Die Kunst der zweiten Natur und die andere Natur der Kunst

This contribution traces an aesthetic shift in the concept of second nature that occurs around 1800 and that raises the question as to what role art might play in a culture that already conceives of itself in generally aesthetic terms. The paper recalls Kant’s rejection of habit as a proper realization of ethical life and shows that in his third critique, Kant proposes a second nature of a different kind. To realize ethical life as a “second (supersensible) nature”, we cannot confine ourselves to mere habituation but require a different type of second nature that is exemplified by the work of art. In light of the success of this aesthetic understanding of ethical life in Kant’s aftermath from Schiller to Nietzsche, the paper asks what role art may adopt in such an aestheticized culture. The paper argues that art redefines its role by taking not first nature but the second nature of ethical life as its main point of reference. Art thus reconceives of itself as a self-reflection of our second nature. The paper discusses three models of such self-reflection: the aesthetic estrangement, the beautiful completion, and the dialectical renegotiation of our second nature.