Aesthetic Disinterestedness Art, Experience, and the Self [Hardcover]

The notion of disinterestedness is often conceived of as antiquated or ideological. In spite of this, Hilgers argues that one cannot reject it if one wishes to understand the nature of art. He claims that an artwork typically asksa person to adopt a disinterested attitude towards what it shows, and that the effect of such an adoption is that it makes the person temporarily lose the sense of herself, while enabling her to gain a sense of the other. Due to an artworks particular wealth, multiperspectivity, and dialecticity, the engagement with it cannot culminate in the construction of world-views, but must initiate a process of self-critical thinking, which is a precondition of real self-determination. Ultimately, then, the aesthetic experience of art consists of a dynamic process of losing the sense of oneself, while gaining a sense of the other, and of achieving selfhood. In his book, Hilgers spells out the nature of this process by means of rethinking Kants and Schopenhauers aesthetic theories in light of more recent developments in philosophyspecifically in hermeneutics, critical theory, and analytic philosophyand within the arts themselvesspecifically within film and performance art.

Introduction

1. Introducing Disinterestedness

2. Defending Disinterestedness

3. Explicating Disinterestedness

4. Generating Disinterestedness

Conclusion

Thomas Hilgers's book is a distinctive and powerful contribution to an aesthetic theory of art ... Hilgers has worked out many of the details of a generally Kantian aesthetic theory of art and its value as fully as anyone, and his study significantly advances the discussion both of what art is and how and why it matters to us.  Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Hilgerss book is fascinating l#Æ