Between sublimity and pleasantness

about aesthetical distribution in music and psychology

Sven Klempe

pp. 71-85

in: Luca Tateo (ed), An old melody in a new song, Berlin, Springer, 2018

Abstract

According to the French philosopher Jacques Rancière, "political struggle proper is not a rational debate between multiple interests, but simultaneously, the struggle for one's voice to be heard and recognized as the voice of a legitimate partner" (Slavo Zizek, "The Lesson of Rancière", p. 69 ff.). This statement formulates in many ways the core of the aesthetic question when irrationality is mixed up with rationality, enjoyment with shock, and appreciations with aversions. These combinations point directly to Kant's discussions about the relationship between beauty and the sublime, but they also summarize differences in the understanding of aesthetical problems throughout history. This presentation investigates the aesthetical problem from the two perspectives of psychology and music. The former represents a basis for how to approach aesthetical phenomena, both from a historical and a systematic perspective. Yet, some aspects of Western musical history may demonstrate how the aesthetical phenomena may act, and challenge our understanding of how the perceiving process actually functions. On this basis, this chapter goes into more detail in an attempt to develop a basis for an aesthetical distribution.

Cited authors

Kant Immanuel

Rancière Jacques