The Choice of Hercules: the Artistic Problem of Expression in the Shaftesburian Tradition

Abstract

According to Shaftesbury and his followers (James Harris, Adam Smith, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing), a work of imitative art, properly produced, expresses a moral content in the general sense (i.e. mental, intellectual, as well as ethical). What they have in mind is expression not only as a general function of art, but also and foremost as a particular structure of each artwork. Expression is not only the purpose of a work of art, but also how it functions. The paper shows how Shaftesbury’s reflections in A Notion of the Historical Draught or Tablature of the Judgement of Hercules open up a new manner of viewing each individual artwork as a solution to the medium-dependent problem of expression. The focus is on the historical context of Shaftesbury’s Judgement of Hercules, as well as on its legacy in Harris, Smith and Lessing.