Back For The First Time

Theodor Ardono is calling for the liberation of the arts in his essay, "Aesthetic Theory." Why? Because it's about time we start deciding what is sublime and what is not. And it won't have anything to do with what we've been taught. "Art's essence cannot be deduced from its origin as if the first work were a foundation on which everything that followed were constructed and would collapse if shaken." (2) Origins do not penetrate art the way that origins do with learning. Art does not follow objective didactic rules (or shouldn't), nor should it be governed by those. "One paints a painting, not what it represents."(qtd. Shoenberg, p 4) Adorno argues against empiricism, suggesting that art must have its own identity. The truth's truth is self-identity, not a fictitious objectivity. "Truth exists exclusively as that which has become." (3)