Konkrete Abstraktionen. Takayama Chōgyūs Entwicklung einer eigenständigen japanischen Ästhetik im Japan der 1890er Jahre und die Verarbeitung ästhetischer Theorien des Westens

This essay argues that the Japanese thinker and aesthete Takayama Chogyū (1871-1902) did not theorize within concrete dimensions of rock-bottom logic, but rather within concrete abstractions. Thus, he aspired not so much to the creation of ideals and forms of beauty, but rather tried to illuminate how beauty is born somewhere between the ideal and so-called reality. Furthermore, that this technique of combining the ideal and the real is a pivotal point in his thinking becomes obvious in his attitude towards the German philosopher Eduard von Hartmann (1842-1906), well-known in Japan at the time, whom he criticized harshly. This essay aims to show, moreover, that Takayama’s criticism of Hartmann was driven not so much by nationalism but rather by a deep concern for aesthetic ideas.