Welcome to Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art,

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2020, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (1): 211-218.

• Western Literary Theory • Previous Articles    

Body-ethics or Body-aesthetics?: An Investigation into Terry Eagleton's Recent View on Body

Yin Zhike   

  1. the School of Humanities, Wenzhou University
  • Online:2020-01-25 Published:2020-03-19
  • About author:Yin Zhike, Ph. D., is an associate professor in the School of Humanities, Wenzhou University, with research focus on western aesthetics and literary theory.
  • Supported by:
    the Major Project of the National Social Sciences Fund (14ZDB087)

Abstract: According to Terry Eagleton, culturalism in postmodern thought emphasizes culture's conquest of nature, which refrains from criticizing culture itself, but veils the finiteness of body with the infiniteness of will. Eagleton argues that the foundation of human reason is the dependent and limited human body, and that reason must reflect on whether culture would result in overestimation of the power of will and desire. Eagleton's view on body-aesthetics is a blend of ideas from Aristotle, British empiricists, Kant and Karl Marx. For Eagleton, both artworks and body have internal value and telos, and thus do not yield to any external purpose. Eagleton's body-aesthetics aims to find the teleological consistency of body and artworks. A clear understanding of his view on body-aesthetics in the new millennia must rest on perception of "virtue" and "praxis" in Aristotle's ethics.

Key words: body-ethics, body-aesthetics, Eagleton, Aristotle, Marx