The concept of irony in Solger

Abstract

Solger (1780-1819) distinguishes between apparent irony (a ridiculing attitude that does not permit a person to take anything seriously at all) and true irony, which he considers to be the fundamental, genuine condition of man. Placed between the infinite and the finite, the human being can only complete his eternal destiny in this present limited and finite world. Whatever is serious and of real importance can only be found in God, and in our own lives this is realized precisely through our fall. Tragic irony is the state of mid which illuminates this immediate presence of the divine in human existence. We can derive diverse forms of irony from irony: artistic-, religious-, moral- and dialectic irony. The only aspects Solger was abIe to develop in his philosophical system were those related to artistic irony -the irony of the fact that Eternal Idea fades away in sensible, tangible reality in general and in the reality of the individual as well, precisely through the understanding of art. Art is not fundamentally production, but what is more, it is the form of existence in which the Idea and its appearance in reality interpenetrate each other in perfect harmony-. This union is an instantaneous event which takes place in all artistic creation and artistic 're-creation'.