Aesthetics and Politics

The debate on modernism and realism that began between Ernst Bloch and Georg Lukács in the 1930s became one of the guides of 20th-century aesthetics. The compilation "Aesthetics and Politics" brings together the key texts of this debate, which was also attended by Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, and Bertolt Brecht, in addition to these two philosophers. These texts also constitute a fundamental resource for clarifying some basic concepts of aesthetics: "autonomy and sociality of art," "popular art and elitism," "form-content"...

The modernism-realism conflict emerged on the eve of World War II and lasted until the thawing of the Cold War. It constitutes the aesthetic front of the intense political, social, and cultural struggles of this period. Fredric Jameson's "Afterword" is a study within this framework.

Today, art is losing its autonomy as a result of its privatization, financialization, industrialization, and fusion with communication technologies. Therefore, preserving its political power is of vital importance. Furthermore, a contemporary eclipse of realism is being experienced. In other words, the modernism-realism conflict is not considered to be overcome. For this reason, the "Aesthetics and Politics" debates are still guiding.