Introductory: Gombrich's Struggle Against Metaphysics

• Authors: Ján Bakoš
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The paper deals with E. H. Gombrich's lifelong polemics against metaphysics in art history and the humanities. They began in 1937 and continued up until his final (posthumous) book The Preference for the Primitives. Analyzing the "fallacies" and "pitfalls" resulting from metaphysical collectivism, essentialism, expressionism, holism and relativism such as a "belief in hypostatized collective personalities" and "style as a super-artist" or "physiognomic fallacy", Gombrich also unmasked their ideological implications. He first targeted nationalism and racialism, then the perils of totalitarianism and finally all forms of relativism. Gombrich's plea for the universality of the "canon of excellence" can be regarded not only as a defence of humanism but also as a form of apology for the values of Western liberal democratic society.

Keywords

EN

metaphysics; relativism; art history; Gombrich

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 239-250

Dates

published

2009-09-01

online

2009-09-24

Contributors

author

Ján Bakoš

• Institute of Art History, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

References

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10023-009-0037-5