stood as a kind of historical event, just as knowing absolutely is not a
state or possession but rather a form of activity.
So if there can be no end of spirit, how can there be an end of art?
Danto is in need of an argument for the claim that there is a disanalogy
between artistic and philosophical activity, such that art comes to an end
in history once it reaches its culmination, whereas philosophy does not.
My thesis is that no such argument can be derived from Hegel’s own
writings, not even from his lectures on aesthetics. In order to argue for
this thesis it is necessary to have a closer look at what Hegel’s talk about
the end of art amounts to.
- Hegel’s Thesis
2.1 KUNSTRELIGION AND THENEWROLE FORARTIn his 1823 lectures on the philosophy of art, Hegel says:
Thus we have completed the circle of art. Art in its sincerity belongs to the
past for us.... We need thought.^17This passage seems to be an impressive confirmation of Danto’s inter-
pretation of Hegel. But is it? The answer depends on what is meant by
‘the circle of art’ and how the qualification ‘in its sincerity’ is to be
understood. So, what exactly belongs to the past? And, finally, who is
included in the rather obscure ‘we’? We moderns? We philosophers? We
philosophers of art? The interpretive issues that are raised by this remark
cannot be settled in abstraction from its wider context. When Hegel
develops his philosophy of art he does not start from scratch but con-
tributes to, and takes sides in, a complex art-theoretical discussion in
German philosophy and literary criticism. Therefore, it is necessary to
revisit briefly the central art-theoretical debate of the period between
Lessing and Schelling, concerning the role of art in the development of
humanity. I will focus on F. Schlegel’s and Schelling’s positions in this
debate, because their respective conceptions of the ‘infinite’, the ‘unlim-
ited possibilities’ of art are the main target of Hegel’s dense and enig-
matic remarks about the end of art.
(A) SCHLEGELJust like Schleiermacher and Novalis, Friedrich Schlegel agrees
with Schiller that Christian religion does not, in modern times, any
longer play a vital role and that modern art is best fit to replace religion
A Prophecy Come True? Dante and Hegel on the End of Art 59