On the Arts: Selections from G.W.F. Hegel’s Aesthetics or the Philosophy of Fine Art

HEGEL: ON THE ARTS (Selections from G.W.F. Hegel’s AESTHETICS OR THE PHILOSOPHY OF FINE ART)
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(From jacket front flap of the 1979 edition)
HEGEL: ON THE ARTS is an introduction to the diverse world of artistic beauty, as presented by the most influential thinker of modern times.

Hegel (1770-1831) was the founder of modern systematic aesthetics. No other philosopher since Aristotle offered such profound insights into the nature of artistic beauty, and none since Hegel’s time has matched him in showing architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and literature to be an organic progression, a total world, one shared with religion and philosophy.

Here is Hegel himself, comprehensively brief, and in his own words. His lectures on fine art have been pruned to their living core, and are expertly translated. These are the philosopher’s basic ideas on the nature of artistic beauty and the system of the arts, fully representative of the best in Hegel.

The translator’s extended introduction provides valuable background for the reader new to these stimulating ideas.
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Paolucci’s (government and politics, St. John’s U.) abridgement of the German philosopher’s work was first published in 1979 as part of the Milestones of Thought series. It includes a 15-page introduction placing Hegel (1770-1831) in historical and intellectual context and Asthetik in the context of his overall work. It is not indexed. Annotation © Book News, Inc., Portland, OR