Kaplama, E: Cosmological Aesthetics through the Kantian Subl

Erman Kaplama explores the principle of transition (Übergang) from metaphysics to physics developed by Kant in his unfinished magnum opus, Opus Postumum. Drawing on the Heraclitean logos and Kant's notions of sense-intuition (Anschauung) and reflective judgment, Kaplama interprets transition as an aesthetic principle. He revises the idea of nature (phusis) as the principle of motion referring to Heraclitus' cosmology as well as Heidegger's and Nietzsche's lectures on the pre-Socratics. Kaplama compares the Kantian sublime and Nietzschean Dionysian as aesthetic theories representing the transition from the sensible to supersensible and as cosmological theories that consider human nature (ethos) as an extension of nature. In light of such Nietzschean notions as the eternal recurrence and will to power, the Dionysian is shown to trigger the transition by which nature and art are redefined. Finally, Cosmological Aesthetics employs the principles of transition and motion to analyze Van Gogh's Starry Night in an excursus.

AcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter One: On "Transition" as one of the Founding Principles of Cosmological Aesthetics and its Applications in the Kantian Sublime and Nietzschean DionysianPrelude: The Heraclitean Logos and the Principle of TransitionOn the Principle of Transition as the Foundation of Cosmological Aesthetics with Reference to Opus PostumumOn the Human Faculty of Sense-Intuition (Anschauung) through which the Transition Takes PlaceOn the Power of Judgment as the Faculty that Regulates and Determines the TransitionThe Principle of Transition and Cosmological TranscendentalismThe Kantian Sublime as a Theory of Cosmological Aesthetics Representing the TransitionThe Nietzschean Dionysian as a Theory of Cosmological Aesthetics Representing the TransitionOn the Principle of Transition as Genius in Kantian and Nietzschean AestheticsConclusionChapter Two: On "Motion" as one of the Founding Principles of Cosmological Aesthetics with Regards to the Heraclitean, Kantian and Nietzschean CosmologyPrelude: Heraclitean Phusis as the Principle of MotionKant's Principle of Motion and Metaphysics of NatureNietzsche's Principle of Motion and the Dionysian as aCosmological PrincipleConclusionExcursus: A Cosmological-Aesthetic Analysis Of Van Gogh's Starry NightConclusionBibliographyIndex