抄録
Art aims neither at the fastidious elaboration of form nor at the sensual intoxication. Its proper function consists, through its visibility, in representing "being as such", not in embodying a specific ideal of beauty. This metaphisical view of art, considered as "the organon of philosophy" has been a traditional one since Aristotle. But it is not free from the "imitation-theory", for here "being as such" is considered merely objectively, not existentially. Art, however, must be existential par excellence, in so far as it depends upon the free activity of creation, since "being as such" is not essentially objective wholeness, but non-objective and encompassing one. In this sense art is, according to Jaspers, the illustration of existence, and the philosophy of art does not mean thinking about art, but thinking in art. This is what Jaspers means by art as "the organon of philosophy". This treatise aims at elucidating the existential point of view of art, following Jaspers's philosophy of art-especially through his elucidation of the structure of "cipher reading".
