Baumgarten the Beautician. The Origins of Cosmetics as an Aesthetic Discourse

Abstract

In this essay, I intend to reconstruct the first encounter between the cosmetic discourse and the newly born aesthetic discipline in the German mid-eighteenth century. Examining the new aesthetic conceptualization of cosmetics, I aim to investigate both its significance within the cosmetic tradition and its implications for the rise of philosophical aesthetics with regard to the relationship with corporeal beauty.