2020, Vol.60, No.

The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.81

pISSN : 1229-0246
https://journal.kci.go.kr/ksasa

This paper notes that the question of “life” is discussed on the basis of the discussion of the aesthetics and teleology in Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment. In fact, the word “life” is not frequently used in Critique of the Power of Judgment, nor are life-themed discussions highlighted. Nevertheless, if Kant's entire theory of aesthetics and teleology are read deeply, it will not be too difficult to find that aesthetic thinking is closely related to the feeling of life of human beings, and that the consideration of organisms, especially the natural end of life, is fundamentally related to the problems of life. Whether from the perspective of aesthetics based on subjective purposiveness or teleology based on objective purposiveness, life comes down to the question of the life of human beings and cannot be simply returned to epistemology or morality. This paper tries to show that aesthetics and teleology are important critical considerations to promote a new understanding of human beings based on life. To this end, we will first look at an aesthetic feeling of life from the point of view of aesthetics, followed by the natural end of organic life from the point of view of teleology. Finally, we will discuss the fact that aesthetics and teleology are in a corresponding relationship at the level of life, especially with the concept of “favor of nature” as a clue.

Art occupies a unique position in Henri Bergson's philosophy. Because it is central and peripheral at the same time. Though his thinking was based on art, Bergson did not write an independent book about art, but we can reconstruct an original philosophy of art from his fragmentary texts on art. This study is an attempt at such a reconstruction. To this end, we will begin by analysing a sentence defining art in Bergson's first work, Time and Free Will. From this analysis, we will show that Bergson defines a method of art in close connection with techniques of hypnosis, and characterizes the experience of art as that of the artist's human emotions, ideas, and efforts. This view of art can be regarded as a re-formulation of classical art theories such as Plato's and Kant's in Bergson's own language. After examining some of the issues raised by these conceptions of art, we will end our study with the notion that art allows us to experience Bergson's “Durée” through creative means.

Walter Benjamin is generally known as a thinker who was critical of the philosophy of life. But Benjamin's early writings from the 1910s to 20s reveal a number of interesting arguments about life's crisis and potential, and the uniqueness of the mental dimension of life. This article aims to reconstruct his philosophical considerations on life based on his early writings such as “Life of University Students” (1914), “On the Language” (1916), “Program of Philosophy” (1918), “The Task of the Translator” (1923) and “Cognition-critical Introduction” (1928). This paper has three main goals. First, Benjamin's philosophy, like that of other important modern philosophers, is rooted in a deep concern for life's crises and possibilities, freedom and expression of life. Second, Benjamin's observation and analysis of life is not merely subsidiary. On the contrary, it is closely related to the philosophy of language, philosophy of history and philosophy of art, which are the three central fields of his philosophical thinking. Third, Benjamin's philosophical reflection on life is worth appreciating itself. It has remarkable implications for modern philosophical anthropology as well as for aesthetic reflections on art and the sensitive dimensions of human beings. In particular, the mental essence of language, the dialectic of communicability and incommunicability, and the argument for the purposiveness of life need to be re-appropriated in connection with the philosophy of life.