the traditional prejudice a. Singularity of works versus the universal concept of art However, there are very good reasons to escape from the aesthetics/artistics 9 equation or - to quote Wittgenstein again - "to show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle" because one of the central problems of traditional aesthetics was that it didn't even fulfill its responsibility. It was incapable of doing justice to the singularity of artworks. 10 To the contrary, the aim of aesthetics was deliberately shifted to the establishment of a universal and timeless concept of art. Schelling, for example, frankly expressed this when he declared that a philosophy 11 of art had to treat only "art as such" and "in no way empirical art", and that his own philosophy of art was a mere "repetition" of his "system of philosophy" - this time implemented with respect to art, just as on another occasion with respect to nature or 12 society. But this traditional strategy is untenable - and has long since appeared so to sensitive people. Robert Musil, for example, derided such aesthetics as the attempt to find the universal brick fitting every work of art that would be suitable for erecting the whole edifice of aesthetics. 13 The practice of art doesn't consist in exemplifying a universal Welsch, W. (2003). Aesthetics beyond aesthetics. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Vol. 2, #2 (November 2003). http://act.maydaygroup.org/articlesWelsch2_2English.pdf Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education Electronic Article Page 5 of 26 _____________________________________________________________________________________ concept of art, but involves the creation of new versions and concepts of art. And these new concepts will certainly have some aspects in common with the concepts formerly dominant, but differ from them sharply in other, no less important, aspects. This is obvious in every shift from one style or paradigm to another. Hence, artistic paradigms are connected by some overlaps from one concept to the next (by ’family resemblances’ in the Wittgensteinian sense), but there is no universal pattern common to them all or representing an essential core of all works of art. There is no such thing as an essence of 14 art. This means, however, that the traditional approach is mistaken on principle - even within the narrow scope of an aesthetics referring to art alone. It is necessary, then, to move on to a different, pluralistic type of aesthetics. b. In favor of an extended understanding of the discipline The reorganization of aesthetics that we currently have to consider must go even further, however. So far I have only discussed the paradigm change needed within the classical frame of aesthetics; that is, within artistics: we can no longer be held captive by an essentialistic picture of art. But it is also necessary to go beyond this whole frame - the traditional equation of aesthetics and artistics. The inner pluralizing of aesthetics needs to be supplemented by an outer pluralizing—by an expansion of the discipline to trans15 artistic questions. This is what I want to advocate in this paper. In the first section I will develop some of the main themes for an aesthetics beyond aesthetics. In the second section I will make some suggestions as to how the territory of aesthetics should be reorganized. In the third section I will try to demonstrate the importance of aesthetic expansion, even for the analysis of art itself. Art can more adequately be dealt with in the perspective of an aesthetics that is not restricted to the analysis of art alone. I. Some Main Themes and the Relevance of an Aesthetics Beyond Aesthetics There are, generally speaking, two groups of reasons for a broadening of aesthetics: the first refers to the contemporary fashioning of reality, the second to the contemporary understanding of reality. 16 Welsch, W. (2003). Aesthetics beyond aesthetics. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Vol. 2, #2 (November 2003). http://act.maydaygroup.org/articlesWelsch2_2English.pdf Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education Electronic Article Page 6 of 26 _____________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Aesthetic fashioning of reality - embellishment a. Global aestheticization Today, we are living amidst an aestheticization of the real world unmatched in the 17 past. Embellishment and styling are to be found everywhere. They extend from the appearance of individuals to the ‘look’ of urban and public spheres, and from economy through to ecology. Individuals are engaging themselves in a comprehensive styling of body, soul, and behavior. Homo aestheticus has become the new role model. In urban areas just about everything has been subjected to a face-lift in recent years - at least in the developed western countries. The economy also profits--largely from the consumers' tendency not simply to acquire an article for use but, rather, to thereby buy into the aesthetic lifestyle with which advertising strategies have linked the article. Even ecology is on the way to becoming embellished as it favors styling the environment in the spirit of such aesthetic ideals as complexity or natural beauty. And, in the end, genetic engineering is a kind of genetic cosmetic surgery. It is surely not necessary to expand on these tendencies towards embellishment and globalized aestheticization in detail; the phenomena are all too obvious. I want instead to consider the relevance of these recent developments for aesthetics. Aesthetic activity and orientation have always borne upon the real world however little, on the other hand, the discipline of aesthetics may have taken this into account. New today is the extent and the status of these aestheticizing activities. Aestheticization has become a global and primary strategy. And this has an impact on contemporary as well as traditional aesthetics. b. The impact on contemporary aesthetics The impact of such activities on contemporary aesthetics follows from the fact that these phenomena not only represent an extension of the aesthetic, but also at the same time alter its configuration and comprehensiveness, or valency. Hence aesthetics Welsch, W. (2003). Aesthetics beyond aesthetics. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Vol. 2, #2 (November 2003). http://act.maydaygroup.org/articlesWelsch2_2English.pdf Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education Electronic Article Page 7 of 26 _____________________________________________________________________________________ as the reflective authority of the aesthetic - must seek out the state of the aesthetic today in fields such as the life-world and politics, economy and ecology, ethics and science. It must, in short, take account of the new configuration of the aesthetic. This does not mean that the globalization and ‘fundamentalization’ of the aesthetic are simply to be sanctioned but, rather, that every sufficient aesthetic diagnosis and critique must consider these issues. c. The relation to traditional aesthetics The effects of such issues on traditional aesthetics become evident when we ask whether tradition has ever advocated a globalization of the aesthetic. Clearly this is the case. Some prominent aesthetic programs of the past have stood up determinedly for a global aestheticization, from which they even promised themselves the definitive fulfillment of all our tasks on earth and the ultimate happiness of mankind. Remember, for example, how the Oldest System-Program of German Idealism swore by the mediating power of the aesthetic: by linking the rational and the sensuous, aesthetics was to cause "the enlightened and the unenlightened ... [to] join hands", so that "eternal unity 18 reigns among us", this even being considered "the last and greatest work of mankind". In the same way, mediators of aesthetic ideals like the Arts and Crafts Movement or Werkbund and Bauhaus were convinced that a globalization of the aesthetic would altogether improve the world. These old aesthetic dreams seem to be being realized in the present aestheticization. But the irritating fact that demands explanation is that the results today are quite different from the original expectations. They are, at the very least, disappointing. What was meant to endow our world with beauty ends up in mere prettiness and forced ‘effects’ that generate indifference or even disgust - at least among aesthetically sensitive people. In any case, nobody would dare to call the present aestheticization a straightforward fulfillment of the original programs. Something must be wrong then with this redemption of the old aesthetic dreams. Either the current application of old programs is inadequate, or these venerable programs themselves Welsch, W. (2003). Aesthetics beyond aesthetics. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Vol. 2, #2 (November 2003). http://act.maydaygroup.org/articlesWelsch2_2English.pdf Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education Electronic Article Page 8 of 26 _____________________________________________________________________________________ already contained a flaw, one which had so far remained hidden but which is now being revealed. Sometimes redemptions can equate to revelations. This, I think, is the case with the current aestheticization. d. Some flaws in globalized aestheticization What reasons are there for the disappointment with the present aestheticization? What are the critical points to be highlighted when reflecting on this aestheticization from the point of view of aesthetics? Firstly, fashioning everything as beautiful destroys the quality of the beautiful. Ubiquitous beauty loses its distinguished character and decays into mere prettiness or becomes simply meaningless. You can't make the exceptional a standard without changing its quality. Secondly, the strategy of globalized aestheticization falls victim to itself. It ends in anaestheticization. The globalized aesthetic is experienced as annoying and even as an aesthetic horror. Aesthetic indifference then becomes a sensible and almost unavoidable attitude in order to escape the troubling persistence of this ubiquitous aesthetic. Anaestheticization - our refusal to continue to perceive the delightfully embellished 19 environment – thus becomes a survival strategy. e. Repercussions for traditional aesthetics Criticism of traditional aesthetics is thus called for. Firstly, objection is due to the wholesale praise of beauty. Aesthetics has usually praised beauty and beautification, and believed it had good reasons for doing so. But it never considered the consequences of the globalized beautification which it advocated and which we are today experiencing. It never even conceived that globalized embellishment might disfigure the world, instead of perfecting or even redeeming it. Secondly, one of the flaws of traditional aesthetics was to promote beauty alone (or predominantly) and to neglect other aesthetic values. In other words, it forgot the discovery, which was aesthetics' own, that variatio delectat - that not a single aesthetic quality alone delights, but many. This flaw becomes painfully clear in the present embellishment. Aesthetics - possibly the original discipline of plurality - had falsely Welsch, W. (2003). Aesthetics beyond aesthetics. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Vol. 2, #2 (November 2003). http://act.maydaygroup.org/articlesWelsch2_2English.pdf Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education Electronic Article Page 9 of 26 _____________________________________________________________________________________ singularized itself and, in so doing, failed to recognize that homogenization – and, through it, making everything beautiful - is systematically wrong. Thirdly, the efficacy of traditional aesthetics in the household of our cultural beliefs and desires needs to be critically questioned. The acclamation of beauty championed by traditional aesthetics has repeatedly served as rhetorical support for the current aestheticization processes. The traditional passion for beauty kept us from considering the negative effects of aestheticization, even when these had long since become obvious. Aesthetics now has every reason to become self-critical. f. Résumé In this sense, the current aestheticization not only brings new problems and tasks for contemporary aesthetics, but also has critical repercussions for traditional aesthetics. Hence the issues of an aesthetics beyond aesthetics is of concern not only to those who are already willing to broaden the reach of aesthetics, but likewise represent an obligatory subject for those who still adhere to the traditional framework of aesthetics. The aesthetics outside of aesthetics cannot today be ignored, even if you only want to develop a valid version of aesthetics within aesthetics. 2. Aesthetic apprehension of reality A second group of arguments in favor of the turn to an aesthetics beyond aesthetics refers to the current apprehension of reality. This also has become more and more aesthetic. An obvious predominance of images and aesthetic patterns exists today, not only in the current shaping of reality addressed so far, but in the current mediation and apprehension of reality as well. In earlier times, to count as being real, something had to be calculable; today it has to be aesthetically presentable. Aesthetics has become the new leading currency in the reality trade. Again, I don't want to go into these phenomena in detail. They are far too familiar and have often been analyzed. Instead, I will consider the effects of these developments on aesthetics and point out some of the new tasks for aesthetics in the face of these Welsch, W. (2003). Aesthetics beyond aesthetics. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Vol. 2, #2 (November 2003). http://act.maydaygroup.org/articlesWelsch2_2English.pdf Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education Electronic Article Page 10 of 26 _____________________________________________________________________________________ developments. I concentrate, then, on just one point - on what I call the "derealization of reality" - and two of its consequences - the reconfiguration of aisthesis, and the 20 revalidation of experiences outside electronic media. a. Derealization of reality The "derealization of reality" stems from the fact that reality - as nowadays 21 primarily conveyed by the media - is deeply affected by this type of mediation. And this mediation is determined by the peculiarities of media aesthetics, which generally favors the free mobility and weightlessness of bodies and images. Everything is an object for possible electronic manipulation; and, within the media, ‘manipulation’ is no longer a normative but almost a descriptive term. Whatever enters the realm of television steps into a realm of transformability instead of constancy. If there is a "lightness of being" anywhere, it is in the electronic realm. Accordingly, the media themselves increasingly 22 present their pictures in modes of virtuality and playfulness. This attitude towards ‘media-reality’ gets extended more and more to everyday reality too. This comes about because everyday reality is being increasingly formed, presented, and perceived according to media patterns. Given that television is the main bestower of and the role model for reality, derealization leaves its mark everywhere. The real is tending to lose its insistency, compulsiveness, and gravity; it seems to be becoming ever lighter, less oppressive, and less compelling. At present, the importunity of media's presentation of reality no longer creates affliction, but rather its opposite, indifference. If you see the same images - however impressively they may be arranged or intended - on different channels on the same evening or repeatedly over several days, then their impact is reduced; sensation plus repetition creates indifference. In the wake of such mechanisms our attitude towards reality - inside and outside the media - becomes more and more as if, overall, reality is a matter of simulation. Thus, we no longer take reality quite so seriously, or as being quite as real. And amidst this suspension of reality we judge and act differently, too. Our behavioral patterns are becoming increasingly simulatory and interchangeable. Because the processes named are Welsch, W. (2003). Aesthetics beyond aesthetics. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. Vol. 2, #2 (November 2003). http://act.maydaygroup.org/articlesWelsch2_2English.pdf