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 | Selected Writings on Aesthetics |
| LEARN MORE ABOUT PRINCETON'S SPECIAL SALE |
 Cloth $49.00 35% off regular price U.S. and Canada only |
A seminal figure in the philosophy of history, culture, and language, Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) also produced some of the most important and original works in the history of aesthetic theory. A student of Kant, he spent much of his life striving to reconcile the opposing poles of Enlightenment thought represented by his early mentors. His ideas influenced Hegel, Schleiermacher, Nietzsche, Dilthey, J. S. Mill, and Goethe. This book presents most of Herder's important writings on aesthetics, including the main sections of one of his major untranslated works, Kritische Wälder (Critical Forests). These notes, essays, and treatises, the majority of which appear here in English for the first time, show this idiosyncratic thinker both deeply rooted in the controversies of his day and pointing the way to future developments in aesthetics. Chosen to reflect the extent and diversity of Herder's concerns, the texts cover such topics as the psychology and physiology of aesthetic perception, the classification of the arts, taste, Shakespeare, the classical tradition, and the relationship between art and morality. Few thinkers have reflected so sensitively and productively on the cultural, historical, anthropological, ethical, and theological dimensions of art and the creative process. With this book, the importance of aesthetics to the evolution and texture of Herder's own thought, as well as his profound contribution to that discipline, comes fully into view. "Herder, a major figure in 18th-Century Germany's burgeoning studies in aesthetics, is here given ample scope on which to base critical judgment. Moore's Johann Gottfried Herder presents excerpts from some of Herder's most important writings, much of it translated into English for the first time. An important contribution to our knowledge of the history and origins of aesthetics."--Art Times "These excellent translations make some of Herder's most original and important contributions to aesthetics available to English readers for the first time."--Choice "To read [Herder] in this superb compilation is to encounter a vivid presence, one whose fingertips still seem fresh from the touch of truth."--Eric Ormsby New York Sun "I would strongly recommend scholars and librarians to acquire this important volume. It will be particularly useful in courses on eighteenth-century aesthetics for students without a command of German. Its readers will have the opportunity to discover an aesthetic thinker of the stature and originality of Lessing and Diderot."--K. F. Hilliard, Modern Language Association Endorsements: "Only a small fraction of Herder's writings has been translated into English, and such translations are often archaic and/or unreliable. I know of no previous translation of the Critical Forests, for example, although the first and fourth parts, which appear in the present volume, are of major interest to students of aesthetics. With Selected Writings on Aesthetics, these and other texts by Herder are now accessible to readers of English, through the pen of a translator who exhibits clarity and elegance of style."--Hugh Barr Nisbet, University of Cambridge "This much-needed book brings into English a philosopher severely underrepresented in this language, yet of paramount importance to any adequate understanding of the late eighteenth century in Germany and indeed of the rest of Europe."--Robert E. Norton, University of Notre Dame Acknowledgments vii Another Princeton book by Johann Gottfried Herder: Another Princeton book by Gregory Moore: Subject Areas: | ||||||||
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