L'idea estetica di "chiarezza estensiva" e la sua genesi nella filosofia Wolffiana

Abstract

In this essay, the Author outlines the genesis of Baumgarten’s idea of in Wolffian philosophy. Starting from Wolff’s analysis of examples and their singular clarity, the focus is on the rhetorical and philosophical achievements of Johann Peter Reusch. In particular, the aim is to show the importance of two dichotomies introduced by Reusch - the distinction between sensual and intellectual clarity and that between the extensive and the intensive perfection of cognition - in the development of Baumgarten’s more famous distinction between extensive and intensive clarity and, in general, in the foundation of modern aesthetics.