THE “WORK” OF ART: STANISŁAW BRZOZOWSKI AND BERNARD STIEGLER

This article relates the ideas of Stanisław Brzozowski (1878–1911) with those of Bernard
Stiegler (1952–2020), both of whom problematize the “work” of art understood as a labor
practice. Through the conceptual analysis of epigenetics and epiphylogenetics for aesthetic
theory, I claim that both thinkers develop practical concepts relevant to contemporary art
philosophy. First, I present an overview of Brzozowski’s aesthetics, for whom literature and
the arts are linked with ethics, and aesthetic form is tied with moral judgment. Then, I continue
with an outline of Stiegler’s, for whom the role of artists is to sculpt a new culture and
historical epoch called the Neganthropocene. Finally, the notion of “work” as a type of
memory practice is analyzed. The comparison shows that Stiegler develops epigenetics
phenomenologically via memory (“tertiary retentions”) and phylogenetics to epiphylogenetics.
Both philosophers argue against determinism. This study suggests that their key
ideas advance and complement each other.

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