Theodor Adorno’s famous aesthetic theory was not merely a theory of the aesthetic; it also made a wider claim about the aesthetic implications of all theory. At the same time we have to deal with aesthetic objects and events in which an aesthetic theory is inherent, which show themselves as art. From both sides—theory and aesthetics—a link can be made to the etymological meaning of theōria, which understands the theoretical as a seeing or perspective. Featuring lucid essays by major thinkers, the book examines this link, focusing equally on the aesthetic implications of theory and the theoretical implications of aesthetic events.
 

Dieter Mersch is head of the Institute for Theory at ZHdK Zurich and visiting professor at the University of Potsdam. Sylvia Sasse is professor of Slavic Literature at the University of Zurich and co-director of the Centre for Arts and Cultural Theory. Sandro Zanetti is associate professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Zurich.