O impulso metafísico na experiência estética. Itinerário da fenomenologia “afectiva” de Mikel Dufrenne

This research will focus on the works of Mikel Dufrenne devoted to aesthetic reflection, especially on those where the author elucidates more systematically his notion of aesthetic experience. It is our intention to find out whether, inside the limits of this conception, he admits the possibility of a metaphysical dimension within the processivity of an aesthetic experience, and on what philosophical foundations he establishes that possibility. Being a controversial hypothesis, we hope to modestly contribute to the critical enhancement of the philosophical legacy that Mikel Dufrenne left us through his thought-provoking work as we are celebrating the first centenary of his birth and fifteen years of his death (1910-1995). More broadly, it is our purpose - through the clues given by the author - to bring back to the core of aesthetic debate the instances of ontological and metaphysical reflection that have been underestimated, since the waves of postmodern relativism invaded the cultural and philosophical debate. We will follow the author in setting up a phenomenological version of the Aesthetics in order to stress that, already in that conceptual project, it is possible to find methodological and systematic original choices, which point to the presence of a "surge" that breaks off the categorical boundaries of the experienced. The thematic alignment that we propose on chapters two and three aims at consolidating the image of an aesthetic experience that evolves gradually to more intense and profound levels of experience, and which scope of phenomenological, anthropological and ontological implications strengthens the conviction that we are in the presence of a metaphysical sap that nurtures it. However, we are aware that Dufrenne hesitated long enough when it came to translate philosophically this horizon of metaphysical meaning of the aesthetic experience. This fact also has probably led other researchers to formulate interpretations that are significantly discrepant from the one that we propose. Nevertheless, as we intend to show in the last chapter, it is not this lack of explicitness that prevents us from finding the aesthetic and emotional, spiritual and intellectual fruits coming from the aesthetic experience, fluidized by a metaphysical openness to the absolute. As we present those conclusions, we are convinced that the path taken by Mikel Dufrenne, while phenomenologist, became even more comprehensive and credible.