Abstract
Yrjö Hirn (1870–1952), art researcher and professor of aesthetics and modern literature, was one of the most internationally renowned Finnish scholars of his time. This chapter examines Hirn’s theory of the emotional and social origins of art as presented in his major work, The Origins of Art: A Psychological and Sociological Inquiry (1900). I focus on the psychological and sociological dimensions of Hirn’s aesthetics, which are very close to Westermarck’s sociology. By ‘psychological’ origin, Hirn refers to the human effort to regulate their emotions by sharing them with others. The underlying mechanism is sympathy or, in today’s terms, emotional empathy. By ‘sociological’ origins, Hirn means the practical reasons that influence the emergence and existence of art. There are related to conveying information, erotic attraction and sexuality, encouragement to work, and beliefs in the magical effects of artistic creations. In addition, the chapter sheds light on Hirn’s debt to the Scottish Enlightenment, especially Adam Smith’s moral philosophy.
If the notion of art is conceived in its most general sense, every normal man, at some time of his life at least, is an artist in aspiration, if not in capacity.—Yrjö Hirn (1900)
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The Finnish National Library: Hirn (1936a, 4).
- 3.
The Finnish National Library: Hirn (1936a, 20–21, emphases added).
- 4.
For James-Lange theory and modern psychology, see Damasio (2004).
- 5.
The Finnish National Library: Hirn (1936b, 17).
- 6.
The Finnish National Library: Hirn (1936b, 4).
- 7.
For Westermarck’s use of Smith’s impartial spectator, see Pipatti (2019, 33–35, 133–138).
- 8.
The Finnish National Library: Hirn (1936a, 11–12).
- 9.
References
Manuscript Materials
Archive of the University of Helsinki
Westermarck, E. (1896). Opponent’s statement for Yrjö Hirn’s doctoral thesis. Minutes of the Department of History and Linguistics 3 October 1896.
The Finnish National Library, The Manuscript Collection
Hirn, Y. (1936a). Konsten och den estetiska betraktelsen I. Tre föreläsningar i engelsk översättning [Art and aesthetic contemplation. Three lectures in English translations]. Coll. 75.21.
Hirn, Y. (1936b). Konsten och den estetiska betraktelsen II. Tre föreläsningar i engelsk översättning [Art and aesthetic contemplation. Three lectures in English translations]. Coll. 75.21.
Westermarck, E. (1901). Letter to Yrjö Hirn 14 January 1901. Coll. 75.118.
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Pipatti, O. (2024). Emotional and Social Origin of Art in Yrjö Hirn’s Evolutionary Aesthetics. In: The Origins Of Human Social Nature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55147-5_4
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