John, you're absolutely right about the tarting up as being part of
Nietzsche's view of the aesthetic, and probably Foucault's. I would
love to pursue this further -- I can't right now, but should have some
time tonight or tomorrow. In "What is Enlightment", for instance, Foucault
invokes Baudelaire's notion of dandyism, which is very much in this
"tarting up" line. There is, however, a different view of the
aesthetic -- the one I was trying to anachronistically graft onto
Nietzsche -- which is perhaps best expressed by Cage's dictum that his
favorite kind of music is the one we hear all the time, IF we are quiet.
I would love to ruminate some more about what is implied by allegiances
to one or another view of the aesthetic.
And I will, for the moment, leave on the table your question:
> Do you think N is prescribing or describing? It seems to me he (and he
> shares this with his pupil, Foucault) is constantly on the border between
> these two modes. Here's the prescription reading: "It's really only as an
> aesthetic phenomenon that the world is justified, so we must do better and
> produce more aesthetic phenomena!" Here's the descriptive reading: "Being
> the kinds of creatures we are, the world only appears justified to us when
> it is draped in lovely outfits and fitted out with lots of pretty
> stories."
-m
Nietzsche's view of the aesthetic, and probably Foucault's. I would
love to pursue this further -- I can't right now, but should have some
time tonight or tomorrow. In "What is Enlightment", for instance, Foucault
invokes Baudelaire's notion of dandyism, which is very much in this
"tarting up" line. There is, however, a different view of the
aesthetic -- the one I was trying to anachronistically graft onto
Nietzsche -- which is perhaps best expressed by Cage's dictum that his
favorite kind of music is the one we hear all the time, IF we are quiet.
I would love to ruminate some more about what is implied by allegiances
to one or another view of the aesthetic.
And I will, for the moment, leave on the table your question:
> Do you think N is prescribing or describing? It seems to me he (and he
> shares this with his pupil, Foucault) is constantly on the border between
> these two modes. Here's the prescription reading: "It's really only as an
> aesthetic phenomenon that the world is justified, so we must do better and
> produce more aesthetic phenomena!" Here's the descriptive reading: "Being
> the kinds of creatures we are, the world only appears justified to us when
> it is draped in lovely outfits and fitted out with lots of pretty
> stories."
-m