Semantic Philosophy of Art

Yevgeny Basin

CONTENTS (Page)

From the Author 7

Introduction. METHODOLOGY OF ANALYSIS 10

Section 1. ART AND LANGUAGE

Chapter I. The Neo-Positivist Conception of Art as the Highest Form of Emotive Language: I. A. Richards 27

1. The Theory of Communication and Art 28

2. Poetry as the Highest Form of Emotive Language 32

3. Wherein Does the Value of Art Lie? 42

Chapter II. The Linguistic Philosophy of Wittgenstein in His Later Period and “Analytic Aesthetics” 51

1. Conceptions of the Language and Philosophy of Late-Period Wittgenstein 51

2. "Analytical Aesthetics" 54

Chapter III. The Neo-Hegelian Linguistic Conception of Art: Benedetto Croce 62

1. The Intuition-Expression Theory in Croce's Philosophy and the Identification of Language and Art 63

2. Art as Poetic Expression 75

3. Beauty as "Successful Expression" 79

Chapter IV. The English Version of the Crocean Theory of Art as Language: R. G. Collingwood 83

1. R. G. Collingwood as a Croceanist 84

2. Collingwood's Modification of Crocean Aesthetics 88

Section II. ART AND SYMBOL

Chapter V. The Neo-Realistic Philosophy of Symbolism and Art: A. N. Whitehead 97

1. Art and the Epistemological Theory of Symbolism 98

2. Social Symbolism and Art 108

3. Beauty as Value 112

Chapter VI. The Neo-Kantian Conception of Art as Symbolic Form: Ernst Cassirer 120

1. Critique of Symbolic Forms in Place of Kant's Critique of Reason 121

2. Art as Symbolic Form 127

3. "Pure" Form as "Meaning" in Art 133

4. Beauty as a Function of Symbolic Form 140

Chapter VII. The Phenomenological Theory of Art as a Virtual Symbol : Susanne Langer 146

1. The "New Key": Discursive and Presentational Symbolism 146

2. Expressive Form 153

3. Metaphorical Symbolism 159

4. Beauty as Expressive Form 166

Section III. ART AND THE SIGN

Chapter VIII. Pragmatism, Semiotics and Art: Charles Peirce 171

1. The Iconic Sign and Art 173

2. Beauty as "Kalos" 181

3. The Emotional Interpretant 183

4. The Idealistic Character of Peirce's Aesthetics 187

Chapter IX. Behaviourism, Semiotics and Art: Charles Morris 201

1. Behaviourist Semiotics and Art 202

2. Art and Signs. The Aesthetic Discourse 210

3. The Icon and Art 217

4. Semiotics, Axiology and Art 221

Conclusion. THE SEMANTIC PHILOSOPHY OF ART AND MODERNISM  228

Bibliography 232

Name Index 244

SOURCE: Basin, Yevgeny. Semantic Philosophy of Art, translated from the Russian by Christopher English. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1979. Chapter V: The Neo-Realistic Philosophy of Symbolism and Art: A. N. Whitehead; pp. 97-119. Book can also be borrowed from archive.org.

Whitehead & Marxism: Selected Bibliography

Pragmatism and Its Discontents: Selected Bibliography
(with annotations)

Ernst Cassirer: A Selected Secondary Bibliography

Anti-Bergson: Bibliography & Links