1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEMATIC This study is devoted to an examination of a concept of crucial significance for Soviet aesthetics - the concept of the aesthetic (esteticeskoe). Soviet aestheticians have for some time already been trying to design a concept of the aesthetic that would satisfy, on the one hand, the requirements of aesthe­ tic phenomena, and, on the other hand, the principles of the Marxist-Leninist world view. The first part of this work shows how the concept of the aesthetic has been and continues to be problematic for Soviet aestheticians. This task is carried out by dwelling, first of all, on the controversies among Soviet aesthe­ ticians concerning meta-aesthetic issues, viz, the nature and scope of aesthetics as well as its place among other philosophical and non-philosophical disci­ plines. A particularly clear view of the problems that have traditionally pre­ occupied Soviet aestheticians is provided by an examination of what they standardly call the 'method of aesthetics', where 'method' is understood in the sense of an explanatory framework rather than in the strict logico-scien­ tific sense of the term. This discussion will provide the occasion to pass in review the main periods of Soviet aesthetics and the characteristic aspects of each. The chapter on the sources of contemporary Marxist-Leninist aesthetics brings into relief the lack of a homogeneous tradition in the question of the nature of the aesthetic and other related problems.

Inhalt

I.- I / The Object and Methods of Soviet Aesthetics.- 1.1. The General State of Soviet Aesthetics.- 1.2. The Object of Aesthetics.- 1.3. Aesthetics as a Science.- 1.31. Aesthetics and Marxist-Leninist Philosophy.- 1.32. Aesthetics and Methodology.- 1.321. A Periodization of the Dominant Approaches to Aesthetics.- 1.322. 'Vulgar' or Extreme Sociologism.- 1.323. 'Vulgar' or Extreme Gnoseologism.- 1.324. 'Academism', 'Empiricism' and 'Historism'.- 1.325. Methodological Pluralism.- 1.4. The Sub-divisions of the Aesthetic Problematic.- II / The Sources and Origins of Marxist-Leninist Aesthetics.- 2.1. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.- 2.2. Lenin.- 2.3. Plekhanov.- 2.4. Russian Revolutionary Democrats.- II.- III / The Aesthetic: Chronology of the 1956-1966 Discussions and its Philosophical Framework.- 3.0. General Survey of the Esteti?eskoe Discussion.- 3.1. Initial Formulations.- 3.11. The Societalists.- 3.12. The Naturists.- 3.13. The Polemic.- 3.14. Subsequent Transitions and Developments.- 3.2. The Philosophical Framework of the Esteti?eskoe Discussion.- 3.21. The Essential Questions.- 3.22. Three Basic Biases and Their Correlations.- IV / The Aesthetic: The Societalists and Naturists.- 4.1. The Essence of the Aesthetic.- 4.11. The Objectivity of the Aesthetic.- 4.12. Aesthetic Qualities or Properties.- 4.121. Content and Form. The Essence of the Aesthetic According to the Societalists.- 4.13. Harmony and the Laws of Matter. The Naturist Conception.- 4.2. The Aesthetic Categories.- 4.21. The Naturist Theory of the Categories.- 4.22. The Societalist Theory of the Categories.- 4.3. The Aesthetic Relation.- 4.31. Fluidity of the Concept.- 4.32. Appropriation vs. Cognition.- 4.33. The Specificity of the Aesthetic Relation.- 4.331. Characteristic Features of the Aesthetic Experience.- 4.34. Aesthetic Evaluation and Judgement.- 4.341. Aesthetic Taste and Judgement.- 4.342. The Aesthetic Ideal.- 4.4. The Aesthetic and The Question of Art (the Artistic).- 4.41. The Question of the Specificity of Art.- 4.42. The Object of Art.- 4.43. The Societalist Theory of the Object of Art.- 4.44. The Specificity of the Content of Art.- V / The Aesthetic: The Struggle over the Philosophical Foundations.- 5.1. The Traditional Attitude Toward the Young Marx.- 5.2. Aesthetic Passages in the Manuscripts.- 5.3. Practice.- 5.31. Excursus: Non-natural Needs and the Social Mediation of Nature.- 5.32. The Human Senses and Practice.- 5.4. Social Being.- 5.5. Realism and the Socio-human Object.- 5.6. The 'Laws of Beauty'.- Summary and Conclusion.- Summary and Conclusion.- Notes and References.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.