THE INTRODUCTION TO
HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF FINE ART
THE INTRODUCTION TO
HEGEL'S
PHILOSOPHY OF FINE ART
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
_WITH NOTES AND PREFATORY ESSAY_
BY
BERNARD BOSANQUET, M.A.
LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., 1 PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1886
(_The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._)
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
Hegel's "_Æsthetik_," or "Philosophy of Fine Art," is a work which
should no longer be inaccessible to the English reading public, but the
reproduction of which, in its complete form of 1600 pages, is a task
not to be lightly undertaken. I know of three partial reproductions
of the "_Æsthetik_" in English, viz. Mr. Bryant's translation of
Part II.,[1] Mr. Kedney's short analysis of the entire work,[2] and
Mr. Hastie's translation of Michelet's short "Philosophy of Art,"[3]
prefaced by Hegel's Introduction, partly translated and partly analysed.
I wholly disapprove of analyses (among which may be reckoned Michelet's
summary above mentioned) as representations of Hegel's writing, which
is attractive chiefly by the force and freshness of its detail. I
am convinced that Hegel should be allowed to speak for himself, and
that failing the translation of the whole "_Æsthetik_," or of very
copious selections, the best course is that which I have adopted in the
present volume, viz. to translate the entire Introduction, including
the chapter entitled, "Division of the Subject." This Introduction
is in Hegel's best manner--so far as he can be said to have literary
manner at all, especially in a work which has been produced by editors
from lecture-notes,--and is tolerably complete in itself. It is not
contained as a whole in any of the above-mentioned works. I ought to
say, however, that Mr. Hastie's translation is excellent in style;
but after the first thirty-four pages it also becomes an analysis.
Nor is it wholly free from serious mistakes. I have hoped that the
present volume may be of interest to many who, without being students
of philosophy, are intelligent lovers of art. I have therefore done
my best to _interpret_ philosophical expressions, instead of merely
furnishing their technical equivalents. I have also added a few short
notes, either to explain literary allusions, or to complete the
interpretation of technical terms. The prefatory essay was written with
a similar intention, not as original speculation, but as an assistance
to general readers in apprehending the point of view from which Fine
Art is regarded by Hegel and kindred writers.
I have broken up the "_Einleitung_," or Introduction proper, which is
continuous in the original, into four chapters,[4] hoping that the
arrangement of the discussion may be thus rendered easier to follow.
The "_Eintheilung_," which forms my Chapter V., is a separate chapter
in the original. The table of contents is translated from the original,
excepting those portions of it which are enclosed in square brackets,
[ ].
My literary notes are entirely borrowed from the late Mrs. F. C.
Conybeare's translation of Scherer's "History of German Literature;" a
work invaluable to the English student, whose gratitude must for long
be saddened by the untimely death of the translator.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE vii
PREFATORY ESSAY BY THE TRANSLATOR xiii
CHAPTER I.
THE RANGE OF ÆSTHETIC DEFINED, AND SOME OBJECTIONS
AGAINST THE PHILOSOPHY OF ART REFUTED (1-25).
[[Greek: a.] Æsthetic confined to Beauty of _Art_ 2
[Greek: b.] Does Art _merit_ Scientific Treatment? 5
[Greek: g.] Is Scientific Treatment _appropriate_ to Art? 8
[Greek: d.] Answer to [Greek: b.] 13
[Greek: e.] Answer to [Greek: g.]] 20
CHAPTER II.
METHODS OF SCIENCE APPLICABLE TO BEAUTY AND ART (26-42).
[1. Empirical Method--Art-scholarship 27
(_a_) Its Range 27
(_b_) It generates Rules and Theories 28
(_c_) The Rights of Genius 38
2. Abstract Reflection 40
3. The Philosophical Conception of Artistic Beauty, general
notion of] 41
CHAPTER III.
THE PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTION OF ARTISTIC BEAUTY,
BEGINNING WITH CURRENT IDEAS OF ART (43-105).
PART I.--The Work of Art as Made and as Sensuous 43-78
1. Work of Art as Product of Human Activity 48
[(_a_) Conscious Production by Rule 48
(_b_) Artistic Inspiration 50
(_c_) Dignity of Production by Man 54
(_d_) Man's Need to produce Works of Art] 57
2. Work of Art as addressed to Man's Sense 60-78
[(_a_) Object of Art--Pleasant Feeling? 60
(_b_) Feeling of Beauty--Taste 63
(_c_) Art-scholarship 65
(_d_) Profounder Consequences of Sensuous Nature of Art 66
([Greek: a]) Relations of the Sensuous to the Mind 67
([Greek: aa]) Desire 68
([Greek: bb]) Theory 70
([Greek: gg]) Sensuous as Symbol of Spiritual 72
([Greek: b]) The Sensuous Element, how Present in the
Artist 74
([Greek: g]) The _Content_ of Art Sensuous] 78