Skip to main content
Log in

Reviewing the Past. The Presence of Ruins

Response to Kathleen Higgins, Sandra Shapshay and András Czeglédi

  • Published:
Philosophia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the following text I provide my response to the three reviewers of my book titled “Reviewing the Past. The Presence of Ruins”. First I list a few elements that all the reviewers highlighted. Then, I answer the insightful comments and detailed observations brought forward by them, organised in thematic structures. In this part I start with the three main criteria and the agency of Nature in ruination. Then I investigate the issues regarding the so-called “contemporary ruins”. Ruins’ environmental character, context and sitedness are put into focus in the next section, to finally arrive to the equally inspiring questions of picturesque, sublime and to the issues of representation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  • Czeglédi, A. (2022). Becoming their own monuments. Philosophia. Philosophical Quarterly of Israel. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-022-00477-0

  • Ginsberg, R. (1988). Aesthetic qualities in the experience of ruins. In M. H. Mitias (Ed.), Aesthetic quality and aesthetic experience (pp. 165–176). Rodopi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giombini, L. (2020). Recensione. Review of Zoltán Somhegyi’s book: “Reviewing the past. The presence of ruins”. Studi di Estetica, XLVIII(3), 240–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, K. (2022). Zoltán Somhegyi’s Reviewing the Past: The Aesthetics, Irony, and Authenticity of Ruins. Philosophia. Philosophical Quarterly of Israel. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-022-00476-1

  • Korsmeyer, C. (2014). The triumph of time: Romanticism redux. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 72 (4) (Fall 2014), 429–435.

  • Lővei P. (2020). Rom-séták passzióból. (review of the book: Zoltán Somhegyi, reviewing the past. The presence of ruins) BUKSZ. Budapest Review of Books 32/2–3 (2020 summer-autumn), 115–119.

  • Panofsky, E. (1981, orig. 1920). The Concept of Artistic Volition. Critical Inquiry, 8 (1) (Autumn, 1981), 17–33.

  • Scarbrough, E. (2018). Visiting the Ruins of Detroit? Exploitation or Cultural Tourism? Journal of Applied Philosophy 35, (3) (August 2018), 549–66.

  • Shapshay, S. (2022). The Environmental Presence of Ruins: On Zoltán Somhegyi’s Reviewing the Past: The Presence of Ruins. Philosophia. Philosophical Quarterly of Israel. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-022-00482-3

  • Simmel, G. (1959, orig. 1907). The ruin. In Wolff, K. H. (Ed.), Georg Simmel 1858–1918: A collection of essays with translations and bibliography, (259–266). : Ohio State University Press.

  • Somhegyi, Z. (2020). Reviewing the past. The presence of ruins. Rowman & Littlefield International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Somhegyi, Z. (2021). From mistaking fakeness to mistake in fakeness. Artificial ruins between Aesthetics and deception. Studi di estetica, XLIX(1), 59–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, S. (2020). The ruins lesson. Meaning and material in Western culture. The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zoltán Somhegyi.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Somhegyi, Z. Reviewing the Past. The Presence of Ruins. Philosophia 50, 1553–1562 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-022-00504-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-022-00504-0

Navigation