Abstract

The principal object of my investigation throughout this dissertation is the aesthetic object of dance. I have utilized the phenomenological method as a descriptive tool so as to allow the phenomenon to give itself in person and become an object for consciousness for me. This immediately brings me to an important point, namely, that the stance I have adopted is that of the spectator or perceiving subject. The phenomenon of dance does not give itself fully to the dancer. The dancer engaged in the act of dancing is in the midst of a total experience which he or she cannot fully gauge, that is, he or she cannot adequately objectivate. The issue is one of constitution. The phenomenon of dance is for the spectator. It is the spectator who is in a position to effect the proper degree of objectivating vis a vis the object in its autonomy. And this applies, actually, to any aesthetic object: the aesthetic object is for the spectator or perceiving subject. This is, then, the basic stance I have adopted throughout the study. However, I should not be remiss in saying that I have used my experience with dance indirectly. ;My thesis is that the essence or eidos, or as Husserl would say, central core of pure objectivity or pure objective sense of dance is sexuality. Using the Kantian framework of the space-time continuum I have brought to light what I call erotic timing-spacing as the condition for the possibility of dance. The full noematic object may vary from dance prototype to dance prototype, e.g., from ballet to flamenco to jazz. But sexuality is, I contend, the central core of pure objectivity of dance. The corollary of this major proposition, as I argue in the text, is that erotic timing-spacing is ultimately the condition for the possibility of every aesthetic object. Therefore, every aesthetic object is ultimately essentially erotic, indeed. I would hope that the notion of the eidos of dance as sexuality and its validation in terms of the phenomenon of erotic timing-spacing along with the concomitant proposition that the essence of every aesthetic object is ultimately erotic constitutes a contribution to philosophical inquiry. ;Immanuel Kant, Mikel Dufrenne and Roman Ingarden are three thinkers whose views I consider in the study