Cosmological Aesthetics through the Kantian Sublime and Nietzschean Dionysian

By (author) Erman Kaplama

Publication date:

12 December 2013

Length of book:

222 pages

Publisher

University Press of America

Dimensions:

234x160mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780761861560

Erman Kaplama explores the principle of transition (Übergang) from metaphysics to physics developed by Kant in his unfinished magnum opus, Opus Postumum. Drawing on the Heraclitean logos and Kant’s notions of sense-intuition (Anschauung) and reflective judgment, Kaplama interprets transition as an aesthetic principle. He revises the idea of nature (phusis) as the principle of motion referring to Heraclitus’ cosmology as well as Heidegger’s and Nietzsche’s lectures on the pre-Socratics. Kaplama compares the Kantian sublime and Nietzschean Dionysian as aesthetic theories representing the transition from the sensible to supersensible and as cosmological theories that consider human nature (ethos) as an extension of nature. In light of such Nietzschean notions as the eternal recurrence and will to power, the Dionysian is shown to trigger the transition by which nature and art are redefined. Finally, Cosmological Aesthetics employs the principles of transition and motion to analyze Van Gogh’s Starry Night in an excursus.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One: On “Transition” as one of the Founding Principles of Cosmological Aesthetics and its Applications in the Kantian Sublime and Nietzschean Dionysian

Prelude: The Heraclitean Logos and the Principle of Transition

On the Principle of Transition as the Foundation of Cosmological Aesthetics with Reference to Opus Postumum

On the Human Faculty of Sense-Intuition (Anschauung) through which the Transition Takes Place

On the Power of Judgment as the Faculty that Regulates and Determines the Transition
The Principle of Transition and Cosmological Transcendentalism

The Kantian Sublime as a Theory of Cosmological Aesthetics Representing the Transition
The Nietzschean Dionysian as a Theory of Cosmological Aesthetics Representing the Transition

On the Principle of Transition as Genius in Kantian and Nietzschean Aesthetics
Conclusion

Chapter Two: On “Motion” as one of the Founding Principles of Cosmological Aesthetics with Regards to the Heraclitean, Kantian and Nietzschean Cosmology

Prelude: Heraclitean Phusis as the Principle of Motion

Kant’s Principle of Motion and Metaphysics of Nature

Nietzsche’s Principle of Motion and the Dionysian as a
Cosmological Principle
Conclusion

Excursus: A Cosmological-Aesthetic Analysis Of Van Gogh’s Starry Night

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

This is a deeply impressive book. Well-researched and argued, it proposes nothing less than a principle of motion/transition that operates prior to the object/subject—or phenomena/noumena—split. . . . There are many highly original parts. . . . For myself, however, the excursus is the most exciting and compelling part of this work. I am very taken with the image of the spiral, and, indeed, with the reading of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. . . . Indeed, there are parts here that are beautifully written, poetic, and grand.