Aesops Fables

Aesthetic as Science of
Expression and
by Benedetto
Croce

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Title: Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic
Author: Benedetto Croce
Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9306] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 19,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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AESTHETIC AS SCIENCE OF EXPRESSION ***

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AESTHETIC AS SCIENCE OF EXPRESSION
AND GENERAL LINGUISTIC
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN OF BENEDETTO CROCE
BY
DOUGLAS AINSLIE B.A. (OXON.)
1909
THE AESTHETIC IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR TO THE
MEMORY OF HIS PARENTS PASQUALE AND LUISA SIPARI
AND OF HIS SISTER MARIA

NOTE
I give here a close translation of the complete Theory of Aesthetic, and
in the Historical Summary, with the consent of the author, an
abbreviation of the historical portion of the original work.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THEORY
I INTUITION AND EXPRESSION
Intuitive knowledge--Its independence in respect to the intellect--
Intuition and perception--Intuition and the concepts of space and
time--Intuition and sensation--Intuition and association--Intuition and
representation--Intuition and expression--Illusions as to their
difference--Identity of intuition and expression.
II INTUITION AND ART
Corollaries and explanations--Identity of art and of intuitive
knowledge-- No specific difference--No difference of
intensity--Difference extensive and empirical--Artistic genius--Content
and form in Aesthetic--Critique of the imitation of nature and of the
artistic illusion--Critique of art conceived as a sentimental, not a
theoretic fact--The origin of Aesthetic, and sentiment--Critique of the
theory of Aesthetic senses--Unity and indivisibility of the work of
art--Art as deliverer.
III ART AND PHILOSOPHY
Indissolubility of intellective and of intuitive knowledge--Critique of
the negations of this thesis--Art and science--Content and form: another
meaning. Prose and poetry--The relation of first and second
degree--Inexistence of other cognoscitive forms--Historicity--Identity

and difference in respect of art--Historical criticism--Historical
scepticism--Philosophy as perfect science. The so-called natural
sciences, and their limits--The phenomenon and the noumenon.
IV HISTORICISM AND INTELLECTUALISM IN AESTHETIC
Critique of the verisimilar and of naturalism--Critique of ideas in art, of
art as thesis, and of the typical--Critique of the symbol and of the
allegory--Critique of the theory of artistic and literary
categories--Errors derived from this theory in judgments on art--
Empirical meaning of the divisions of the categories.
V ANALOGOUS ERRORS IN HISTORY AND IN LOGIC
Critique of the philosophy of History--Aesthetic invasions of Logic--
Logic in its essence--Distinction between logical and non-logical
judgments--The syllogism--False Logic and true Aesthetic--Logic
reformed.
VI THEORETIC AND PRACTICAL ACTIVITY
The will--The will as ulterior grade in respect of
knowledge--Objections and explanations--Critique of practical
judgments or judgments of value--Exclusion of the practical from the
aesthetic--Critique of the theory of the end of art and of the choice of
content--Practical innocence of art--Independence of art--Critique of
the saying: the style is the man--Critique of the concept of sincerity in
art.
VII ANALOGY BETWEEN THE THEORETIC AND THE
PRACTICAL
The two forms of practical activity--The economically useful--
Distinction between the useful and the technical--Distinction between
the useful and the egoistic--Economic and moral volition--Pure
economicity--The economic side of morality--The merely economical
and the error of the morally indifferent--Critique of utilitarianism and
the reform of Ethic and of Economic--Phenomenon and noumenon in

practical activity.
VIII EXCLUSION OF OTHER SPIRITUAL FORMS
The system of the spirit--The forms of genius--Inexistence of a fifth
form of activity--Law; sociality--Religiosity--Metaphysic--Mental
imagination and the intuitive intellect--Mystical Aesthetic--Mortality
and immortality of art.
IX INDIVISIBILITY OF EXPRESSION INTO MODES OR GRADES
AND CRITIQUE OF RHETORIC
The characteristics of art--Inexistence of modes of expression--
Impossibility of translations--Critique of rhetorical categories--
Empirical meaning of rhetorical categories--Their use as synonyms of
the aesthetic fact--Their use as indicating various aesthetic
imperfections--Their use as transcending the aesthetic fact, and in the
service of science--Rhetoric in schools--Similarities of
expressions--Relative possibility of translations.
X AESTHETIC SENTIMENTS AND THE DISTINCTION
BETWEEN THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE UGLY
Various