Reflection and art criticism: Hegel and the aesthetics of modernity

• Grant number: 21/14994-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): April 01, 2023
• Effective date (End): May 05, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Marco Aurélio Werle
• Grantee: Gustavo de Azevedo Torrecilha
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research aims to investigate the relation between Hegel's aesthetics and art criticism. For this, it seems necessary to address how Hegelian thought understands the emergence of the procedure of critical analysis of works of art, which gains strength and relevance in the reflective spiritual scenario of modernity, while discussing how Hegel himself performs an interpretation of works of art, seeking to point out his merits and even possible limitations in carrying out this procedure. To achieve this goal, a constant articulation of the Hegelian understanding of the relations between art and philosophy will be necessary, whose essential element is history, as it is in his historical understanding of art and philosophy that the question of reflection comes into play, an element that Hegel points as constituent of the modern spirit, and that changes the human relation with art, especially in comparison with the art of antiquity. At the same time, the research will be based on the discussion of works of art carried out by the Hegelian aesthetics, in order to understand how his historical-philosophical understanding of art is also reflected in his interpretation of works and whether this procedure can be considered a type of criticism of art. It will also seek to answer the question about the possibility of thinking, based on Hegel, works produced in the context after the Lectures on Aesthetics, which will imply contemplating a certain Hegelian heritage within authors who departed from Hegel to analyze modern works, such as Danto and Pippin, as well as Adorno and Gadamer, who, in turn, are critical of the historical-philosophical understanding of works of art by Hegel's Aesthetics.