Reinstating the body in Western philosophical and artistic practices

Recent academic writing emphasises the importance of the body in human meaning and understanding but, surprisingly, a high percentage of researchers turn a blind eye to the fact that the Western philosophical aesthetic tradition played a leading role in this regard. This article aims to contribute...

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Main Author: Frikkie Potgieter
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of the Free State 2009-01-01
Series:Acta Academica
Online Access:http://196.255.246.28/index.php/aa/article/view/1193
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author Frikkie Potgieter
author_facet Frikkie Potgieter
author_sort Frikkie Potgieter
collection DOAJ
description Recent academic writing emphasises the importance of the body in human meaning and understanding but, surprisingly, a high percentage of researchers turn a blind eye to the fact that the Western philosophical aesthetic tradition played a leading role in this regard. This article aims to contribute to the reinstatement of the body to its rightful place in historic Western philosophy and art practice. The article thus analyses how the Western aesthetic and artistic tradition started outby attempting to conceptualise and actualise a humanist body in art, but ended up deconstructing such a notion and setting up a metaphorical aesthetic body in its place. In my estimation such a metaphorical perspective of the body in art is not only an emancipatory achievement, but also a joyous affirmation of the human capacity for never-ending creativity.
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spelling doaj.art-2800b7a6e97945f2a143af11bb1393b92024-03-18T11:06:38ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Academica0587-24052415-04792009-01-0141110.38140/aa.v41i1.1193Reinstating the body in Western philosophical and artistic practicesFrikkie Potgieter0University of South Africa Recent academic writing emphasises the importance of the body in human meaning and understanding but, surprisingly, a high percentage of researchers turn a blind eye to the fact that the Western philosophical aesthetic tradition played a leading role in this regard. This article aims to contribute to the reinstatement of the body to its rightful place in historic Western philosophy and art practice. The article thus analyses how the Western aesthetic and artistic tradition started outby attempting to conceptualise and actualise a humanist body in art, but ended up deconstructing such a notion and setting up a metaphorical aesthetic body in its place. In my estimation such a metaphorical perspective of the body in art is not only an emancipatory achievement, but also a joyous affirmation of the human capacity for never-ending creativity. http://196.255.246.28/index.php/aa/article/view/1193
spellingShingle Frikkie Potgieter
Reinstating the body in Western philosophical and artistic practices
Acta Academica
title Reinstating the body in Western philosophical and artistic practices
title_full Reinstating the body in Western philosophical and artistic practices
title_fullStr Reinstating the body in Western philosophical and artistic practices
title_full_unstemmed Reinstating the body in Western philosophical and artistic practices
title_short Reinstating the body in Western philosophical and artistic practices
title_sort reinstating the body in western philosophical and artistic practices
url http://196.255.246.28/index.php/aa/article/view/1193
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