Aesthetic/Aesthetics

Abstract

The Danish and English words are derived from the Greek αίσθητά, which means "that which can be sensed." The first modem usage of the word is in the work of the German philosopher Alexander Baumgarten, who in his book 'Aesthetica' (1750-58) defined the beautiful as the sensuous representation of the perfect. Subsequently, aesthetics became the discipline that deals with the beautiful in art and nature. This in turn gave rise to the notion of the aesthete, as a person who to an extreme degree pursues beauty in everything. "The aesthetic" in Kierkegaard's work designates (a) the artistic apprehension of beauty and (b) an existential sphere. "Aesthetics" designates critical reflection on art. By far the most frequent usage of the term by Kierkegaard is in the sense of an existential sphere, though the three senses are interrelated.