“Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes”
In this article, I draw on Gurdjieff’s philosophy to initiate a phenomenology of aesthetic experience, which I define as any intense emotional engagement that one feels in encountering or creating an artistic work, whether a painting, poem, song, dance, sculpture, or something else. To consider how...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2017
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| In: |
Religion and the arts
Year: 2017, Volume: 21, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 150-175 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Gurdjieff, Georges I. 1872-1949
/ Bennett, John G. 1897-1974
/ Phenomenology
/ Aesthetics
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| IxTheo Classification: | AZ New religious movements |
| Further subjects: | B
G. I. Gurdjieff
P. D. Ouspensky
J. G. Bennett
phenomenology
aesthetic experience
art
phenomenology of aesthetics
phenomenology of art
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | In this article, I draw on Gurdjieff’s philosophy to initiate a phenomenology of aesthetic experience, which I define as any intense emotional engagement that one feels in encountering or creating an artistic work, whether a painting, poem, song, dance, sculpture, or something else. To consider how aesthetic experience might be understood in a Gurdjieffian framework, I begin with an overview of phenomenology, emphasizing the phenomenological concepts of lifeworld and natural attitude, about which Gurdjieff said much, though not using phenomenological language. I then discuss Gurdjieff’s “psychology of human beings” as it might be interpreted phenomenologically, emphasizing three major claims: first, that, human beings are “asleep”; second, that they are “machines”; and, third, that they are “three-centered beings.” I draw on the last claim—human “three-centeredness”—to highlight how aesthetic experiences might be interpreted via Gurdjieff’s philosophy. Drawing on accounts from British philosopher and Gurdjieff associate J. G. Bennett, I end by considering how a Gurdjieffian perspective understands the role of the artistic work in contributing to aesthetic experience. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5292 |
| Contains: | In: Religion and the arts
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685292-02101006 |