Andreev A.L., Kuznetsova T.V. Art and aesthetics in the context of the philosophy of history and social philosophy of Karl Marx. Moscow University Bulletin. Series 7. Philosophy, 2018, Issue 6, pp. 3-13.

Abstract

The article deals with the basic theoretical ideas of Marx, which laid the foundations for the subsequent development of Marxist philosophy of art. The author reveals the continuity between the Marxist concept of aesthetic and intellectual traditions of German classical philosophy, in particular, with the Kant's concept of uninterested admiration, which Marx, however, frees from some idealistic abstractions and fills with concrete social content. The article shows that Marx's aesthetic value is not a phenomenon of only objective or only subjective order: its essence is determined by the dialectical interaction of the subject and the object in the process of sensory-subject human activity aimed at transforming the condition of its existence. As a result, Marx's concept of aesthetics is not a simple conclusion from ontology, theory of knowledge and materialistic understanding of history. It should be considered as one of the components of Marxism. The authors analyze in detail the views of Marx and Engels on the essence of artistic activity, which was considered by them as a special kind of production (art production) opposing these views to the point of view of representatives of the vulgar-sociological direction in the theory of culture. A significant place in the article is given to the views of the founders of Marxism on the relationship of artistic thinking and reality, the development of their issues of realism in art.