Plasticity and aesthetic identity; or, why we need a Spinozist aesthetics
DOI
10.7146/nja.v22i40-41.5199
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
1-1-2011
Publication Title
Nordic Journal of Aesthetics
Volume
22
Issue
40-41
First Page
53
Last Page
74
ISSN
20001452
Keywords
Body, Embodiment, Levinas, Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology, Plasticity, Space, Spinoza
Abstract
This essay defends the view that, as embodied, our identities are necessarily dependent on the aesthetic environment. Toward this end, it examines the renewal of the concept of sensation (aisthesis) in phenomenology, but then concludes that the methodology and metaphysics of phenomenology must be abandoned in favor of an ontology that sees corporeal identity as generated by the materiality of aesthetic relations. It is suggested that such an ontology is available in the work of Spinoza, which helps break down the natural/artificial and human/nonhuman distinctions, and can thereby engender an environmental ethics grounded in aesthetic relations. An explication of body/world dependence is provided via the concept of plasticity and a properly Spinozist aesthetics is invoked, but remains to be worked out.
Open Access
Hybrid_Gold
Repository Citation
Sparrow, T. (2011). Plasticity and aesthetic identity; or, why we need a Spinozist aesthetics. Nordic Journal of Aesthetics, 22 (40-41), 53-74. https://doi.org/10.7146/nja.v22i40-41.5199