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CORRELATION BETWEEN EXPERIENCES AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE OBJECTS IN NICOLAI HARTMANN’S AND VASILY SESEMANN’S PHENOMENOLOGICAL AESTHETICS

Abstract
In many ways Vasily Sesemann’s (1884–1963) aesthetics is connected with Nicolai Hartmann’s (1882–1950) expanded analysis of the aesthetic reality. Both authors are against subjectivism in aesthetics, but they also reject naturalistic and objectivistic explanations of the aesthetic phenomena. Sesemann and Hartmann focus their attention not only on the problem of the aesthetic object, but also attempt to reveal the internal relation between aesthetic experiences and the structure of the aesthetic objects. The objective of this paper is to show that Hartmann’s and Sesemann’s aesthetics can be discussed in the light of phenomenological philosophy. Both philosophers argue that there must be a correlation between an object and the act of its aesthetic experience. The claim of the paper is that this correlation can be discovered only by using the method of phenomenological reduction. This paper first explains the conception of the aesthetic objects structure in Hartmann’s and Sesemann’s aesthetics. Later, it examines the aesthetic perception in Hartmann’s and Sesemann’s aesthetics. Finally, the paper argues that Hartmann’s and Sesemann’s aesthetics are essentially based on the phenomenological reflection of correlation between aesthetic experiences and the structure of the aesthetic objects.

Keywords
Nicolai Hartmann, Vasily Sesemann, phenomenology, phenomenological reduction, aesthetic experience, aesthetic object.

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