Abstract

In this volume Jean-Marie Schaeffer offers a detailed and polemical analysis of some of the most important modern aesthetic theories in the German tradition, those of Novalis, Schlegel, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Heidegger. His thesis is that, despite their great differences, all these theories belong to the same paradigm. He calls it the “speculative theory of art” and claims that it has become the predominant framework according to which spectators and artists have been thinking about the arts for the last two centuries. One should also include in this paradigm Marxist theories and avant-garde movements, which Schaeffer mentions in the conclusion. In addition, this book contains an interesting chapter on Kant showing how his theory “resists the temptation” of becoming a speculative one.