O ético a partir do belo: sobre a presença de questões morais na estética de Schopenhauer

Abstract

This dissertation consists of an interpretation of Arthur Schopenhauer's aesthetics as a starting point for the exposition and analysis of important issues of his moral philosophy. This proposal can be presented as follows: from the conception and elaborations of Schopenhauerian aesthetics, is it possible to identify ethical components and issues that influence and guide his reflections on the arts and on the beautiful? Are these components and issues significant for elucidating relevant themes of the philosopher's moral reflection? It shows that these issues are only fully evident through the explanation of the bases that integrate the aesthetic scope to the set of the philosopher's metaphysical reflections, as this integration reveals the reflections on the beautiful as one of the facets of the metaphysics of the will, whose Leitmotiv is the interpretation of the moral meaning of the world and human existence. In order to elucidate these issues, a comprehensive analysis of the foundations that explain communication and the “relationship” [Verwandtschaft] between the ethical and aesthetic spheres in the philosopher's thought has become necessary. The analyses have evidenced both the paradigms adopted by Schopenhauer, including the epistemological and methodological foundations of his metaphysical conception, and the way that these issues unfold in the singular perspective from which he conceives the moral and aesthetic spheres. In addition, there has been an attempt to present the notion of moral character as the concept by which he explains the ethical phenomena emphasized in his work, through which the ethical discussion is conducted for the analysis of the beautiful. It sheds light on the presence and meaning of ethical issues highlighted in the philosophy of art and in Schopenhauerian aesthetics, as well as the relevance of this content in the philosopher's work. These topics are addressed in four chapters: in the first one, through the study of the reception of part of the works of Plato and Kant by Schopenhauer, the guiding paradigms of the metaphysical and aesthetic conceptions of the Frankfurt philosopher are highlighted. Such a study has derived into the analysis of how these references helped strengthen the epistemological and methodological conceptions of our philosopher. In the second chapter, the way these methodological conceptions reflected in the ethical and aesthetic spheres is analyzed, thus enabling communication between them, particularly through the conception of Schopenhauerian aesthetics, described by him as “metaphysics of the beautiful”. In the third chapter, the theory of character is presented as one of the fundamental components of Schopenhauer's moral philosophy, pointing out that the objective manifestation and knowledge of the moral character also find an important approach in the analysis of the beautiful. Hence, the characterological study, so important in the philosopher's ethics, is also regarded as a way of leading moral themes to the aesthetic scope. In the last chapter, which is the culmination of the thesis, there is an analysis of the various components through which ethical issues are brought to the discussions about the arts and beauty. This analysis has ranged from the relationship that the philosopher establishes between truth, beauty and sublimity, and moral concepts, addressing the way his moral conception defines relevant aesthetic criteria, to the possibilities of displaying character through the arts and the way that this approach reveals the ethical stages of affirmation and denial of the will.