Irrationalism and Aestheticism

The phenomenon of irrationalism and aestheticism was a reaction against positivism from which symbolism and existentialism came. These phenomena opposed the rationality of human beings and concentrated on Kant's "noumenal realm" while claiming science to be inferior to intuition. Art had emerged as the gateway to the "noumenal," unfortunately, the working class was not involved in this movement and only elitism -- a "Mandarin elitism" -- had access to the art.

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