Yes, but apparenbtly you have not. Worringer's addition to the empathy view was the notion of a polar opposite, abstraction. Lipps and Lee dealt with variations of empathy. See essays by both in Rader's A Modern Book of Esthetics, part three, beginning p. 367. But since you seem to do all your "research" on Wickipedia, I suppose you'll never check out the references. Meanwhile, you are quiter wrong in your assumptions, as usual. wc
--- On Wed, 7/8/09, Chris Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Chris Miller <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Worringer: Abstraction and Empathy > To: [email protected] > Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2009, 8:22 AM > Has anyone here actually read Theodor > Lipps and Vernon Lee? > > And if so --- might you point to where either one of > them suggests that an > empathic response was inversely conditional to the degree > of abstraction? > > Did either one of them ever suggest that empathy could not > achieve "the > escape from the "arbitrariness of organic existence" > (and didn't Vernon Lee > write ghost stories?) > > I'm just wondering whether Lipps and Lee may have had a > broader concept of > "empathy" than the one which Worringer is opposing to > abstraction. > > > > > > ............................................................................. > ......................................................... > > > >In his 1908 essay, Abstraction and Empathy, Worringer > offers a further > refinement of physchological approaches to aesthetics and > art that tended to > center on empathy alone. Whereas other philosophers, like > Vernon Lee and > Theodor Lipps, claimed that empathy was the projection of > the ego into an > artwork -- as in "losing oneself in the work" to enjoy, to > be at one with its > vicarious imitation of nature's vitality, Worringer added > an opposing notion, > abstraction, to account for the withdrawal of the ego from > nature's > incomprehensible complexity to the safe haven of regular, > static, ideal > geometry. Worringer concluded that both approaches > are fundamental to self > affirmation and enable what he called "self privation", > empathy being the > projection of self (metaphorically and as-if the other) and > abstraction being > the escape from the "arbitrariness of organic existence" to > ideal, permanent > form (metaphorically, and as if the immutable and > perfect). > > Worringer was not only contributing to the philosophy of > aesthetics, he was > also offering coherence to the fracturing art concepts of > the 20c. He > recognized that the rules of artistic imitation based on > skill and faithful > rendering of nature -- and the canonic Western tradition -- > were being > strongly affected by a new psychologial expressiveness that > led to a broad > "naturalism" as well as by the influences of Oriental > traditions and even > primitive traditions of geometric patterning and abstract > symbols. thus > Worringer was explaining the new style, the new > contemporary scene. > > Worringer had enormous influence on the later developments > in art and > aesthetics. The critical examination of much 20C art > would be hobbled > without > his concepts. There are analogous approaches in art > criticism in the work of > Camille Pagila, for example, who uses the terms Dionysian > and Apollonian that > correspond to empathy and abstraction, respectively. > > Today we might find problems with Worringer's mutually > exclusive empathy and > abstraction, however much they unite in his notion of > self-privation. New > neuroscience claims an entangled feedback looping for our > thinking that makes > polarities like Worringer's impossible, as Damasio does in > conflating reason > and feeling, or as Lakoff and Johnson do in conflating > brain and mind. > > Further, whereas Worringer chose imitation and empathy as > clearly fundamental > to human nature, and beyond art he is less assertive about > the impulse for > abstraction, which in his hierarchy of mind, is a retreat > from empathy, new > neuroscience shows that people born blind, thus without any > visual > experience, > can draw fundamentqal geometic patterns they "see". > Research seems to confirm > that our fundamental cognition is made up of such simple > patterns -- but > still > patterns infused with empathy. > > At any rate, there is much to admire in Worringer's > essay. Personally, I > think artists have not yet fully explored the aesthetic > potentials of a fully > integrated empathy-abstraction style that fuses the > polarity and thus reveals > the paradox of art. It's only possible in > make-believe, as-if, metaphor, and > the meaninglessness of form in itself. > > > ____________________________________________________________ > Advance your career with an online Master's Degree. Free > info. Click Now! > http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/BLSrjnxVw0r5DTFfvFEfZH9p6dYFTF > QuqUFgskVGrWtdj4wUuPieLLlstUk/
