Essex Lectures - Aesthetic Freedom: Towards a Critical Aesthetic Theory

The School of Philosophy and Art History hold 'The Essex Lectures in Philosophy' each year. The May 2021 lectures are titled: 'Aesthetic freedom and democratic life'.

This lecture will last for one-hour, followed by a 45-minute 'Question and Answer' session.

Abstract

In his Essex Lectures, Jörg Schaub presents a novel account of the contributions that aesthetics makes to democratic life and delineates a critical aesthetic theory. The first lecture identifies dimensions of unfreedom in accounts of democratic life and argues that these unfreedoms result from the displacement of modern aesthetics. The second lecture reconstructs Hegel’s notion of post-ideal art and aesthetics that emerges from ideal art’s self-transgression (and explores his reasons for banning the romantics from modern ethical life). The final lecture systematically develops Hegel’s notion of post-ideal art into an account of aesthetic freedom, elucidates its place and role in democratic life, and outlines key elements of a critical theory of aesthetics. 

Biography

Jörg studied Philosophy and Aesthetics at the HfG Karlsruhe, Heidelberg University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Cambridge University. He received a doctoral degree in Philosophy from Goethe-University Frankfurt. Before joining the School of Philosophy and Art History, he taught at Mannheim University and Goethe-University, and was a Visiting Scholar at the Philosophy Departments at Cambridge University and the University of Essex.

If you would like to register for this event, please email spahpg@essex.ac.uk for the Zoom link.