THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE UTILITARIAN AND ANTI-UTILITARIAN IN EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE

Text topic: Aesthetics Today

Text author: Ива Драшкић Вићановић

It has already been recognized that the philosophy of Francis Bacon, with utilitarian theory of knowledge and his view that man has rights over nature and should become her “servant and master” is the philosophical foundation for technological civilization. This paper sheds some light on the process of spreading of utilitarian values from the gnoseology to the moral and aesthetic field. This process is key offspring of the British philosophy. Another key offspring of the British philosophy is aesthetic reaction to the utilitarianism. Together, the two trends represent crucial philosophical events to have occurred on European soil, from the time of the renaissance to this day.