O pensamento estético e a Plástica de Herder

This essay seeks to investigate Johann Gottfried Herder’s essay Plastik [Sculpture], as a fundamental document in the development of German aesthetics. From the study of the specificity of sculpture, based on touch, in opposition to painting and vision, we watch an exemplary application of the herderian project to establish aesthetics on sensibility. At the same time,a growing tension comes forth through a more originary look into sensibility as it operates in the perception of sculpture’s live form, on a poetical and mythological ground. Linking these two dimensions, we follow the author bringing together, in an original manner, theory of knowledge, critic and history of art, in an attempt to found a new point of view for aesthetics.