Abstract

CORREA ROMAN, Javier. Aesthetic confluences: from Foucault to dandysm. En-clav. pen [online]. 2022, vol.16, n.32, e491.  Epub Sep 26, 2022. ISSN 2594-1100.  https://doi.org/10.46530/ecdp.v0i32.491.

Nietzsche wrote “In the age of nihilism, only an aesthetic life can justify existence”. In this article, we try to examine one of these proposals for the aesthetic justification of existence (here we have called aesth-etical confluence), namely Foucault’s aesthetics of existence. After examining this, and contrary to most interpretations, we conclude that there is no aesthetic justification in the Foucauldian proposal. In order to find a more adequate aesth-etical confluence, we then examine one of the objects of study of the French thinker: dandyism. Dandyism is considered as an ontological search for beauty and its aesthetic character is examined. In the end, some problematizations of it are pointed out with the aim of advancing in a highly contemporary debate.

Keywords : Nihilism; aestheticism; aesthetics of existence; aesth-ethics; dandy.