Philosophy of Art

exponents.

Thus, the Absolute appears under the exponents of the organic—of organic nature, under the form of the plant, of the animal, in man, in history, and in nature. It would be a great error to believe one could treat any of these parts philosophically, perhaps by transferring principles of philosophy onto it. No, just as every part just mentioned has the desire for the whole Absolute, so it must also be represented in the spirit of the whole. A philosophy of plants would only be possible if the Absolute were represented as expressed within them, and this is so for all other parts. History and nature seem to have nothing in common; the former is an expression of the depth? of the finite, and yet both are representations of the Absolute, only under opposing forms. Philosophy of history would be nothing less than constructing the Absolute in the shape of history. It is no different with the philosophy of art, which represents the Eternal? in the real just as philosophy does in the ideal.
Art is only treated philosophically if it takes the Absolute into itself, and a universu