Abstract

The article undertakes an attempt to unveil the tragic nature of beauty as present in Józef Tischner’s conception of aesthetic tragedy by reflecting on the aesthetic condemnation of the artist and forms of justification sought by him in the realm of beauty. The performed analysis are focused on the course of aesthetic tragedy, beginning with conditions of its coming into being, through forms of its expression, concluding with its term achieved by the parting of its subjects (the artist and his work of art). According to Tischner, it is possible for the artist condemned by his own work of art to find the way out from the framework of aesthetic horizon and all it contains within itself. The artist can overcome his aesthetic condemnation in two ways: he can either disprove the condemnation and demonstrate its falsehood, or replace the beauty in the structure of “the aesthetic I” with some other high value.