YURI BOREV

AESTHETICS
a textbook

Progress Publishers, 1985

web edition, scanned and corrected from original source

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Aesthetics as a Scientific Discipline

PREFACE

SUBJECT-MATTER AND PURPOSE OF AESTHETICS
What Does Aesthetics Study? (Aesthetics in Its Relationship to the World)
Who Needs Aesthetics and What for? (The Relation of Aesthetics to the Artist and the Public)
Is Aesthetics a Normative Science? (The Relationship Between Aesthetics and the Act of Creation)

AESTHETIC KNOWLEDGE AS A SYSTEM
A Science is a System
The Unity (Monism) of the System
Scientific Method

AESTHETICS: THE THEORY OF AESTHETIC ACTIVITY
The Science of the Universal Aspects of Cognizing the World

AESTHETIC ACTIVITY
Aesthetic Activity: the Diversity of Its Forms
The Aesthetic and the Artistic
Design

AESTHETICS: FIELD OF OPERATION
Practical Aesthetics
Technical Aesthetics

AESTHETICS: THE AXIOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HUMAN VALUES
Aesthetics: the Branch of Knowledge Dealing
with The Aesthetic Diversity of Life and Art

THE AESTHETIC: ITS ESSENCE AND PRINCIPAL FORMS
Theoretical Models of the Aesthetic
The Aesthetic and the Useful
The Aesthetic as a Value
The Aesthetic as a System-Builder

THE BEAUTIFUL
The Beautiful in the History of Aesthetics
Paradigms of Theoretical Perception of Beauty
The Beautiful as a Positive Universal Human Value

THE SUBLIME
The Sublime in the History of Aesthetics
The Nature of the Sublime
The Sublime in Art

THE TRAGIC
Tragedy: an Irreplaceable Loss and a Declaration of Immortality
The Universal Philosophical Aspect of the Tragic
The Tragic in Art
The Essence of the Tragic

THE COMIC
The Comic as a side of Social and Cultural Life
Expression and Perception of the Comic
The Comic as a Contradiction
The Constructive and the Destructive Aspects of the Comic
Types and Shades of the Comic
The Evolution of the Comic

THE DIVERSITY OF AESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS
The Ugly
The Base
The Horrible
Integrity and Fragmentation
Aesthetic Notions and Their Relation to Aesthetic Categories
The Quality of Polyphony and Interrelation of Aesthetic Qualities in Life and Art

AESTHETICS:THE SOCIOLOGY OF ART
Aesthetics: the Branch of Knowledge Dealing with the Social Nature of Art

ART AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON
Art: a Model of Man's Activity and a Reflection of the World
Art: the Condensed Expression of Social Practice, the Crystallised  Experience of
Communication
Art as a Form of Social Consciousness
Personality, Class, Nation, Mankind and the Universe in Art
The National Character of Art

ART: ITS FUNCTIONS
The Social and Transforming Function (Art as an Activity)
The "Heuristic" Function of Art (Art as Cognition and Enlightenment)
Art as a Concept (Art as Research into the Condition of the World)
Anticipation (Art in the Role of Cassandra, or Art as Prediction)
The Informative and the Communicative Function of Art (Art as Information and
Communication)
Art: Its Educational Function (Art as Catharsis; Shaping a Harmonious Personality)
Art as Suggestion (The Impact of Art on the Subconscious Mind)
The Aesthetic Function of Art (The Role of Art in Shaping a Creative Personality and the Ability to Form Value Judgements)
The Hedonistic Function of Art (Art as Enjoyment)
The Unity of the Object and the Goals of Art

AESTHETICS: THE GNOSEOLOGY OF ART
The Science of Artistic Thinking

THE IMAGE AS A FORM OF ARTISTIC THINKING
Metaphor, Paradox, Association
Self-Development
A Wealth of Meaning and Meaning Held Back
Individualised Generalisation. Type
A Deeply Felt Thought, a Thought-Out Feeling
The World and the Artist's Personality: the Material out of Which the Image Is Built
Uniqueness

THE METHOD OF ART: A MODE OF FIGURATIVE THINKING
Science, Art and the Fact
The Method of Art: Its Nature
Realism and Modernism: the Clach of Artistic Mentality in the 20th Century

AESTHETICS: THE ONTOLOGY OF ART
The Branch of Knowledge that Deals with the Social Being of Culture

A WORK OF ART AS A FORM OF THE EXISTENCE OF ART
A Work of Art: Its Inner Structure
The Topical and the Eternal in a Work of Art
Verity and Verisimilitude

STYLE IN ART
Style as a Category of the Ontology of Art
The Functional Diversity of Style
The Structure of Style
The Life of Style in a Work of Art

AESTHETICS: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ART AND THE THEORY OF ARTISTIC PERCEPTION
The Science of the Psychology of Artistic Creation and Perception of Art

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ARTISTIC CREATION
Predisposition to Artistic Creation
The Psychological Mechanisms of Artistic Creation

PSYCHOLOGY OF ARTISTIC PERCEPTION
The Psychological Mechanisms of Artistic Perception. Perceptual Attitude
Problems in the Study of Artistic Perception

ART AS THE OBJECT OF PERCEPTION
Artistic Text and Its Perception
The Laws of Artistic Perception

AESTHETICS: THE GENEALOGY OF ART AND AESTHETIC ATTITUDES TO THE WORLD
The Science of the Origin of the Arts and the Aesthetic Feeling

MAGIC AND ART
Primitive Culture and the Use of Magic to Cross the Abyss of Impotence
Aesthetic Activity According to the Laws of Beauty or Magical Activity According to the Laws of Super-Effort

THE ORIGIN OF ART AND LITERATURE
The Ritual-Magic and Artistic-Aesthetic Attitude to the Object Portrayed
Artistic Culture Was Born Many Times

AESTHETICS: THE THEORETICAL HISTORY OF ART
The Science of the Process of Art

LAWS OF THE DYNAMICS OF THE ART PROCESS
Interactions in Art
Repetition of the Unrepeatable (Typology of Coincidences in Art)
Progress in Art
The Intransient Character of Artistic Values

THE LAWS OF HISTORICAL STAGES AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE ART PROCESS
The Trend as an Artistic Concept
Art Periods and Trends in the Past
Critical Realism
Socialist Realism

MODERNIST TRENDS (CRITICAL SURVEY)
Expressionism: An Alienated, Confused Man in a Hostile World
Surrealism: A Bewildered Man in a Mysterious and Unknowable World
Existentialism: A Lonely Man in an Absurd World
Abstractionism: the Individual's Escape from Banal and Illusory Reality
Pop Art. The Consumer: A Deideologized Individual in a Mass Consumer Society

AESTHETICS: THE FUTUROLOGY OF ART
The Science of Forecasting the Future of Art

SUBJECT. AIMS AND METHODS OF FORECASTING ARTISTIC CULTURE
Why Is the Futurology of Art Necessary?
The Subject and Methods of the Futurology of Art

THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE OF ART
Eschatological Concepts of Art and Its Real Destiny in the Future World
Types of Art and Their Future

AESTHETICS: THE MORPHOLOGY OF ART
The Branches of Artistic Creation: The Science of Their System

BRANCHES OF ART
Reasons for the Existence of Diverse Branches of Art
Applied Art
Circus
Architecture
Decorative Art
Painting and Drawing
Sculpture
Literature
Theatre
Music
Choreography
Photography
Cinema
Television

THE HISTORICAL DYNAMICS OF THE ARTS
Social Demand and the Development of the Arts
The Historical Trend Towards the Divergence of the Arts
The Historical Trend Towards Interaction and Synthesis of the Arts
Literature: the Verbal Basis of Artistic Culture and the Leading Art
The Predominant Branch of Art and Its Historical Changeability
Representative Arts and Their Historical Evolution
Technological Advances and Prospects for the Interaction of the Arts

AESTHETICS: THE THEORY OF ARTISTIC COMMUNICATION AND THE SEMIOTICS AND CULTUROLOGY OF ART
The Science of the Transmission  Art Products, and the Sign Systems and Cultural Meaning of Artistic Activity

ART AS GENERALIZATION
Structure and Types of Artistic Generalization
Artistic Text: the Central Link in Artistic Communication

ART AS LANGUAGE. THE SEMIOTICS OF AESTHETIC AND ARTISTIC ACTIVITY
The Sign and Its Role in Artistic Culture
The Language of Art. Art Work: the Meta-Sign of Artistic Culture

ART AS A PHENOMENON OF CULTURE
The Multi-Lingual Nature of Artistic Culture
Mechanisms of the Functioning of Artistic Culture

AESTHETICS: THE THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ART CRITICISM
The Science of the Problems Posed by and the Instruments
Used in the Analysis of Art

AESTHETICS: THE THEORY OF CRITICISM
Art – Criticism – Society
Criticism: Is It Literature or Science?
The Experience of Rhetoric and Criticism as Moving Aesthetics
Criticism and Hermeneutics
The "Objective" and the "Subjective" in Critical Analysis

AESTHETICS: THE METHODOLOGY OF CRITICISM
The Critical Method and Its Structure
General Judgement of a Work
Determining the Meaning and Value of External Links (Aesthetic Relationships) of an Art Work
Determining the Meaning and Value of Internal Relationships (Structure) of the Artistic Text
Determining the Sense and Value of an Art Work in the Light of Its Social Functioning
Final Judgement of the Meaning and Value of an Art Work

CONCLUSION
Theoretical and Practical Conclusions from the Study of Problems in Aesthetics

AESTHETICS: THE PHILOSOPHY OF AESTHETIC AND ARTISTIC ACTIVITY (THE SCIENCE OF THE LAWS OF AESTHETIC AND ARTISTIC MASTERING OF THE WORLD)
AESTHETICS: THE THEORY OF AESTHETIC EDUCATION (HUMANISM: THE SUPREME GOAL AND MEANING OF AESTHETICS AND ART

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