"<i>The Aesthetic Imperative</i> crystalizes and intensifies the already formidable force of Sloterdijk's corpus. By working through the history of philosophy we discover that the bourgeois subject's capacity to discern the beautiful is at once an art of self-formation and a beautiful form of the self. This is not one more book on the relation between art and politics: it redefines the polity as a singular account of a beauty beyond art, and redefines the aesthetic by way of a subjectivity that is on its way to being political."<b><br /> Claire Colebrook, Penn State University</b>

In this wide-ranging book, renowned philosopher and cultural theorist Peter Sloterdijk examines art in all its rich and varied forms: from music to architecture, light to movement, and design to typography. Moving between the visible and the invisible, the audible and the inaudible, his analyses span the centuries, from ancient civilizations to contemporary Hollywood. With great verve and insight he considers the key issues that have faced thinkers from Aristotle to Adorno, looking at art in its relation to ethics, metaphysics, society, politics, anthropology and the subject. Sloterdijk explores a variety of topics, from the Greco-Roman invention of postcards to the rise of the capitalist art market, from the black boxes and white cubes of modernism to the growth of museums and memorial culture. In doing so, he extends his characteristic method of defamiliarization to transform the way we look at works of art and artistic movements. His bold and original approach leads us away from the well-trodden paths of conventional art history to develop a theory of aesthetics which rejects strict categorization, emphasizing instead the crucial importance of individual subjectivity as a counter to the latent dangers of collective culture. This sustained reflection, at once playful, serious and provocative, goes to the very heart of Sloterdijk’s enduring philosophical preoccupation with the aesthetic. It will be essential reading for students and scholars of philosophy and aesthetics and will appeal to anyone interested in culture and the arts more generally. 
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In this wide-ranging book, renowned philosopher and cultural theorist Peter Sloterdijk examines art in all its rich and varied forms: from music to architecture, light to movement, and design to typography.
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ContentsI. WORLD OF SOUNDLa musique retrouvée 3Remembrance of Beautiful Politics 15Where Are We When We Hear Music? 27 II. IN THE LIGHTClearing and Illumination. Notes on the Metaphysics, Mysticism and Politics of Light 49Illumination in the Black Box: On the History of Opacity 61III. DESIGNThe Right Tool for Power: Observations on Design as the Modernization of Competence 83On the Charisma of Symbols 97For a Philosophy of Play 100IV. CITY AND ARCHITECTUREThe City and its Negation: An Outline of Negative Political Theory 113Architects Do Nothing But ‘Inside Theory’: Peter Sloterdijk in conversation with Sabine Kraft and Nikolaus Kuhnert 141For a Participatory Architecture - Notes on the Art of Daniel Libeskind with reference to Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Paul Valéry 174V. CONDITIO HUMANAEssay on the Life of the Artist: Heretics *Wastrels* Falls/Cases* Inhabitants 185Confessions of a Loser 192Minima Cosmetica - An Essay on Self-Aggrandizement 197VI. MUSEUMThe Museum: School of Disconcertment 221World Museum and World’s Fair 231VII. ART SYSTEM‘I tell you: one must still have chaos in oneself’ 249Art is folding into itself 253Emissaries of Violence - On the Metaphysics of Action Cinema 265Good-For-Nothing Returns Home or The End of an Alibi - and A Theory of the End of Art 280Afterword by Peter Weibel: Sloterdijk and the Question of Aesthetics 304Notes 320Publication Sources 334
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"The Aesthetic Imperative crystalizes and intensifies the already formidable force of Sloterdijk's corpus. By working through the history of philosophy we discover that the bourgeois subject's capacity to discern the beautiful is at once an art of self-formation and a beautiful form of the self. This is not one more book on the relation between art and politics: it redefines the polity as a singular account of a beauty beyond art, and redefines the aesthetic by way of a subjectivity that is on its way to being political." Claire Colebrook, Penn State University
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780745699868
Publisert
2017-04-21
Utgiver
Vendor
Polity Press
Vekt
658 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
159 mm
Dybde
28 mm
Aldersnivå
UP, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
300

Forfatter
Oversetter

Biographical note

Peter Sloterdijk is Professor of Philosophy and Aesthetics at the Karlsruhe School of Design.