Aleksei Fedorovich Losev (1893-1988) was among the greatest Russian philosophers, thinkers, and classicists of the twentieth century. A contemporary of Mikhail Bakhtin, and a scholar of astonishing erudition, his work remained almost unknown to the public until the fall of communism in 1990. The Dialectics of Myth, published here for the first time in English, remains his foremost achievement. Setting out a provocative and spiritually informed account of the way that myth informs secular and religious ideologies, it challenges limited interpretations of myths as mere poetic allegories, primitive scientific constructs, or channels for religious dogma and political fabrication. Insisting upon the miraculous elements of myth, the book creates a powerful and readable defence for mythic experience as a genuine part of consciousness, reality, and being.

Aleksei Fedorovich Losev (1893-1988) was among the greatest Russian philosophers, thinkers and classicists of the twentieth century. A contemporary of Mikhail Bakhtin, and a scholar of astonishing erudition, his work remained almost unknown to the public until the fall of communism in 1990. The Dialectics of Myth, published here for the first time in the English language, remains his foremost achievement. Setting out a provocative and spiritually informed account of the way that myth informs secular and religious ideologies, it challenges limited interpretations of myths as mere poetic allegories, primitive scientific constructs, or channels for religious dogma and political fabrication. Insisting upon the miraculous elements of myth, the book creates a powerful and readable defence for mythic experience as a genuine part of consciousness, reality and being.

What is the role of art in modern society? To what extent are the beautiful and the morally good intertwined? Hegel's Political Aesthetics explores Hegel's take on these ever-relevant philosophical questions and investigates three key themes: art's contribution to modern ethical life, the loss of art's authority in modern ethical life and ways of thinking beyond Hegel's analysis of art's role in society. The aesthetic is explored through the lens of German Idealism from Kant to Hegel, ultimately placing ethics and morality at the forefront of this debate. The authors explore Hegel's take on Kant's conception by historicizing what it means to be responsible to others, which for Hegel means being free within the norms of society, within what he calls ethical life. As a set of concrete social arrangements designed for finite human beings, however, ethical life falls short of actualizing freedom absolutely. The themes in this volume are motivated by a central ambivalence in Hegel's thinking about modernity. The question of freedom sits at the forefront of this text, alongside the relation between art and the spirit. This book will be of particular interest to philosophers of aesthetics, politics and ethics.

What is the role of art in modern society? To what extent are the beautiful and the morally good intertwined? Hegel's Political Aesthetics explores Hegel's take on these ever-relevant philosophical questions and investigates three key themes: art's contribution to modern ethical life, the loss of art's authority in modern ethical life and ways of thinking beyond Hegel's analysis of art's role in society. The aesthetic is explored through the lens of German Idealism from Kant to Hegel, ultimately placing ethics and morality at the forefront of this debate. The authors explore Hegel's take on Kant's conception by historicizing what it means to be responsible to others, which for Hegel means being free within the norms of society, within what he calls ethical life. As a set of concrete social arrangements designed for finite human beings, however, ethical life falls short of actualizing freedom absolutely. The themes in this volume are motivated by a central ambivalence in Hegel's thinking about modernity. The question of freedom sits at the forefront of this text, alongside the relation between art and the spirit. This book will be of particular interest to philosophers of aesthetics, politics and ethics.