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@article{ART001351726},
author={Jun-Sik Won},
title={On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis},
journal={The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art},
issn={1229-0246},
year={2009},
volume={29},
pages={63-90}

TY - JOUR
AU - Jun-Sik Won
TI - On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis
JO - The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art
PY - 2009
VL - 29
IS - null
PB - 한국미학예술학회
SP - 63
EP - 90
SN - 1229-0246
AB - Georg Lukács looks on art as a kind of the reflection-forms, on the epistemological premise that cognition is a reflection of the reality. That is, art is defined as ‘a mimesis or reflection of the objective reality’. Here mimesis does not mean a mechanical, photographic reproduction of what is extant, but a transformation of the phenomenal world for representing the essential moments through the phenomena. From this point of view, he envisages this aesthetic reflection as corresponding to the category mediating between the universal and the individual: ‘pariculaity (Besonderheit)’. According to him, particularity, the central category of the aesthetic reflection, sublates mere individuality and abstract universality, and unites the both organically. It is through the type(Typus) that the principle of particularity is realized in the works of art, and the universal moments of the objective reality finds expression in the typical characters and situations. In this sense, the type is ‘the most pronounced appearance form of particularity’. One of the objections to Lukács’ theory of mimesis is that it cannot be applied to the non-representational forms of art, such as music. Music, because of its high abstractness, raises more problems to the theory than other forms of art. ‘Is it reasonable to say that music imitates the objective reality?’ ‘How is the principle of particularity realized in the works of music?’ ‘What is the ‘type’ found in a musical work at all?’ To these problems he gives the answer that music is twofold mimesis, that is, music directly imitates feelings and emotions but such feelings and emotions are in themselves the reflections of the objective reality. Like this, music is characterized as ‘mimesis of mimesis’, and therefore shares with other forms of art the feature of reflecting the objective reality. According to Lukács, the feelings that music imitates or expresses are not those a composer feels while writing a piece of music, but feelings themselves being objectified socio-historically. Thus music cancels out the merely individual, in that it eradicates the purely personal circumstances of its origin; on the other hand, since it has no verbal character, it is incapable of grasping universality in conceptual terms. Consequently music is also governed by the category of particularity, which raises itself above the merely individual and extracts ‘typical traits from every particular phenomenon’. Music, as Lukács puts it, reproduces and evokes the problems of the moment of its personal and historical origin, from the perspective of its enduring significance in the development of humanity. In this way, Lukács is able to give an account of music that is in line with his theory of mimesis as a whole.
KW - aesthetic reflection(ästhetische Widerspiegelung);imitation(Nachahmung);Lukács;mimesis;musical realism;type(Typus)
DO -
UR -
ER -

Jun-Sik Won. (2009). On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis. The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art, 29, 63-90.

Jun-Sik Won. 2009, "On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis", The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art, vol.29, pp.63-90.

Jun-Sik Won "On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis" The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art 29 pp.63-90 (2009) : 63.

Jun-Sik Won. On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis. 2009; 29 63-90.

Jun-Sik Won. "On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis" The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art 29(2009) : 63-90.

Jun-Sik Won. On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis. The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art, 29, 63-90.

Jun-Sik Won. On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis. The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art. 2009; 29 63-90.

Jun-Sik Won. On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis. 2009; 29 63-90.

Jun-Sik Won. "On the Music in Lukács’ Theory of Mimesis" The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art 29(2009) : 63-90.