In the middle of the 18th century, A. Baumgarten established a science of sensitive knowledge also known as aesthetics. His proposal expanded the legacy from Leibniz and Wolff, it deepened the notion of experience and assumed the traditional model of the Idea (clarity and distinction) that Leibniz criticized to Descartes, while it still considered the meaning of “symbolic” ideas. Notwithstanding its relevance, Baumgarten’s proposal is not always considered in the understanding of the theory of arts (or of ‘the beautiful’ in general), which appears to be a less relevant route when compared to the Kantian revolution of aesthetics associated to the notion of the judgment of taste.
Chiuminatto, P. (2015). The science of sensitive knowledge: rationalistic principles of the esthetical doctrine of Alexander Baumgarten. Revista De Filosofía, 70, 61–73. Retrieved from https://actascoloquiogiannini.uchile.cl/index.php/RDF/article/view/35930
