CC BY
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Literature: Historic and Contemporary
UDC 14+17+7.01
Irma Bagrationi, Doctor of Philosophy, Assistant Professor, Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University, Georgia
ФИЛОСОФСКИЕ И ЭСТЕТИЧЕСКИЕ КОНЦЕПЦИИ КОНСТАНТИНА
КАПАНЕЛИ
KONSTANTINE KAPANELI'S PHILOSOPHICAL AND AESTHETICAL
CONCEPTIONS
Abstract
The present scientific work outlines famous Georgian philosopher and writer Konstantine Kapaneli's (1889-1952) general philosophical views about the "Philosophy of Life". Giving the ideas of "Philosophy of Life" for Kapaneli was the means of creation his own conception of philosophy. He has adopted "Philosophy of Life" ideas without criticism and gives them only on the first stage of his philosophical thinking before cultivating his own philosophical conception -Organotropism. It is noted that, among the representatives of "Philosophy of Life," German philosopher, founder of "Philosophy of Life" Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) is the most influential person for Kapaneli's philosophical doctrine. Besides that, the work draws interesting parallels between Kapaneli and gnoseological thinking (namely what can a man know about ontological creation of existence) and French representative of "Philosophy of Life " HenriLouis Bergson's (1859-1941) theory of intuition.
The work underlines that the opinion that Nietzsche's announcement — "the existence of the universe may be proved only as aesthetic phenomenon" — defined mainly Kapaneli's demand of not only philosophical, but some attempt of "philosophical and aesthetical system" formation. About the latter one Kapaneli makes his first note in his monograph "Spirit and Idea" (1923) and its fulfilment in his Literature-Related works "The Foundations of Social Aesthetics. Organotropism" (1925), "Social Genesis of Georgian Literature" and "Problems of Narrative" (1928).1
The work defines the essence of "Social Aesthetics" according to the philosophical theory of Organotropism. The conception about the aesthetical for Kapaneli is imagined as the so called Social Aesthetics. A philosophic and aesthetics conceptive definition. So Organotropical principle of aesthetics denies traditional understanding of aesthetics and discusses it as a science studying the emotional side of the universe. Finally, it presents an Aesthetic Sociology. It means the sociological research of the whole life aesthetics of a human being.
1 See: Irma Bagrationi (2008), the Peculiarities of Organotropical Aesthetics // Konstantine Kapaneli's Philosophy, Batumi, Publishing House "Shota Rustaveli State University", pp. 212-245 (In Georgian)
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Keywords: Konstantine Kapaneli, Philosophy of Life, philosophical conception, Aesthetics, Organotropic theory, Georgian Literature
Introduction
In spite of the fact that Konstantine Kapaneli's philosophical and innovative thinking is the twentieth century's most important stage in the history of Georgian philosophy and Literature, it is not studied and researched appropriately. The background for this was created by the social and political reality in which Kapaneli had to do his work. The point is that in the epoch of Marxist ideas, Konstantine Kapaneli, who was educated in France and received doctor's degree at the Universities of Nance and Grenoble, was declared as anti-Marxist and cosmopolitan2. His name and works were forgotten for decades. Only in the last decade it was possible to publish and research Kapaneli's philosophical compositions. Therefore, Kapaneli's philosophical conception is being maintained as the aspect of study; especially his theories of knowledge, culturology and aesthetics, they are not studied. Namely this is the nuance of the present work.
It is well known, that "philosophy of life", namely certain aspects of Friedrich Nietzsche's, Jean Mary Guyau's3, Henri Bergson's, Albert Schweitzer's4, Oswald Spengler's5 and Wilhelm Dilthey's6 philosophy sufficiently influenced Kapaneli's world outlook. Kapaneli did not accept pan logical reduction of the universe that hypertrophied reason and abstract rationalism and turned out untenable when faced with the actual demands. The principal pathos of Kapaneli's philosophy is the opposition of life itself with its irrationality, immediacy and essential unattainability for the rational understanding to reason. The fundamental principle of Kapaneli's world outlook is the general tendency of the philosophy of life: irrationality, nihilism, and reappraisal of the traditional inspirational human values. It is interesting for us here, that main ideas of Nietzsches's philosophy, namely, the problems of suffering and the Superman, occupied their due place in works by Kapaneli. The Georgian thinker attempted to discuss the philosophical values of Nietzsches's doctrine within the context of the Georgian poetry. The work aims to show how much the doctrine of the German philosopher is congenial with the Georgian thinking. According to Kapaneli, main ideas and values of Nietzsches's Culturological doctrine cohere fully with the spirit of the Georgian Literature. The present Georgian philosopher and writer offers his own interpretation of the German thinker and the present work aims at demonstrating this.
2
Eduard Kodua (1989), Introduction/ZKonstantine Kapaneli, Philosophical Works, Tbilisi: "Tbilisi University", p. 5
3
Jean Mary Guyau (1854-1888) - French philosopher, poet and sociologist, representative of existentialism well-known as the author of the theory of Social Sympathy Aesthetics.
4 Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) - German idealist thinker and theologian, owner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophical doctrine of"Reverence ofLife" on the question of the essence of human existence.
5 Oswald Arnold Gottfried Spengler (1880-1936) - German historian and philosopher of history, Cultural Studies Scholar and Sociologist, best known for his book "The Decline of the West", published in 1918 and 1922.
6 Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911) - German idealist and hermeneutic „Philosopher ofLife", historian and sociologist.
I. General Philosophical Conception
As is generally known, Konstantine Kapaneli dedicated his first philosophical letter "Nietzschean Latemotives" (1910) to the question of human existence essence. As we see from the title the author is influenced by Nietzschean philosophy. Kapaneli sharedFriedrich Nietzsche's conviction that philosophy should deeply reflect the personal concerns of individual human beings. But for Nietzsche, this entailed rejection of traditional values, including the Christian religion. Nietzsche's declaration of "the death of god" draws attention to our culture's general abandonment of any genuine commitment to the Christian faith. According toNietzsche's "Twilight of the Idols" (1889), Western philosophers since Socrates7 represents a degeneration of the natural strengths of humanity. A noble taste for heroic styles of life can only be corrupted and undermined by the interminable debates of dialectical reason. Traditional Western morality philosophy therefore opposes a healthy life, trying vainly to escape unfortunate circumstances by destroying native human desires. Only perverse tenacity and cowardice, he believed, encourages us to cling to this servile morality, "It would be braver, more honest, and much nobler to cut ourselves loose and dare to live in a world without God. In such a world, death is not to be feared, since it represents nothing more significant than the fitting conclusion of a life devoted to personal gain" [9, pp. 71-72]. All of this is, of course, a variety of nihilism. It is not difficult to see, that Kapaneli's learning, like Nietzsche, insists that there are no rules for human life, no absolute values and no certainties on which to rely. If truth can be achieved at all, it can come only from an individual who purposefully disregards everything that is traditionally taken to be "important" [7, p. 104]. Such a super-human person, Kapaneli supposed, can live an authentic and successful human life.
It is well known, that Nietzsche offered a quasi-historical account of the harmful consequences of traditional ethics in this work "On the Genealogy of Morals" (1887). "Good" initially and properly designated only the right of those individuals with social and political power to live their lives by sheer force of will. But a "priestly" caste, motivated by their resentment of their natural superiors, generated a corrupt alternative that would appeal to "the herd" of less capable persons, turning values inside-out. In the "slave morality" endorsed by religious establishments, Nietzsche argued, "forceful action which should be admired gets labelled as "evil", while the cowardly tendency to think through everything in advance is transformed into the supposed virtue of prudence" [10, pp. 44-45]
In our opinion, Kapaneli's learning, like Nietzsche, adopts genuine autonomy that could only mean freedom from all external constraints on one's behaviour. In this state of existence, "each individual human being would live a life without the artificial limits of moral obligation" [7, p. 181]. No other sanction on conduct would be necessary than the natural punishment involved in the victory of a superior person over a vanquished enemy. But the wish of lesser people to secure themselves against interference from those who are better gives rise to a false sense of moral responsibility. The natural fear of being overwhelmed by a superior foe becomes internalized as the self-generated sense of guilt, and individual conscience places severe limits
n
Socrates (470-399 BC) was a classical Greek philosopher and a leading Sophist credited as one of the founders of Western Philosophy; He is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially the writings ofhis students Plato and Xenophon and the plays ofhis contemporary Aristophanes.
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on the normal exercise of human desire. Thus, on Kapaneli's view, like Nietzsche the fundamental self-betrayal of the human race is to submit its freedom to the fictitious demands of an imaginary god. Afraid to live by the strength of our own wills, we invent religion as a way of generating and then explaining our perpetual sense ofbeing downtrodden and defeated in life. As it turns out, the question of life essence in Kapaneli's thinking was primarily connected with axiological problematic, like Nietzsche had done it. As a result, Kapaneli realized that a human being should search the essence of one's being in the values, but it cleared out that from these values nothing is eternal and fulfil-able. Accordingly, like Nietzsche Konstantine Kapaneli concluded that the human existence has no essence.
We must note here, that in spite of the fact that Kapaneli's acknowledgement about no rational proof of existence - he still looks for the proof for the human existence - he calls for the life like Albert Schweitzer's learning. This is proved in his work "Culture and Ethics"8 (1923) and the conception given in it "respect towards life". As a result we conclude that philosophical and ethical belief of Kapaneli and Schweitzer on the given point coincide with each other Georgian Philosopher in his find monograph "Spirit and Idea" demands to respect life.
Here it is interesting for us the epistemological thinking of Kapaneli, namely his idea about what can a man know about human being and existence. According to the main principle of theory of knowledge by irrational philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson - intuitionism. In his work "An Introduction to Metaphysics"9, Bergson introduces two ways in which an object can be known: absolutely and relatively. Pertaining to each mode of knowledge is a method through which it can be gained. The latter's method is what Bergson calls analysis, while the method of intuition belongs to the former. Intuition is an experience of sorts, which connects us to the things themselves in themselves. Thus he calls his philosophy the true empiricism. In the following article, analysis and the relative will be explained as a preliminary to understanding intuition, and then intuition and the absolute will be expounded upon. Analysis is always an analysis ad infinitum and one can never reach the absolute. It consists in dividing the object based on the chosen viewpoint and translating the divided fragments into symbols, wherein a specter of the original can be reconstructed. These symbols always distort the part of the object they represent, as they're generalized to include it and every other part they represent. Thus they ignore the object's uniqueness. This is natural, however, as language is the product of commonsense, which is never disinterested. Thus, for example, "mobility is translated into a trajectory line and treated as a row of divisible, immobile points. Symbols are generally always spatial and immobile. This allows science to be predictive and our actions to assert themselves on fixed points. Within philosophy, however, problems arise when the symbols are treated as the objects they represent and when, through composition, the original is expected to be found within the simulacrum" [1, pp. 203-204].
According to Kapaneli's philosophy, like Bergson's learning the cognition of universe is not solid but is subjective and conforming, thus gaining objective and true knowledge about universe
o
See: Albert Schweitzer (1987), the Philosophy of Civilization, Part One, New York: "Prometheus Books", 92-144.
9 See: Henry Bergson (1994), Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness, Moscow, Publishedby "Education", pp. 223-224 (inRussian)
is impossible. According to Kapaneli this fact is also proved by entering depth of events in the cognitive process and substitution of old knowledge by the new one is understood as the negation of knowledge objectiveness. Thus, Kapaneli's gnoseological theory is irrational as he proves that a mind cannot cognize everything. In this case the influence of Henri Bergson on Georgian one is obvious. According to the latter Kapaneli also considers that a mind (and consequently science) "cognizes lifeless universe but it cannot cognize life that exists through time, it undergoes, continuous refreshment and creativity is its characterizing feature what is hidden for the mind is visible only for the intuition" [7, p. 124]. Here we are interested in analyzing the question of ratio of theory of logics in Kapaneli's gnoseological teaching, namely from the principles of evaluation according to Henri-Louis Bergson's irrational Logics. It is noted that similar to Bergson's irrational Logics Kapaneli's theory also shows complete sameness in logics and theory of knowledge - though not so as it is in the system of true forms of thinking but as it is between organotropical categories. It means that logics depicts the nature of cognition, and theory of knowledge depicts logical knowledge but so that both of them are pure sophism. As it is understood from the present work, for Kapaneli scientific thinking of the universe is relativistic, subjective, psychological and irrational doctrine and thus it is impossible to gain objective and true knowledge about universe. Consequently, according to Kapaneli's Organotropical Philosophy, not one precondition of scientific theory has the basis even in the universe, in the universe in which, according to his words, are many inclines from the causality.
II. Philosophical Analysis of Culture
Within the framework of philosophical analysis of culture by Konstantine Kapaneli it is important and riveting question to research the basic aspects of the historical types of European culture. Kapaneli in his work "Spirit and Idea" outlines the European culture as the unique phenomenon, giving common intellectual values that are literally in all areas of spiritual and material activity. From the point of view of Georgian Philosopher only three generations of cultural workers of the Ancient Greece have created art of high classics, have put in pawn bases of a western civilization and images for imitation for many millennia. The culture of Ancient Rome, which in many respects has continued antique traditions of Greece differs religious restraint and external expediency. The culture of Ancient Rome in many respects has defined culture of the subsequent epoch in the Europe. Kapaneli underlines the strangeness and peculiarities of the Hellenistic period of European Culture insofar, according to him, the Hellenistic age represented a cultural decline from the brilliance of classical Greece. Though this comparison is now seen as unfair and meaningless, it has been noted that even commentators of the time saw the end of a cultural era which could not be matched again. This may be inextricably linked with the nature of government. From the point of view of Georgian philosophy "the spread of Greek culture throughout the Near East and Asia owed much to the development of cities. Settlements situated on trade routes allowed cultures to mix and spread. The identification of local gods with similar Greek deities facilitated the building of Greek-style temples, and the Greek culture in the cities also meant that buildings such as gymnasia became common. Many cities maintained their autonomy while under the nominal rule of the local king, and often had Greek-style institutions. Greek dedications, statues, architecture and inscriptions have all been found. However, local cultures were not replaced, and often mixed to create a new
culture" [7, p. 124]. As it turns out, in Kapaneli's opinion, Culture is the imprint within historic reality of the consciousness, the expression and realization of the world of the soul. The formation of the environment within these conscious limits outlines a specific culture. The conscience of a group is the same as its culture.
Kapaneli's learning, like the Oswald Spengler's work "The Decline of the West", adopts an organic conception of Culture. Primitive Culture is simply a collection, or sum, of its constituent and incoherent parts. Higher Culture, in its maturity and coherence, becomes an organism in its own right. The Culture is capable of sublimating the various customs, myths, techniques, arts, peoples and classes into a single strong diffused historical tendency. As we know, Spengler divides the concepts of Culture and Civilization, the former focused inward and growing, the latter outward and merely expanding. However, he sees Civilization as the destiny of every Culture. The transition is not a matter of choice - it is not the conscious will of individuals, classes, or peoples that decides. "Whereas Cultures are 'things-becoming', Civilizations are the thing-become" [11, p. 142]. As the conclusion of a Culture's arc of growth, Civilizations are outwardly focused, and in that sense artificial or insincere. Civilizations are what Cultures become when they are no longer creative and growing. For example, Spengler points to the Greeks and Romans, saying that the imaginative Greek Culture declined into wholly practical Roman Civilization.
Here it needs to be noticed, that Kapaneli uses the two terms - Culture and Civilization in a specific manner, loading them with particular values. For him, Civilization is what a Culture becomes once its creative impulses wane and become overwhelmed by critical impulses. Culture is the becoming, Civilization is the thing become. It is best known that Spengler suggests: "Western Culture has not yet completed its life-cycle, although it has already reached 'late adulthood'; another High Culture has started to manifest itself in Russia. However, because it was 'born' comparatively recently, this culture is handicapped through trying to absorb alien ideas from the much older Western organism" [7, p. 114]. It is interesting for us, that Kapaneli calls this phenomenon a "pseudomorphosis": "the sample example of a pseudomorphosis was his Magian Culture, which grew up in the shadow of various older civilisations, in particular the Classical, causing it to become distorted and fragmented into Byzantine, Hebrew, Coptic and other components" [7, p. 152]. From the point of view of Kapaneli "Like individual people, cultural organisms differ in character, ability and aptitude. Thus, calculus and the theory of mathematical functions, soaring Gothic cathedrals and a music based on fugal composition all express characteristically Western passions, which include a love for vast wide-open spaces as well as an intense interest in the distant past and concern for the far future" [7, p. 171]. In Kapaneli's conclusions about European culture there is much that is catastrophic, but let this not astonish you, for we are speaking about the most catastrophic period of human history - the apocalypse of Europe, the body and spirit of which are being rent asunder by horrors. Without a doubt, volcanic contradictions are implanted in Europe, which, if they are not removed, can be resolved only by the final destruction ofEuropean culture.
According to Kapaneli, the major feature of the European medieval culture is the special role of Christian dogma and church. In conditions of general decline of culture right after destructions of Roman Empire only the church within many centuries remained unique social
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institute, the general for all European countries, tribes and the states. Concerning the Renaissance culture Kapaneli points out: "when people think of the Renaissance the usually think of Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel, Leonardo da Vinci and his Mona Lisa, and Florence; It was not only a cultural movement associated with the arts, but a movement also associated with the study of ancient Greek and Latin works" [7, p. 182] Thus, for Kapaneli the Humanists were the intellectual leaders of the Renaissance. During the Renaissance people were focused on the individual and life. The Renaissance was full of new ideas. The Renaissance was very tolerable of religion, and a break from the traditional form of the church did not mean that people separated themselves from religious teachings and ideas. In fact, during the Renaissance there was a large number of religious paintings and sculptures. The humanists also valued a normal life and thought that people should get married and have families and focus on life and enjoy its pleasures.
Kapaneli's research, like the Russian Cultural Studies Scholar and Sociologist Lev Ilich Mechnikov's work "Civilization and Great Historical Rivers"10, is devoted to a historical and geographical roots and analysis of the ancient civilizations of Europe. As we know, from the point of view of Mechnikov "the processes of the formation of creation foci of civilizations, the expansion of their "living space" over the course of long-term development, and the effect of a territory's landscape structure on the growth of the economic basis of civilization - agriculture, the role of the natural environment for the growth of spiritual culture, and the significance of foreign relations and cultural scope. An attempt is made to clarify the reasons for the stability of ancient traditions and the lag of civilizations behind global scientific, technical, and economic progress in the new age" [8, p. 101]. According to the latter Kapaneli also holds that progress of social culture is determined by the physic and geographic, principally hydrosphere environment. He considers river, sea and ocean as the root factors in the origin and development of civilization, are closely related to geographical determinism.
Like the English Cultural Studies Scholar and Historian and positivist Sociologist, a representative of Geographical Determinism, Henry Thomas Buckle's (1821-1862) work "History of Civilization in England" (1857-61)11, Kapaneli's theory of culture affirms that the advance of European civilization is characterized by a continually diminishing influence of physical laws, and a continually increasing influence of mental laws; that the mental laws that regulate the progress of society cannot be discovered by the metaphysical method, that is, by the introspective study of the individual mind, but only by such a comprehensive survey of facts as enable us to eliminate disturbances, that is, by the method of averages; that human progress has been due, not to moral agencies, which are stationary, and which balance one another in such a manner that their influence is unfelt over any long period, but to intellectual activity, which has
10 As far as we know in 1884, Russian Sociologist and Geographer Lev Ilyich Mechnikov's (1838-1888) concept of Geographical Determinism was published as the work "Civilization and the Great Historical Rivers". In this work he presented a "geographical theory of progress and social development" ignoring the mode of production and exaggerating the influence of the natural environment of the history ofhuman society.
As we have seen, Thomas Buckle argued that progress depends primarily on the advancement of knowledge and its diffusion throughout a society. But the desire for new knowledge must be preceded by doubt. If people believe they already know everything they need to know, and if they hold their beliefs with a sense of infallible certainty, then they will have no motive to seek additional knowledge or to improve upon the knowledge they already have.
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been constantly varying and advancing; that the progress of civilization varies directly as scepticism, the disposition to doubt and to investigate, and inversely as credulity or the protective spirit, a disposition to maintain, without examination, established beliefs and practices; And Thomas Buckle points out: "the great division between European and non-European civilization turns on the fact that in Europe man is stronger than nature and that elsewhere nature is stronger than man, the consequence of which is that in Europe alone has man subdued nature to his service" [2, p. 207]. According to the latter Kapaneli also attributes the peculiarities of the cultural development of various peoples to the influence of natural factors. According to author of Organotropism the moral physiognomy of peoples, the character of their culture and the forms of development of culture are conditioned by climate, soil, landscape and the size of territory. It means the life of culture is active, multiform and in eternal motion.
III. Aesthetic Conception
It is not difficult to see that for Kapaneli aesthetic ideal, according to the main principle of Social Aesthetics, has a meaning by preventive only social sympathy aesthetics, as the author of the letter French philosopher and sociologist Jean Mary Guyau (1854-1888) in his work "Problems of Contemporary Aesthetics" discusses the highest aesthetic value by social point of view12. The main principle of Guyau's Social Philosophy - life reaches its highest intensity in the socium as collaboration and in order to make it solid, it must deserve social sympathy -unchangeably takes it into his aesthetics. Thus, for Guyau aesthetic ideal, first of all is a realization of the feelings. And by this, must be harmonized individuality and sociality. Right aesthetic ideal of social sympathy represents the depiction of suitable aesthetic value for Kapaneli.
As far as we know Kapaneli in his work "The Foundations of Social Aesthetics" represents reference to ideal as comprising three main aspects: Reference to Ideal as viewed from the ontological spectrum - analysed to cognize the essence of the human existence; Reference to Ideal as viewed from the organic understanding, referential analysis with aesthetic ideal and Reference to Ideal as viewed from the historical spectrum - referential analysis with evolution of ideals.
Our opinion is that for Kapaneli aesthetic ideal is an output of time and conditions, as out sorted one. What is eternal was created during the time-reference conditions. The output of time is not authentically eternal; we do abhor the aesthetic ideals once admired; what is admired today is destined to be ignored by tomorrow as essential and important - suggested by the works of Kapaneli, who slaved to the ideals of "Philosophy ofLife" in Georgia.
Within the aesthetic doctrines on the question of the aesthetic categories, it is interesting for us Kapaneli's views of aesthetic category of beauty. What is beauty? Where it was born and what is the idea of beauty? Is the object itself beautiful, or a human can generate the idea of beauty and conceptualize something as beautiful? [6, pp. 270-277]. To the ever urgent questions of a masterful creativity. The idea of beauty is given birth together with a human. Just at the moment when the perception of ideal starts, the latter constituting itself as an inevitable
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See: Jean Mary Guyau (1997), Problems of Contemporary Aesthetics, the Third Edition, Translated from France to English by Andrew Bowie, Los Angeles, Published by "De Vorss", pp. 91-112.
component of the psychological complex. Beauty is idealistic bridge of organic feeling to soul, transference from individual to universal by means of illusion. The richer is an individual's world of illusion, the quicker the image of the life as an aesthetic phenomenon emerges. Beauty has a spiritual existence, it turns into reality through the waves of illusions and passion of emotions. Thereby, according to Kapaneli, the image ofbeauty is an illusion of an individual.
IV. Conception of Art
Kapaneli devoted special research - "Foundations of Social Aesthetics. Organotropism" - to the explanation of the problem and essence of art through the Organotropic spectrum. He discerns links between creativity and versatile forms of art developments and social and climatic factors: "The art of different epochs and people differ as all the parts of the world, all the epochs have differences" [7, p. 224]. Dwelling on the subject in his research further, Kapaneli advocates art is of no value itself, and it should be valued inasmuch as it serves social necessities.13 Subsequently, we would emphasize on one of the novelties in Kapaneli's research, what is stressed on as introduction of sociological problems into the Georgian mentality and its' cognition via Organotropism. The stipulation drives us to art perception in unison and inseparably with the society and environment, so as the environmental approach to art should be analyzed. In 1912 Kapaneli published series of philosophical letters "Idea of Suffering and Poetry about Supermen in Georgian Literature" (in Russian). We are interested in the fifth and the last of these letters. Here the author analyses circumstances that generate artistic creativity [5, №45]. In this connection, he has his own peculiar conception of poetry of a Georgian poet Nikoloz Baratashvili (1817-1845)14. In this conception, in our opinion, influence of Wilhelm Dilthey is quite obvious.
As Kapaneli points out, every artist has its own world: "Nikoloz Baratashvili too has his own world like this, which is the world of furious, Prometheus passions, the world of infinite desire for spontaneous aspiration for cosmos; the world that is in strike against human limitations" [5, p. №32]. From the point of view of Georgian philosophy, just the social and economic events are not enough for explanation of artistic creativity. The feelings of an artist are of decisive importance. An artist unconsciously moves forward to "his inner desire for art" [ibid]. Just psychological factors are those that force him for creation. "A poet creates his fictional images only by his emotions and the fuller they are expressed, the easier they may be achieved by an objective observer" [ibid]. Poetry reflexes spiritual flame of a person, who always is in search and strive for something - believes Kapaneli and assumes that "the only possible and reliable way to investigate poetry lies through psychological analysis of poetical emotions" [ibid].
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As is generally known, Kapaneli in his research: "Spirit and Idea" suggests new conception of the world perception -Organotropism. The essence ofKapaneli's approach to the issue is finding explanation to art and other aspects of existence with adaptation and accommodation with the organic and biological environment. The author cogitates the essence and form of all the subjects events or processes is pre-anticipated and pre-defined with the environment conditions, enrolling among them geographic and geological environment.
PrinceNikoloz "Tato" Baratashvili- one of the first Georgians to marry modern nationalism withEuropean Romanticism and to introduce "Europeanism" into Georgian Literature. Due to his early death, Baratashvili left a relatively small literary heritage of fewer than forty short lyrics and a few private letters, but he is nevertheless considered to be the high point of Georgian Romanticism. He was referred to as the "Georgian Lord Gordon Byron".
It is not difficult to see likeness of this viewpoint with aesthetic reflections of Dilthey, who believes that "significance of an artistic work is determined by the fact that life perceived in emotions is ideal and is achieved by emotional character of the reflected events" [3, p. 314]. At the same time, Dilthey assumes that "poetry stands out of other art environment by its emotional relation to the viewpoint", since, as he believes, "the tool it (i.e. poetry -1. B.) Uses - language -makes possible lyrical expression and epical, or dramatic reflection of everything that may be experienced" [3, p. 317]. Because of it, as he claims, "viewpoint is impossible to be expressed in a work of art but it determines its inner appearance" [3, p. 31]. It is interesting to find out what caused this attitude of Dilthey. As we know from the history of philosophy, among principles of existence of physical bodies Wilhelm Dilthey divides life into existence of physical bodies and human way of life, cultural and historical reality. To his opinion, human existence as a life is studied by "mental sciences" that are to be based on psychology.15
This general philosophical attitude of Dilthey determined his peculiar aesthetic doctrine claiming that the universal source of artistic creativity is "the context given for inner life" to an individual, i.e. something that emotional world of human "gets" on the emotional basis. By Dilthey's opinion, source like this is hidden in every person and opens up only at manifestation of artistic ability. Individual emotions guide ideas and activities of an artist [3, p. 257], claims Dilthey. Aesthetical work by Dilthey "The World View and Analysis of a Human Starting from the Period of Reformation and Renaissance" (1905), where certain artistic world views are ascribed to corresponding psychological types, was of our special interest. In the second chapter named as "Types of World Views in Poetry and Literature", Dilthey considers that "united connection of personal feelings of each poet shapes up spirits of artistic outlook" and "types of world views like these may be seen in psalms, choruses of antic tragedies, sonnets of Dante and Shakespeare, elevated lyrics of Goethe" [3, p. 259]. The author separates four types of the artistic characters and assumes that the determining factor for them is the peculiarities of psychological constitution revealing itself in emotional relation with the outer world realities.16 Hence, one may say that according to aesthetic of Dilthey, type and temperament of an artist, his creative self and
15 See: Guram Tevzadze (1970), Bourgeois Philosophy ofXX Century, Tbilisi: "Kvari", pp. 91-92 (In Georgian)
16 It is known, that attempts to disclose the psychology of creative work by the idealistic-philosophical theories of "intuition", "unconscious work" and others are not of scientific interest, inasmuch as their authors erroneously consider creative work as an unexplained phenomenon, accessible only to the elect. Often enough the role of any labor or any activity whatsoever, including thinking, has been denied in the act of creation; it was considered that the discovery of the new comes about by itself or as a result of unconscious work. Here it needs to be noticed that materialist philosophy proceeds from the fact that creative work, in its developed forms, is a result of labor. The motives and aims of creative activity arise from the requirements of society and the possibility of solving a given creative problem appears when the conditions necessary for it are provided in the course of social development. Scientists, inventors, artists make use of the knowledge and the means which have been worked out and stored in the development of science, technology and the arts. However, the creative element proper often presupposes the discovery of a new mode, means or method of action, reflecting the properties and relations of objects and phenomena hitherto unknown. Concentrating all his attention on a task, man usually cannot observe himself, and that is why often enough the finding of the solution is experienced by him as something sudden, although in reality it is the result of an intensive and persisting work. Creative activity demands the maximum application of the initiative, knowledge and abilities of man. Such application is reflected in the will and the particular emotional conditions depicted in detail in many works of philosophy [See: Psychology of Creative Work//A Dictionary of Philosophy (1967), Revised Edition, Second Printing, Moscow: "Progress Publishers", pp. 371-372 (In English)]
his subjective self are evenly placed on the same world view plane.
We cannot determine to which psychological type of artist attributes Kapaneli Nikoloz Baratashvili, but it is obvious that he agrees with opinion of Dilthey about artistic creation to be determined by the character of emotions and feelings of the artist. By his own words: "the main basis for artistic worldview is life and every strong impression shows life to an artist from a special angle and at that time the world shows up in unique colors" [5, p. №38]. Here it needs to be noticed that influence of Dilthey on Kapaneli's opinion about determining factor of the character of an artistic activity is not accidental. The fact is that after this work by Dilthey, psychological interest to classification of artistic types came forward in art philosophy. As an example, we may name Eduard Shpranger (1882-1963), also representative of the "Philosophy of Life" who has performed more concrete and universal analyze of individual types of artistic characters in his work "Life Forms" (1914).17 Based on our specific goal, we think that it is worthy to notice the following circumstance: Kapaneli points out that poetic perception is individual and transfers every event around him into personal feelings. He believes that although poetic creativity is not divided into subjective and objective events, but at the same time, "expressing the objective will of the world" it "comprises the whole world in life entirety, it is aspiration for the absolute" [ibid],
Kapaneli never put the question about the way creativity could express "the objective will of the world" and "aspiration for the absolute", when it fails to reflect social and economic processes, because they are objective and not subjective-psychological phenomena. Naturally, he also never tried to answer this question. In this connection we agree with a Georgian philosopher and Sociologist Eduard Kodua (1929-2002) in his opinion that if creativity fully excludes ability of objective expression, it would concern objective will as well as social and economic issues. As one may see, Kapaneli excludes the second option leaving the first as possible. Nevertheless, objectivity as an argument should be the same for the both of the issues. This problem does not concern Kapaneli since the process of "the objective will of the world, aspiration for the absolute" to him are psychological processes that are certain predeterminations of existence of the objective world and take place in a receptive subject. Hence, "the will of the world" expressed in art is specified by the artistic individuality of an artist. This last statement of Kapaneli might be the reflection of tendency, which is known as relativism in aesthetics18 and is marked in aesthetic conception of "Philosophy of Life".19 It was principles of relativity in aesthetics that lead Kapaneli to talk about subjective character of an artistic work and point out
See: Katharine Everett Gilbert, Helmut Kuhn (1999), A History of Aesthetics, Second Edition and Revised and Enlarged, London, Published by "Thames and Hudson", pp. 414-417 (In English)
lo
See: A Small Dictionary of Aesthetics (1964), Edited by Michail Fedotovich Ovsiannikov and Boris Alekseevich Razumni, Moscow, Published by "Progress Publishers", pp. 74-75 (In Russian)
19 As we know, relativism in aesthetics means rejection of the objective matter in aesthetic sense, taste, argumentation and
idea. Therefore, it means denial of existence of objective criteria for assessment of the types of artistic activities. Aesthetic Relativism was developed by an English idealist philosopher and psychologist David Hume (1711-76). He tried to prove that one should not debate about taste, as it is subjective in its meaning. The principle of relativity found its wide use in
aesthetics of "Philosophy of Life". German philosopher and philosopher of culture Georg Simmel (1858-1918) tried to prove that aesthetical sense in all of its revelations and in art among them is totally subjective. That is why, in his opinion,
search for objective criteria of evaluation of aesthetic taste, stile, ideal and artistic creation is absolutely baseless [See: Katharine Everett Gilbert, Helmut Kuhn (1999), A History of Aesthetics, Second Edition, London, Published by "Thames andHudson", pp. 621-627 (InEnglish)
16
that searching for the objective criteria of an artistic work assessment is not consequential. We agree with this opinion to some extent, because complete denial of relativity of the forms of artistic-aesthetic perceptions is impossible, but it needs also to be admitted that there is objective substance, elements of the objective reality presented in all of these forms and artistic images. Reasoning from the previously mentioned and taking into consideration history of aesthetics we may conclude that "Philosophy of Life" which made a great impact on today's modern aesthetic conceptions is such an important source of aesthetic theory of Kapaneli that he was fairly named as an introducer ofideas of"Philosophy ofLife" in Georgia.
It is interesting here for us, why and how made Kapaneli sociological analysis of separate figures of art. "Georgian Spirit in Aesthetic Figures" (1926) is Kapaneli's first attempt to systematically discuss the development of fiction on the background of main principles of Organotropic Sociology. It shows how Kapaneli made the analysis of the 19th century's Georgian fiction analysis sociologically. The creation of Kapaneli have great importance from the standpoint of research of Georgian culture. Art, particularly the research of sociological problems of Georgian fiction is highly due to philosophical action of Kapaneli. The author based on his elaborated Organotropism principles was first who tried to show the sociological analysis of classical Georgian fiction and World Art that laid the ground to the development of Art Sociology in Georgia. Based on Organotropism principles the sociological analysis of fiction means to shift all subjects of the fiction in genesis area, that itself means to consider fiction in the connection of uninterrupted and universal relations to the condition. According to the Art Sociology of Kapaneli, "face, style and form of culture, speech and internal structure, idea or tendency are in organic connection to condition and are coming straight from it. Condition forms the social psychology of Nation that defines Art at last".20 In studding fiction from the best point of view Kapaneli widely discussed the subject of social psychology of Georgian Nation. And this took place at the beginning of twenty century, time when research of social psychology was a new subject not only in Georgian, but European reality as well. Hence the serious research started only in the forties of this century while Kapaneli had tried to discuss the most difficult problems of social psychology of Georgian Nation significantly earlier. Based on Organotropism Kapaneli showed the analysis of Georgian fiction on one side; and on the other he tried to find its place in the general making culture. Hence in the process of research there were many renewals expressed in the following: to create art sociology in Georgia and try to study Georgian fiction; to search social psychology of Nation and on this base to discuss fiction. Kapaneli discusses main principle of art sociology toward music art, namely in his work "Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner" (1933). As Kapaneli points out "painting, sculpturology, graphical art takes such style that is demanded by the social life interest".21 Art of theatre is the most special event among Kapaneli's sociological interest. From Kapaneli's point of view, the whole mixture of the art of theatre - dramaturgy, director, designer-decorator, composer and artist - these are people whose power evaluation should the conducted considering social reality. Accordingly, Kapaneli made a
20
See: Irma Bagrationi (2004), Conception of Art in Konstantine Kapaneli's Organotropism // Philosophical Investigations, Eighth Collected Articles of the Academy of Philosophical Sciences of Georgia, Tbilisi, Publishing House "Universali", pp. 190-207 (InGeorgian)
21 See: Ibid.
basis of not only Art Sociology but its separate figures one into Georgian aesthetic thinking.
We should agree with Kapaneli in his stipulation, that the package of social and historical conditions of all people through centuries make peculiar the aesthetic ideals and principles of art. Thereby, there is an ingrained truth in his stipulation, although generalizing and making absolute this particular stipulation can turn it absurd and erroneous approach. Meanwhile, basing on the principles of relativism, Kapaneli, struggling with absolutism, often outlines moments of reality is absolute. Nevertheless, we should not forget, that all the novelties are intervolved with obstacles and difficulties and the latter are inter-chained with erring. We presume the key issue is that Kapaneli presented to critical thinking the research which deserves much discussions can be estimated as virtually interesting for the philosophical thinking.
Conclusion:
One of the founders of Georgian "Philosophy of Life" Konstantine Kapaneli, who had European educational background, valued highly voluntaristic and anti-rationalistic ideas of his "spiritual father" - Friedrich Nietzsche. Besides Nietzsche, his Organotropism owes to a number ofEuropean philosophers of anti-rationalistic learning. At the same time, Kapaneli reconciled his Organotropical ideas with the Georgian reality of his period - with some principles of Marxist philosophy. In the present work Kapaneli's Organotropism is characterized as a kind of the epistemological relativism and anti-rationalism, also as a thought that provides impulses for philosophical and anthropological inquiries.
After perception of the world-view of Kapaneli, it gets obvious that ideas of "Philosophy of Life" are of particular interest of the Georgian philosopher. Giving the ideas of "Philosophy of Life" for Kapaneli was the means of creation his own conception of philosophy. He has adopted "Philosophy of Life" ideas without criticism and gives them only on the first stage of his philosophical thinking before cultivating his own philosophical conception. One may say that the ideas of"Philosophy ofLife" have contributed to Kapaneli's own philosophical conceptions.
We can see that by the influence of "Philosophy of Life" the reality in Kapaneli's works is perceived as the flow of life, and all the events of culture - the specific form to perceive the completeness of life. Accordingly, life is represented irrationally. And like the "Philosophy of Life" it is characterized by special attention towards the irrational foundations of cultural and creative process, namely it addresses the myth, as the depiction of the essence of culture. To prove this, Kapaneli explains the importance of myth factors for the Greek culture.
From the above-mentioned we may conclude that Kapaneli after creating his own original and completely new philosophical conception, discusses all phenomena of the universe and among them art as well by Organotropical formula. Aesthetic conceptions of Kapaneli is deemed interesting for research primarily because his scientific stipulations have not been given much securitization and analysis yet. Secondly, the original resolutions found to the problems yields a wide spectrum of debatable issues. What is transparent, is acknowledgement of Kapaneli as a thinker, who upraises the universe as an aesthetic phenomenon, therefore aiming to create not only a philosophical, but also philosophical and aesthetical system.
References:
1. Bergson Henry (1994), Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness, Moscow, Published by "Education" (In Russian)
2. Buckle Thomas Henry (2011), History of Civilization in England, Cambridge: "Cambridge University Press" & "University Printing House" (In English).
3. Dilthey Wilhelm (1995), Types of World Views or Analysis of a Human Starting from the Period of Reformation and Renaissance//Culturology. XX Century. Anthology, Moscow, Publishing House "Prentice-Hall" (In Russian)
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5. Kapaneli Konstantine (1912), Idea of Suffering and Poetry about Supermen in Georgian Literature//Journal "Zakavkazskaia Rech", №32 (1912), №38 (1912), №45, Tbilisi (In Russian)
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8. Mechnikov Lev Ilich (2015), Civilization and Great Historical Rivers. Geographical Theory of Development of Modern Societies, Series: "Russian History Books", Fourth Revised Edition, Moscow, Published by: "Progress Publishers" (In Russian).
9. Nietzsche Friedrich (1997), Twilight of the Idols or How to Philosophize with the Hammer, Translated by Richard Polt, Cambridge: "Hackett Publishing Company" (In English)
10. Nietzsche Friedrich (2003), On the Genealogy of Morals, Translated by Horace Samuel, Mineola, New York: "Dover Publications" (In English)
11. Shpranger Eduard (1972), Life Forms (Psychology and Ethics of Person)//Education through Art, London, Published by "Faber and Faber" (In English)
12. Spengler Oswald Arnold (1991), the Decline of the West, the Second Edition, Translated by Charles Francis Atkinson, Oxford: "Oxford University Press" (In English).
Information about the author:
Irma Bagrationi - Doctor of Philosophy is an Assistant Professor (in Ethics, Religion and Aesthetics) of Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University (Georgia, Batumi, Ninoshvili Street 35, 6010) Mobile Phone: (+995) 599 947 668 E-mail: irmabag@yahoo.com
