I was not aware that Baumgarten was on Facebook. Shocking. You are right, however, Baumgarten is little read in general -- completely unread in English, I should think, given the lack of translation into English (only his dissertation seems to be translated). So, one would need Latin or German to read him (again making any North American reception problematic; given the 'anti-elitism' of its curricula, who in North America, post-1970 is able to read Latin?) By and large, I am not sure how interesting he really is. Save for how he frames aesthetics as a kind of self-betterment through enculturation and exercise (to my knowledge Baumgarten is the first thinker to use the words 'subject' and 'culture' in our modern senses of them), which leads towards a form of moral perfectionism (he speaks of the happy aesthetician, felix aestheticus), and -- pace Cheerskep -- his characterization of sensuousness as a proper object of philosohical study with its own inherent content, most of his work tends towards a very conservative reformulation of what one might call today the liberal arts.
I know very little about Baumgarten's personal life; following Heidegger, I tend to think that the only things one needs to know in order to consider another's work is that he was born, he wrote, and then he died. Sometimes the attached dates are important. I am not too interested in influence, all things told. On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 4:47 PM, imago Asthetik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 4:19 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Did Baumgarten continue being any kind of pietist after his parents >> died? Although he has a facebook page he seems to have a small web >> presence. I still can't find any connection between Rand and Stefan George >> either-"cosmic circle" yields both names and barrels of guff. >> KAte Sullivan >> >> >> ************** >> Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel. Check out Today's Hot 5 Travel >> Deals! ( >> http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001)
