The Emergence of Modern Aesthetic Theory

Broad in its geographic scope and yet grounded in original archival research, this book situates the inception of modern aesthetic theory – the philosophical analysis of art and beauty - in theological contexts that are crucial to explaining why it arose. Simon Grote presents seminal aesthetic theories of the German and Scottish Enlightenments as outgrowths of a quintessentially Enlightenment project: the search for a natural 'foundation of morality' and a means of helping naturally self-interested human beings transcend their own self-interest. This conclusion represents an important alternative to the standard history of aesthetics as a series of preludes to the achievements of Immanuel Kant, as well as a reinterpretation of several canonical figures in the German and Scottish Enlightenments. It also offers a foundation for a transnational history of the Enlightenment without the French philosophes at its centre, while solidly endorsing historians' growing reluctance to call the Enlightenment a secularising movement.

• Proposes a new way of understanding the history of aesthetic theory within a broader intellectual context
• Reinterprets several canonical figures of the Enlightenment in Germany and Scotland, such as Francis Hutcheson and Alexander Baumgarten
• Offers the most deeply researched account of William Cleghorn, Adam Ferguson's teacher and an important but seldom-studied figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, introducing him to a wider audience