From Schein to Erscheinen: Martin Seel and Latest Developments in Aesthetics

The history of aesthetics is basically dominated by the concept of Schein (appearance). Baumgarten has understood art and the aesthetic experience as an experience of semblance or appearance. The Kantian concept of art as free play was also linked to the concept of Schein. For Hegel, the being of the beautiful lies in its Schein. Schein was also central to the aesthetic theories of Walter Benjamin and Theodore Adorno, especially their debate on the the decline of the aura. However, this history has been interrupted by various attempts to depart from the idealistic notion of Schein. Outstanding among these attempts is the concept of Erscheinen (appearing) introduced by the contemporary German philosopher Martin Seel (1954- ). In his Ästhetik des Erscheinens (Aesthetics of Appearing), published in German in 2003 and translated into English in 2005, Seel argues that the aesthetic experience consists in the process, rather than in the final product, of the object’s appearing. He introduces the concept of appearing as a central notion in the aesthetic experience. The present study thus explores Seel’s contributions to aesthetics as represented in the shift from Schein to Erscheinen, together with the notions of resonating and pictorial appearing. By doing so, the study aims to show how Seel makes a shift of attention from art as representation to art as presentation.