Galvano della Volpe, "Critica del gusto"

Synopsis

The main purpose of this work is to give a systematic exposition of a materialistic-historical Aesthetic, thus making a methodical sociological reading of poetry and art in general possible. The discussion takes place through a great wealth of themes, which make it a fascinating reading for every educated person. The philosopher will find there, among other things, a truly radical critique of post-romantic and idealistic Aesthetics (and related decadent poetics) and therefore a critique of Romantic linguistics in support of that Aesthetics; as well as the examination of the intimate contradictions of the "sociological" aesthetic tendencies of current Marxism (from Plechanov to Lukács). The art critic in general will find there a complex of analysis of traditional historiographic methods, not only literary but also of the figurative arts, music and cinema. The educated reader will be led to enjoy as poetry many works, especially modern and contemporary, not usually considered poetic because they are too "involved" politically or too "complicated" with the moral and social problems of the time.

On the other hand, the glottologist as well as the musicologist and the film theorist will, in turn, find material for their interests (among other things, a comparative analysis for aesthetic purposes of romantic and very modern, Saussurian and structuralistic linguistics) and so does the student of the methods and languages ​​of the sciences. Everything is organized according to the foundation of a modern materialistic Aesthetics intended to demonstrate how the social and historical humus of an artistic work can substantiate its aesthetic message to the point that without that humus there is no art. classic or worthy of becoming such.

Galvano della Volpe

Galvano della Volpe, born in Imola in 1895, was a philosopher and professor of the history of philosophy at the University of Messina. Initially linked to the area of Giovanni Gentile, he later turned his interest to the problems of political philosophy and ethics, taking the concept of taste as the main source of the aesthetic judgment itself, publishing books on the history of philosophy and logic addressed in particular to the posthumous works of Marx. He died in Rome in 1968.