Institut International de Philosophie I nternational Institute of Philosophy La philosophie contemporaine Chroniques nouvelles par les soins de GUTTORM FLØISTAD Université d’Oslo Tome 9 Esthétique et Philosophie de l’art Contemporary philosophy A new survey edited by GUTTORM FLØISTAD University of Oslo Volume 9 Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is availabe from the Library of Congress Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art / edited by Guttorm Fløistad p.cm. – (Contemporary Philosophy, a new survey; v. 9) English, French, and German Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10 1-4020-5068-2 (HB) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-5068-8 (HB) ISBN-10 1-4020-5069-0 (e-book) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-5069-0 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Published under the auspices of the International Council of Philosophy and Humanistic Studies and of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies, with the support of UNESCO. Publié sous les auspices du Conseil International de la Philosophie et des Sciences Humaines et de la Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie, avec le concours de l’UNESCO. Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 2007 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. TABLE OF CONTENTS / TABLE DES MATIÈRES Preface………………………..……………………………….…...….vii Introduction…………………………………………………….……….1 GUTTORM FLØISTAD Extending Meanings of Aesthetics and the Ethical Moment…….…....25 MASAHIRO HAMASHITA Ancient and Medieval Concepts and Theories of Art in India..…….…41 D. P. CHATTOPADHYAYA Aesthetics and Religion from the Indian Perspective.……….……….. 67 ANAND AMALADASS L’esthétique des arts négro-africains: Pluralité et historicité des imaginaires et pratiques…………………………………….………….83 JEAN-GODEFROY BIDIMA Fondements théologiques et esthétiques de l’architecture islamique. Une réflexion philosophique sur l’espace et le lieu en Islam…….......111 SOUÂD AYADA La calligraphie dans le monde musulman…………………….…...…141 FRANÇOIS DÉROCHE Interprétation phénoménologique d’une calligraphie figurative ottomane du musée de Raqqada (Tunisie)…………………………...157 VALÉRIE GONZALEZ Two Visions of Architecture and the Problem of Representation…...187 BEATA SIROWY The Art of Clive Bell’s Art…………………………………………..217 S. P. ROSENBAUM vi TABLE OF CONTENTS The Concepts of Referentiality and Possibility in the Context of Art………………....………………………………………………237 ABDULLAH KAYGI Objective Aesthetic Experiences………………….………………….253 PETER MCCORMICK Bild und Begriff als Gleichnis der Schöpfung. Philosophie der Kunst und Philosophie der Natur im Bildwerk Paul Klees………......267 REINER WIEHL Another Go at the Meaning of Music: Koopman, Davies, and the Meanings of « Meaning »……………………………………285 PETER KIVY Creative Ascent. Creativity through Creataphors………….………...303 HANS LENK Les catégories esthétiques de stimulation……………………….…...331 EVANGHÉLOS MOUTSOPOULOS Grandeur et misère de l’homme, thèmes de l’art contemporain………347 EVANGHÉLOS MOUTSOPOULOS Le fond doré. À propos des Cahiers de Malte Laurids Brigge… ……353 MARIA FILOMENA MOLDER Via Esthética. De l’esprit transcendantal à l’esprit de diathèse: l’alternative esthétique………………………………….…………....363 JACQUES-BERNARD ROUMANES Value, Values and Literature……………………….………………..385 IOANNA KUÇURADI INDEX………………………………………………………………...403 PREFACE The present volume is a continuation of the series Contemporary Philosophy. As with the earlier volumes in the series, the present chronicles purport to give a survey of significant trends in contem- porary philosophy. The need for such surveys has, I believe, increased rather than decreased over the years. The philosophical scene appears, for various reasons, more complex than ever before. The continuing process of specialization in most branches, the increasing contact between philosophers from various cultures, the emergence of new schools of thought, particularly in philosophical logic and in the philosophy of language and ethics, and the increasing attention being paid to the history of philosophy in discussions of contemporary problems, are the most important contributing factors. Surveys of the present kind are a valuable source of knowledge of this complexity. The surveys may therefore help to strengthen the Socratic element of modern philosophy, the intercultural dialogue or Kommunikationsgemeinschaft. So far, eight volumes are published in this series, viz. Philosophy of Language and Philosophical Logic (Volume 1), Philosophy of Science (Volume 2), Philosophy of Action (Volume 3), Philosophy of Mind (Volume 4), African Philosophy (Volume 5), Medieval Age Philosophy (Volume 6/1 and Volume 6/2), Asian Philosophy (Volume 7), and Philosophy of Latin America (Volume 8). The volumes are, for various reasons, of unequal length. The obvious shortcomings, especially of Volume 5 on African and Arab philosophy, are to some extent compensated for in the present volume on Aesthetics (Volume 9), and in the forthcoming volume on Philosophy of Religion (Volume 10). The present volume on Aesthetics, containing nineteen surveys, shows the variety of approaches to Aesthetics in various cultures. The close connection between aesthetics and religion and between aesthetics and ethics is emphasized in several contributions. The chronicles are as a rule written in English, French and German. In the present volume eight surveys are written in French, ten in English and one in German. The bibliographical references, with some exceptions, follow the pattern introduced in earlier volumes. The bibliographies themselves usually follow at the end of each chronicle viii PREFACE arranged in alphabetical order. The bibliographies are selected and arranged by the authors themselves. I am most grateful to a number of persons who in various ways have assisted in the preparation of this new series. My thanks are first of all due to the Secretariat, especially to Ms. Catherine Champniers, at the Institut international de philosophie. They have done the final proof-reading as well as put up the indices. My thanks are also due to Mrs. Kari Horn, who has greatly helped me in my correspondence with the contributors. « No » does not seem to exist in her vocabulary, even when my requests are presented on holidays. My thanks are also due to the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (Paris), and to the Conseil international de la philosophie et des sciences humaines (UNESCO), and to the staff at Springer (Dordrecht). University of Oslo, December 2005. Guttorm FLØISTAD. INTRODUCTION GUTTORM FLØISTAD (University of Oslo, Norway) What is aesthetics? If you put the question to philosophers in the Western tradition, you are today likely to get the following answer: Aesthetics is the philosophical study of our aesthetic experiences, involving studies of the aesthetic objects, of the bodily disposition and mental faculties enabling us to have such experiences, and a study of the language used to express and convey these experiences. If you go to other continents you will find the same type of studies. However, the primary focus in Asian, Arab and African aesthetics and moreover in Latin-American philosophy, is rather different: they hold that the most important aspect of aesthetic experiences lies in their effect on the recipient and their contribution to communal values. They may liberate the individual from his selfishness developed in a growing culture of money, technology, media and consumption, leading to a moral enlightenment. Certain aesthetic experiences may even, as in India, introduce him to a religious experience. In Arab culture, the artistic writing of the Arab languages, serve as a legitimate picture of Allah: calligraphy is supposed to be a reminder of the revelations in the Qur’an. In Africa, art is tribal art and a necessary requisite for strengthening social ties. The arts, in a variety of forms, serve as a major contribution to the tribes’ cultural identity. Latin-American philosophy is presented in Volume 8 of Contemporary Philosophy. The majority of the contributors to the volume think that the main task of philosophy, aesthetics included, is to reconstruct a Latin-American identity following the withdrawal of colonial powers. Similar effects of aesthetic objects and experiences are by no means unknown to readers of European history of philosophy either. For the sake of comparison between the cultures it may be useful to give a brief sketch of both ancient and modern European aesthetics, with a view to clarifying the various notions often used in the Chronicles. A few remarks on the literary aesthetics in European realism and naturalism in the 19th century will be included. 1 G. Fløistad (ed.), Volume 9: Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art, 1–23. © 2007 Springer.