| FA-252258-17 | Research Programs: Fellowships for University Teachers | Rachel E. Zuckert | The Naturalist Aesthetics of German Philosopher J. G. Herder (1744-1803) | 9/1/2017 - 8/31/2018 | $50,400.00 | Rachel | E. | Zuckert | | | | Northwestern University | Evanston | IL | 60208-0001 | USA | 2016 | Aesthetics | Fellowships for University Teachers | Research Programs | 50400 | 0 | 50400 | 0 | Completion of a book-length study of the aesthetics of German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803).
This project, to write a book
presenting J. G. Herder’s aesthetic theory, has three central arguments. First,
I interpret Herder's aesthetics as a naturalist theory, accounting for
aesthetic value and art production on the basis of understanding human beings
as organisms conditioned by and responding to their environments, both natural
and social. I argue that Herder’s theory thus constitutes a pivotal moment in
the philosophical tradition: the transition from eighteenth-century
philosophies of taste to nineteenth-century systematic philosophies of the
arts. For Herder argues that to understand aesthetic response (taste), one must
understand the objects and socio-historical contexts that elicit and form such
responsiveness. In emphasizing the place of aesthetics within embodied human
existence and cultural contexts, third, Herder’s aesthetics is also a neglected
alternative to the dominant understanding of aesthetics and art in the
tradition, as disembodied and disinterested. |