THE PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF GUSTAV SHPET

This article focuses on problems of cognition and the definition of the specificity of aesthetic consciousness, questions of art and peculiarities of its perception. The article pays particular attention to the special kind of being in aesthetics. Shpet calls it detached being and describes it as an intermediate form between real and ideal being. This problem and its aspects are reflected in a number of works, including «Art as a Type of Knowledge», «Theatre as Art», «On the Formation of Scientific Work in Art Studies», «Aesthetic Fragments» and others. Today the validity of an appeal to ideas of Gustav Shpet lies in the fundamentality of his general views on aesthetics. Of particular interest is the author’s elaboration of the problem of understanding art as a form of knowledge, describing the specificity of cognitive process in art and considering aesthetic consciousness as special type of intellectual activity. Particular philosophical ideas and conceptual statements suggested by Shpet have considerable potential for the development of modern philosophy of mind. Question of the role and function of art, the correlation of art and reality, the problem of subject and object in art, the specificity of artistic vision and in general the question of relationship between philosophy and art, art and life have not lost their relevance. This article consistently presents the importance of Shpet’s philosophy for the development of modern philosophical thinking. This is especially true for the author’s interpretation of the problem of cognition. To many of these questions Shpet offers his own solutions that retain their originality, which is important for maintaining the knowledge continuity in the field of epistemology and philosophy of art, as well as for the development of contemporary philosophy of mind.