O sentido estético e antropológico da filosofia de Ludwig Feuerbach

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation discusses the anthropological and aesthetic sense in the philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872). If on one hand it is possible to assert that the anthropological sense of his philosophy was presented by himself in his writings, on the other hand the presence of certain aesthetic sense in his thoughts demands a particular comprehension once Feuerbach had never elaborated a systematized aesthetic theory. That explains the formulation of the present interpretative hypothesis. Despite the absence of an aesthetic theory in his philosophy, one cannot ignore the presence of the term aesthetic in his work and a certain interpretation of the term aesthetic in the formation of this thought. That is why this work answers the question about the meaning of this term in Feuerbach s philosophy. What means the term aesthetic in Ludwig Feuerbach s thought? His critique of religion (conceived as a creation of human fantasy and feelings) would contain an aesthetic meaning? Would there be any relation among the intended aesthetic sense and the anthropological and ethical senses in his thought? In order to answer these questions it is necessary to consider the following arguments once the claim of the existence of an aesthetic sense in his work does not mean to assert: i) That his writings had as the only concern the development of Aesthetics as science, ii) That Feuerbach intended to think about the aesthetic problem in a strict sense, that is, by the elaboration of a systematic aesthetic, iii) That his aesthetic consideration was meant as an end in itself. The acknowledgment that Feuerbach did not postulate Aesthetics as an independent discipline, it does not mean that his philosophy did not contain an aesthetic sense. The aesthetic sense is related to the materialistic and anthropological approaches of his work, once it expresses itself through the primacy of onto-anthropological of the sensible, that is, through acknowledgment of the sensibility [Sinnlichkeit], of the sensation [Empfindung], of the body [Leib], of the feelings [Gefühle], of the imagination [Einbildungskraft], of the fantasy [Phantasie] and of the comprehension of the human being as integral, finite and natural being.