Tom Huhn

The great German philosopher and aesthetic theorist Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno (1903-1969) was one of the main philosophers of the first generation of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. An accomplished musician Adorno first focused on the theory of culture and art. Later he turned to the problem of the self-defeating dialectic of modern reason and freedom. In this collection of essays, imbued with the most up-to-date research, a distinguished roster of Adorno specialists explore the full range of his contributions to philosophy, history, music theory, aesthetics and sociology.

The Cambridge Companion to Adorno

This book reconsiders the fate of the doctrine of mimesis in the eighteenth century. Standard accounts of the aesthetic theories of this era hold that the idea of mimesis was supplanted by the far more robust and compelling doctrines of taste and aesthetic judgment. Since the idea of mimesis was taken to apply only in the relation of art to nature, it was judged to be too limited when the focus of aesthetics changed to questions about the constitution of individual subjects in regard to taste. Tom Huhn argues that mimesis, rather than disappearing, instead became a far more pervasive idea in the eighteenth century by becoming submerged within the dynamics of the emerging accounts of judgment and taste. Mimesis also thereby became enmeshed in the ideas of sociality contained, often only implicitly, within the new accounts of aesthetic judgment. The book proceeds by reading three of the foundational treatises in aesthetics—Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Hogarth’s Analysis of Beauty, and Kant’s Critique of Judgment—with an eye for discerning where arguments and analyses betray mimetic structures. Huhn attempts to explicate these books anew by arguing that they are pervaded by a mimetic dynamic. Overall, he seeks to provoke a reconsideration of eighteenth-century aesthetics that centers on its continuity with traditional notions of mimesis.

The Persistence of Mimesis in the Aesthetics of Burke, Hogarth, and Kant

Imitation and Society

Lambert Zuidervaart

Theodor W. Adorno died in 1969 and his last major work, Ästhetische Theorie, waspublished a year later. Only recently, however, have his aesthetic writings begun to receivesustained attention in the English-speaking world. This collection of essays is an importantcontribution to the discussion of Adorno's aesthetics in Anglo-American scholarship.The essays areorganized around the twin themes of semblance and subjectivity. Whereas the concept of semblance, orillusion, points to Adorno's links with Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud, the concept of subjectivityrecalls his lifelong struggle with a philosophy of consciousness stemming from Kant, Hegel, andLukács. Adorno's elaboration of the two concepts takes many dialectical twists. Art, despite thetaint of illusion that it has carried since Plato's Republic, turns out in Adorno's account ofmodernism to have a sophisticated capacity to critique illusion, including its own. Adorno'saesthetics emphasizes the connection between aesthetic theory and many other aspects of socialtheory. The paradoxical genius of Aesthetic Theory is that it turns traditional concepts into atheoretical cutting edge.

Essays in Adorno's Aesthetic Theory

The Semblance of Subjectivity

This book reconsiders the fate of the doctrine of mimesis in the eighteenth century. Standard accounts of the aesthetic theories of this era hold that the idea of mimesis was supplanted by the far more robust and compelling doctrines of taste and aesthetic judgment. Since the idea of mimesis was taken to apply only in the relation of art to nature, it was judged to be too limited when the focus of aesthetics changed to questions about the constitution of individual subjects in regard to taste. Tom Huhn argues that mimesis, rather than disappearing, instead became a far more pervasive idea in the eighteenth century by becoming submerged within the dynamics of the emerging accounts of judgment and taste. Mimesis also thereby became enmeshed in the ideas of sociality contained, often only implicitly, within the new accounts of aesthetic judgment. The book proceeds by reading three of the foundational treatises in aesthetics&—Burke&’s Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Hogarth&’s Analysis of Beauty, and Kant&’s Critique of Judgment&—with an eye for discerning where arguments and analyses betray mimetic structures. Huhn attempts to explicate these books anew by arguing that they are pervaded by a mimetic dynamic. Overall, he seeks to provoke a reconsideration of eighteenth-century aesthetics that centers on its continuity with traditional notions of mimesis.

Arthur C. Danto

Gregg Horowitz

Saul Ostrow

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Criticism, Philosophy, and the Ends of Taste

Wake of Art

Carol Strickland

Christoph Keller

Aris Kalaizis

Aris Kalaizis' close-to-photography paintings inspire the imagination of the viewer and make him discover mysterious and symbolic places. With brilliant accuracy and creative fantasy he designs pictures which crowd in on the subconscious of the amazed admirer. Not surprisingly the artist needs long time to accomplish these paintings, each brushstroke is calculated, each gesture is thoroughly observed, and the colors are exactly coordinated. During working periods in Columbus, OH and New York 2005-2007 he had some group exhibitions in New York galleries.

Tom Huhn

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