Mikel Dufrenne: l'esperienza estetica dalla sinestesia all'utopia = Mikel Dufrenne: the aesthetic experience from synesthesia to utopia

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to examine Mikel Dufrenne's phenomenological aesthetics by focusing on the fil rouge relating his aesthetic speculations to the potential for political action resulting from them. The intertwining of aesthetics and politics occurs in Dufrenne's notion of synesthesia that, following Merleau-Ponty, is considered to be the standard modality of human perception. The latter is responsible for unveiling the potential for utopian thinking, namely that form of thought that enables us to imagine alternative possibilities of ordering and restructuring the sensible. Retracing this relation in Dufrenne's thought is useful for two reasons. First, it enables us to better grasp the complexity and eclecticism marking Dufrenne's approach to philosophical matters. Second, it is crucial to highlight the underlying relations at stake between aesthetics and politics, or art and society, thus revealing the political potential of artistic interventions.