Essex Lectures in Philosophy 2022 Lecture II: The Other Nature of Art

The School of Philosophy and Art History hold the Essex Lectures in Philosophy each year. The May 2022 lectures are titled 'The Art of Second Nature'

Lecture II: The Other Nature of Art

To the extent we find the aesthetic conception of second nature elaborated in the first lecture persuasive, it invites us to consider our whole cultural existence as an aesthetic task. But what then is the specific purpose of art? What role may art adopt in an aestheticised culture that generally already understands itself as an art? As the second lecture will develop, modern art redefines its role by taking not first nature but the second nature of ethical life as its main point of reference. Art thus reconceives itself as a self-reflection of our ethical second nature. The lecture discusses three different models of such self-reflection, aiming at the aesthetic estrangement, the beautiful completion, and the dialectical renegotiation of our second nature.

Each lecture is one hour, followed by a 45-minute Q&A session.

If you would like to join this lecture, either in person or via Zoom, please email spahpg@essex.ac.uk to register.