Escapism is omnipresent in contemporary mass art, even though it has a bad reputation. I trace that reputation back to aesthetic pragmatism and provide a pragmatist defence of the use of escapism as political-aesthetic motif.

I argue for a negative dialectical account of art-science, that also provides a novel defence of Adorno's aesthetic theory.

I argue that Wittgenstein's aesthetic writings must be understood as working through insights regarding ethical consciousness. In addition, I argue that this way of thinking provides extra evidence for the influence of Friedrich Schlegel on Wittgenstein.