Art, Myth and Society in Hegel’s Aesthetics Continuum Studies in Philosophy Series Editor: James Fieser, University of Tennessee at Martin, USA Continuum Studies in Philosophy is a major monograph series from Continuum. The series features fi rst-class scholarly research monographs across the whole fi eld of philosophy. Each work makes a major contribution to the fi eld of philosophical research. Aesthetic in Kant, James Kirwan Analytic Philosophy: The History of an Illusion, Aaron Preston Aquinas and the Ship of Theseus, Christopher Brown Art, Myth and Society in Hegel’s Aesthetics, David James Augustine and Roman Virtue, Brian Harding The Challenge of Relativism, Patrick Phillips Demands of Taste in Kant’s Aesthetics, Brent Kalar Descartes and the Metaphysics of Human Nature, Justin Skirry Descartes’ Theory of Ideas, David Clemenson Dialectic of Romanticism, Peter Murphy and David Roberts Hegel’s Philosophy of Language, Jim Vernon Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, David James Hegel’s Theory of Recognition, Sybol Cook Anderson The History of Intentionality, Ryan Hickerson Kierkegaard, Metaphysics and Political Theory, Alison Assiter Kierkegaard’s Analysis of Radical Evil, David A. Roberts Leibniz Re-interpreted, Lloyd Strickland Metaphysics and the End of Philosophy, H.O. Mounce Nietzsche and the Greeks, Dale Wilkerson Origins of Analytic Philosophy, Delbert Reed Philosophy of Miracles, David Corner Platonism, Music and the Listener’s Share, Christopher Norris Popper’s Theory of Science, Carlos Garcia Role of God in Spinoza’s Metaphysics, Sherry Deveaux Rousseau and the Ethics of Virtue, James Delaney Rousseau’s Theory of Freedom, Matthew Simpson St. Augustine and the Theory of Just War, John Mark Mattox St. Augustine of Hippo, R. W. Dyson Spinoza and the Stoics, Firmin DeBrabander Spinoza’s Radical Cartesian Mind, Tammy Nyden-Bullock Thomas Aquinas & John Duns Scotus, Alex Hall Tolerance and the Ethical Life, Andrew Fiala Art, Myth and Society in Hegel’s Aesthetics David James Continuum International Publishing Group The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane 11 York Road Suite 704 London SE1 7NX New York NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com © David James 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN-10: HB: 0-8264-2560-7 ISBN-13: HB: 978-0-8264-2560-7 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data James, David. Art, myth, and society in Hegel’s aesthetics/David James. p. cm. -- (Continuum studies in philosophy) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8264-2560-7 (HB) ISBN-10: 0-8264-2560-7 (HB) 1. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770-1831. 2. Aesthetics. 3. Religion--Philosophy. 4. History--Philosophy. I. Title. II. Series. B2949.A4J36 2009 700.1--dc22 2008047933 Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group To my son, Benjamin This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations of Works by Hegel x Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Symbolic Form of Art 7 1. Kant’s Theory of the Mathematical Sublime and the ‘Boundlessness’ of the Symbolic Form of Art 7 2. The Classical Sublimity of Judaism 17 Chapter 2: The Classical Form of Art 25 1. The Original Epic 25 2. The Ideal 31 Chapter 3: The Transition to the Revealed Religion and the Romantic Form of Art 40 1. The Revealed Religion 40 2. Representational Thought and the Romantic Form of Art 44 3. Traces of Left Hegelianism in Hegel’s Lectures on Aesthetics 55 4. The End of Mythology 61 Chapter 4: The Signifi cance of Kierkegaard’s Interpretation of Don Giovanni in Relation to Hegel’s Theory of the ‘End’ of Art 72 1. The ‘End’ of Art 72 2. The Opera as a Modern Art Form 79 viii Contents Chapter 5: Hegel and Lukács on the Possibility of a Modern Epic 89 1. The Problem of the Modern Epic 89 2. The Modern Epic and History 96 3. Civil Society as the Background to the Modern Epic 101 Chapter 6: Myth and Society: A Common Theme in the Thought of Hegel and Sorel 112 1. Sorel’s Myth of the General Strike 112 2. Myth and Modern Ethical Life 119 Notes 129 Bibliography 143 Index 146 Acknowledgements This book was completed during a post-doctoral fellowship supported by the South African National Research Foundation. I would like to thank Annemarie Gethmann-Siefert for making copies of some of the unpublished transcripts of Hegel’s lectures on aesthetics availa- ble to me, and for organizing a discussion of this book at the FernUniver- sität in Hagen. The comments made during this discussion were of great benefi t when it came to revising the book for publication. Chapter 4 is based on a previously published article, ‘The Signifi cance of Kierkegaard’s Interpretation of Don Giovanni in Relation to Hegel’s Philos- ophy of Art’, British Journal for the History of Philosophy 16(1) (2008).