The Roots of Fascist Aesthetics in Antiquity
This research is an attempt to ascertain whether, and if so how, Platonic philosophy, particularly the Republic and Laws , influenced the development of aestheticized politics in National Socialist Germany. This is contextualized within the theoretical framework of aesthetic politics, which draws on the work of Walter Benjamin to explain the specific manifestation of politics in the Third Reich as an aesthetic phenomenon. In this dissertation, I explore the aesthetics of the Third Reich and its particular characteristics, as well as the nature of art under National Socialism. Through participation in this aesthetic phenomenon, the individual’s struggle with genuine political problems is submerged into mass experience orchestrated by the regime. I examine the aesthetic topics of Plato and compare the sections of Plato!s works cited in writingsand propaganda by prominent National Socialists. Having engaged with the body of scholarship on the Platonic corpus, I discuss whether or not Platonic philosophy influenced aestheticized politics of the Third Reich, as well as the nature of such influence.
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