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Definition:
The concept of the "uncanny" aesthetic theory was introduced by Sigmund Frued's
discussioni of E.T.A. Hoffmann's 1816 tale "The Sandman". The German word Freud
originally used was Unheimlichkeit, which literally means "un-home-like-ness."
According to Freud, a distinctive aesthetic experience is produced by a work which is
somehow disquieting and elicits feelings of anxiety or distress.
Giorgio de Chirico consciously employed the power of uncanniness with paintings of deserted Italian piazze, particularly when they depicted statues at twilight which looked like they might simply get up and move about. The notion of the uncanny played a role in the development of Surrealism - especially with surrealist Andre Breton, who argued that a genuine experience of beauty had to include an experience of shock or surprise.
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Related Resources:
What is Aesthetics?
In philosophy, aesthetics is the study of beauty and taste, whether in the form of the comic, the tragic or the sublime. Aesthetics has traditionally been part of other philosophical pursuits like the investigation of epistemology or ethics. However, it started to come into its own and become a more independent pursuit under Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher who saw aesthetics as a unitary and self-sufficient type of human experience.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
