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Can Heidegger's Poetic Saying Account for More (or Less) Than Great Artworks?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2017

OLIVIER MATHIEU
OLIVIER MATHIEU*
Affiliation:
COLLÈGE DE [email protected]
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Abstract:

In this paper I mobilize the Heideggerian concept of poetic saying [Dichtung] to describe features that pertain to the accomplishment of an artwork in the institutional setting of an artworld. Following Binkley and Davies, I first describe performances generative of artworks as ‘piece-specification’. I argue that a condition of ‘artistic creativity’ bears upon piece-specification that is insufficiently accounted for by these authors and that Heidegger's concept of poetic saying can help flesh it out. To that end, I show that it is at least coherent with some of Heidegger's phenomenological insights to argue that (1) poetic sayings are not necessarily tied to the advent of ‘great artworks’ and that (2) poetic sayings thus lend themselves to an analysis that views them as the intentional accomplishment of a meaning-event [Sinnereignis]. I then use the intentional structure of poetic sayings to describe how one can intend to achieve piece-specification in a creative yet recognizable manner.

Keywords

Heideggerartistic creativityDavid DaviesDichtungaestheticsphilosophy of artpiece-specification
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , Spring 2017 , pp. 51 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2017 

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