Philosophy: aesthetics Books
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Decomposition A Music Manifesto
Book SynopsisDecomposition is a bracing, revisionary, and provocative inquiry into music—from Beethoven to Duke Ellington, from Conlon Nancarrow to Evelyn Glennie—as a personal and cultural experience: how it is composed, how it is idiosyncratically perceived by critics and reviewers, and why we listen to it the way we do. Andrew Durkin, best known as the leader of the West Coast–based Industrial Jazz Group, is singular for his insistence on asking tough questions about the complexity of our presumptions about music and about listening, especially in the digital age. In this winning and lucid study he explodes the age-old concept of musical composition as the work of individual genius, arguing instead that in both its composition and reception music is fundamentally a collaborative enterprise that comes into being only through mediation. Drawing on a rich variety of examples—Big Jay McNeely’s “Deacon’s Hop,” Biz Markie&rs
£20.80
Taylor & Francis Ltd Mapping Paradigms in Modern and Contemporary Art
Book SynopsisMapping Paradigms in Modern and Contemporary Art defines a new cartographic aesthetic, or what Simonetta Moro calls carto-aesthetics, as a key to interpreting specific phenomena in modern and contemporary art, through the concept of poetic cartography. The problem of mapping, although indebted to the spatial turn of poststructuralist philosophy, is reconstructed as hermeneutics, while exposing the nexus between topology, space-time, and memory. The book posits that the emergence of mapping as a ubiquitous theme in contemporary art can be attributed to the power of the cartographic model to constitute multiple worldviews that can be seen as paradigmatic of the post-modern and contemporary condition. This book will be of particular interest to scholars in art history, art theory, aesthetics, and cartography.Table of ContentsIntroduction. The Question of Mapping Part 1: Archaeologies 1. Travelers Without Maps 2. Mapping in the Age of the World Picture Part 2: Topologies 3. Topologies of Difference 4. Carto-aesthetics: Modalities of Art Making 5. Poetic Cartography as Nomadic Mapping Conclusion. After the End of the World Picture Appendix. Mapping in the Time of Global Pandemic
£118.75
Taylor & Francis Before Sunrise Before Sunset Before Midnight
Book SynopsisRichard Linklaterâs celebrated Before trilogy chronicles the love of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and CÃline (Julie Delpy) who first meet up in Before Sunrise, later reconnect in Before Sunset and finally experience a fall-out in Before Midnight. Not only do these films present storylines and dilemmas that invite philosophical discussion, but philosophical discussion itself is at the very heart of the trilogy. This book, containing specially commissioned chapters by a roster of international contributors, explores the many philosophical themes that feature so vividly in the interactions between CÃline and Jesse, including: the nature of love, romanticism and marriage the passage and experience of time the meaning of life the art of conversation the narrative self gender death Including an interview with Julie Delpy iTrade Review"No matter how in love you were at 20, no matter how beautiful it was at 30, no matter how conflicted you were at 40: you are going to die. This is the sad reality for all of us. It is revolting, it is upsetting, it is wrong, it is unfair. But it is the human condition."Julie Delpy, actor and screenwriter of the Before trilogy"The collection follows a recognisable approach of analytically-inflected film-philosophy, and the results are illuminating and rewarding. At its best, such an approach provides a vocabulary and a framework that helps one better to articulate one’s existing experience of the film, while also managing to help one to view the film from a fresh angle, which reveals new connections and points of emphasis."-James Zborowski, Film-Philosophy Table of ContentsIntroduction Hans Maes and Katrien Schaubroeck 1. The Poetry of Day-to-Day Life Michael Smith 2. Time and Transcendence in the Before Trilogy Marya Schechtman 3. A Trilogy of Melancholy: On the bittersweet in Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight Hans Maes 4. ‘Relational vertigo’ in Before Midnight Christopher Cowley 5. Epic Intimacy Murray Smith 6. ‘Romantic or Cynic’: Romantic Attraction as Justification Diane Jeske 7. The Many Faces of Conversation in the Before Trilogy Kalle Puolakka 8. Love, Death and Life’s Summum Bonum: The Before Trilogy as Memento Mori Anna Christina Ribeiro 9. Falling in Love with a Film (Series) Katrien Schaubroeck and Hans Maes 10. Romance, Narrative, and the Sense of a Happy Ending in the Before Series James MacDowell 11. "We Are Everything and We Are Nothing." An interview with Julie Delpy Hans Maes and Katrien Schaubroeck. Index
£34.19
Taylor & Francis Ltd Wittgensteins Moral Thought Routledge Studies in
Book SynopsisWittgensteinâs work, early and later, contains the seeds of an original and important rethinking of moral or ethical thought that has, so far, yet to be fully appreciated. The ten essays in this collection, all specially commissioned for this volume, are united in the claim that Wittgensteinâs thought has much to contribute to our understanding of this fundamental area of philosophy and of our lives. They take up a variety of different perspectives on this aspect of Wittgensteinâs work, and explore the significance of Wittgensteinâs moral thought throughout his work, from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, and Wittgensteinâs startling claim there that there can be no ethical propositions, to the Philosophical Investigations.Table of ContentsIntroductionReshef Agam-Segal and Edmund Dain1 Wittgenstein’s Moral ThoughtEdmund Dain2 Wittgenstein, Ethics and Philosophical ClarificationOskari Kuusela3 Moral Thought in Wittgenstein: Clarity and Changes in AttitudeReshef Agam-Segal4 Logic, Ethics and Existence in Wittgenstein’s TractatusEli Friedlander5 Logic, Ethics, Aesthetics: Wittgenstein and the TranscendentalKristin Boyce6 Sketches of Blurred Landscapes: Wittgenstein and EthicsDuncan Richter7 ‘What is Ethical Cannot be Taught’ – Moral Theories as Descriptions of GrammarAnne-Marie Søndergaard Christensen8 Perception, Perspectives, and Moral Necessity: Wittgenstein, Winch, and the Good SamaritanMartin Gustafsson9 An "Exclusively Self-Regarding" Ethics: Response to SlugaKevin M. Cahill10 From Nonsense to Openness – Wittgenstein on Moral SenseJoel Backström
£37.99
Taylor & Francis Being and Nothingness
Book SynopsisFirst published in French in 1943, Jean-Paul Sartreâs LâÊtre et le NÃant is one of the greatest philosophical works of the twentieth century. In it, Sartre offers nothing less than a brilliant and radical account of the human condition. The English philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch wrote to a friend of the excitement â I remember nothing like it since the days of discovering Keats and Shelley and Coleridge. This new translation, the first for over sixty years, makes this classic work of philosophy available to a new generation of readers.What gives our lives significance, Sartre argues in Being and Nothingness, is not pre-established for us by God or nature but is something for which we ourselves are responsible. At the heart of this view are Sartreâs radical conceptions of consciousness and freedom. Far from being an internal, passive container for our thoughts and experiences, human consciousness is constantly projecting itself into the outside world and Trade Review"Sarah Richmond has now produced a meticulous, elegant translation…" - Jonathan Rée, London Review of Books"Sarah Richmond’s superb new translation…is supplemented by a wealth of explanatory and analytical material [and] a particularly detailed and insightful set of notes on the translation…The first translation of Being and Nothingness was a major academic achievement that has influenced thought across a range of disciplines for more than sixty years. This new edition has the potential to be at least as influential over the coming decades." - Jonathan Webber, Mind"The publication of this excellent new English translation of L’Être et le néant is a welcome addition to the library of Sartre scholarship … There is every chance that it will also attract non-specialist readers to Sartre’s early philosophy and will thus importantly contribute to keeping existentialist thought alive in a context and era chronically bereft of genuine philosophical enlightenment." - Sam Coombes, French Studies"Translating such a book is manifestly a labour of love—it was as much for Barnes as for Richmond, and generations of Anglophone Sartre scholars remain grateful to Barnes, even if, as I expect (and hope) it will, Richmond's careful, thoughtful, and thought‐provoking translation becomes the standard one for use by students as well as professionals." - Katherine J. Morris, European Journal of Philosophy"Sarah Richmond's marvellously clear and thoughtful new translation brings Sartre's rich, infuriating, endlessly fertile masterpiece to a whole new English-language readership." – Sarah Bakewell, author of At The Existentialist Café"Sartre’s philosophy will always be important. Being and Nothingness is not an easy read but Sarah Richmond makes it accessible in English to the general reader. Her translation is exemplary in its clarity." - Richard Eyre"Sarah Richmond's translation of this ground-zero existentialist text is breathtaking. Having developed a set of brilliant translation principles, laid out carefully in her introductory notes, she has produced a version of Sartre’s magnum opus that—finally!—renders his challenging philosophical prose comprehensible to the curious general reader and his most compelling phenomenological descriptions and analyses luminous and thrilling for those of us who have studied Being and Nothingness for years." - Nancy Bauer, Tufts University, USA"This superb new translation is an extraordinary resource for Sartre scholars, including those who can read the work in French. Not only has Sarah Richmond produced an outstandingly accurate and fluent translation, but her extensive notes, introduction, and editorial comments ensure that the work will be turned to for clarification by all readers of Sartre. All in all, this is a major philosophical moment in Sartre studies." - Christina Howells, University of Oxford, UK"A new translation of Being and Nothingness has been long overdue. Sarah Richmond has done an excellent job of translating and clarifying Sartre’s magnum opus, making its rich content accessible to a wider audience." - Dan Zahavi, University of Copenhagen, Denmark"With its scholarly introduction, up-to-date bibliography and numerous footnotes, Richmond's fluent and precise translation will be an indispensable tool even for scholars able to read Sartre in French." - Andrew Leak, University College London, UK"This fine new translation provides us with as crisp a rendering as possible of Sartre’s complex prose. Richmond’s introduction, and a panoply of informative notes, also invite readers to share with her the intricacies of the task of translation and assist in grasping many of the conceptual vocabularies and nuances of this vital text." - Sonia Kruks, author of Simone de Beauvoir and the Politics of AmbiguityTable of ContentsForeword Richard Moran Translator’s Introduction Sarah Richmond Introduction: In Search of Being Part 1: The Problem of Nothingness 1. The Origin of Negation 2. Bad Faith Part 2: Being-For-Itself 1. The Immediate Structures of the For-Itself 2. Temporality 3. Transcendence Part 3: Being-for-the-Other 1. The Other’s Existence 2. The Body 3. Concrete Relations with the Other Part 4: To Have, To Do and To Be 1. Being and Doing: Freedom 2. To Do and to Have Conclusion. Index
£24.69
Taylor & Francis Ltd Social Aesthetics and Moral Judgment Pleasure
Book SynopsisThis edited collection sets forth a new understanding of aesthetic-moral judgment organized around three key concepts: pleasure, reflection, and accountability. The overarching theme is that art is not merely a representation or expression like any other, but that it promotes shared moral understanding and helps us engage in meaning-making. This volume offers an alternative to brain-centric and realist approaches to aesthetics. It features original essays from a number of leading philosophers of art, aesthetics, ethics, and perception, including Elizabeth Burns Coleman, Garrett Cullity, Cynthia A. Freeland, Ivan Gaskell, Paul Guyer, Jane Kneller, Keith Lehrer, Mohan Matthen, Jennifer A. McMahon, Bence Nanay, Nancy Sherman, and Robert Sinnerbrink.Part I of the book analyses the elements of aesthetic experiencepleasure, preference, and imaginationwith the individual conceived as part of a particular cultural context and network of other minds. The chaptTable of ContentsIntroduction: From Pleasures to Principles Jennifer A. McMahonPart I: Aesthetic Elements: Pleasure, Preference, and Imagination1. New Prospects for Aesthetic Hedonism Mohan Matthen2. From Colour to Meaning in Contemporary Art Cynthia A. Freeland3. Against Aesthetic Judgments Bence Nanay4. Imagination Jennifer A. McMahonPart II: Aesthetic Experience: Critique, Expression, and Reflection5. Art, Exemplars and Consensus Keith Lehrer6. Objectivity and Shared Experience: Art and Morality Garrett Cullity7. Dancers and Soldiers Sharing the Dance Floor: Emotional Expression in Dance Nancy Sherman8. Twofoldness, Threefoldness and Aesthetic Pluralism Paul GuyerPart III: Aesthetic Judgment: Dissonance, Difference, and Diversity9. Aesthetic Judgment and the Transcultural Apprehension of Material Things Ivan Gaskell10. Cross-Cultural Aesthetics and Etiquette Elizabeth Burns Coleman11. Emotional Engagement and Moral Evaluation: Exploring Cinematic Ethics Robert Sinnerbrink12. Aesthetics and Communication Jane Kneller
£37.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Michael Fried and Philosophy Modernism Intention
Book SynopsisThis book brings together philosophers, literary theorists, and art historians to argue for the philosophical significance of Michael Fried’s art history and criticism. Fried’s analyses of absorption and theatricality throw new light on problems in aesthetics, as well as questions surrounding authenticity, scepticism, modernity, and politics.Trade Review"This exemplary collection brings together philosophers, art historians, and literary scholars to shed light on the vast range of work by Michael Fried, and the relevance of Fried's work to philosophy . . . [It] opens an authentic, valuable dialogue between art and philosophy. Summing Up: Essential." – CHOICE Reviews"This is a superb set of essays on the writing of Michael Fried . . . Every essay is lucid, scholarly, meticulously crafted, detailed and acute in a way worthy of Fried's virtuoso and philosophically subtle approach to the history of art." – Notre Dame Philosophical ReviewsTable of ContentsIntroduction: Michael Fried and PhilosophyMathew Abbott1. Modernism and the Discovery of FinitudeMathew Abbott 2. "When I raise my arm": Michael Fried’s Theory of ActionWalter Benn Michaels3. Why Does Photography Matter as Art Now, as Never Before? On Fried and IntentionRobert Pippin4. Schiller, Schopenhauer, FriedDavid Wellbery5. Deep Relationality and the Hinge-like Structure of History: Michael Fried’s PhotographsStephen Mulhall6. Becoming MediumStephen Melville7. Formulism and the Appearance of NatureRichard Moran8. Michael Fried, Theatricality, and the Threat of SkepticismPaul J. Gudel9. Michael Fried’s IntentionalityRex Butler10. On the (So-Called) Problem of Detail: Michael Fried, Roland Barthes, and Roger Scruton on Photography and IntentionalityDiarmuid Costello11. The Aesthetics of AbsorbtionMagdalena Ostas12. Grace and Equality, Fried and Rancière (and Kant)Knox Peden13. Diderot’s Conception of Aesthetic Subjectivity and the Possibility of ArtAndrew Kern14. The Promise of the Present: Michael Fried’s Poetry NowJennifer Ashton15. Constantin Constantius Goes to the TheaterMichael Fried
£39.99
Taylor & Francis The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of
Book SynopsisEngineering has always been a part of human life but has only recently become the subject matter of systematic philosophical inquiry. The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering presents the state-of-the-art of this field and lays a foundation for shaping future conversations within it. With a broad scholarly scope and 55 chapters contributed by both established experts and fresh voices in the field, the Handbook provides valuable insights into this dynamic and fast-growing field. The volume focuses on central issues and debates, established themes, and new developments in: Foundational perspectives Engineering reasoning Ontology Engineering design processes Engineering activities and methods Values in engineering Responsibilities in engineering practice Reimagining engineering Trade Review"This is an amazing collection! Not only is it the first book of its kind, defining the territory of the new and rapidly developing field of philosophy of engineering, it contains chapters by a truly international and multidisciplinary group of scholars. The compilation is rich and exciting, and very timely."Deborah G. Johnson, Anne Shirley Carter Olsson Professor of Applied Ethics Emeritus, University of Virginia"Neelke Doorn and Diane Michelfelder have curated an impressive body of works that turn the clarifying and critical lens of philosophy upon engineering. This volume begins to reveal the depths of an essential human enterprise, one that philosophers for too long treated as a superficial craft rather than what it is: a creative endeavor of social imagination in action."Shannon Vallor, Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh"Traditional philosophy of technology largely ignores engineers and engineering, but The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering takes engineers, their methods, their responsibilities, and their future seriously with a world-class collection of spot-on papers sure to stimulate your reflection. Beg, borrow, or steal this volume and start treating the humans and human activity of engineering in a philosophically serious way, today."David E. Goldberg, Professor Emeritus, University of IllinoisTable of ContentsIntroduction I: Foundational Perspectives 1. What Is Engineering? 2. A Brief History of Engineering 3. Western Philosophical Approaches and Engineering 4. Eastern Philosophical Approaches and Engineering 5. What Is Engineering Science? 6. Scientific Methodology in the Engineering Sciences II: Engineering Reasoning 7. Engineering Design and the Quest for Optimality 8. Prescriptive Engineering Knowledge 9. Engineering as Art and the Art of Engineering 10. Creativity and Discovery in Engineering 11. Uncertainty 12. Scenarios 13. Systems Engineering as Engineering Philosophy 14. Assessing Provenance and Bias in Big Data III: Ontology 15. Artifacts 16. Engineering Objects 17. Use Plans 18. Function in Engineering 19. Emergence in Engineering 20. Towards an Ontology of Innovation: On the New, the Political-Economic Dimension and the Intrinsic Risks Involved in Innovation Processes IV: Engineering Design Processes 21. Engineering Design 22. Values and Design 23. Design Methods and Validation 24. Human-Centred Design and its Inherent Ethical Qualities 25. Sustainable Design 26. Maintenance V: Engineering Activities and Methods 27. Measurement 28. Models in Engineering and Design 29. Scale Modeling 30. Computer Simulations 31. Experimentation 32. On Verification and Validation in Engineering VI: Values in Engineering 33. Values in Risk and Safety Assessment 34. Engineering and Sustainability: Control and Care in Unfoldings of Modernity 35. The Role of Resilience in Engineering 36. Trust in Engineering 37. Aesthetics 38. Health 39. Philosophy of Security Engineering VII: Responsibilities in Engineering Practice 40. Ethical Considerations in Engineering 41. Autonomy in Engineering 42. Standards in Engineering 43. Professional Codes of Ethics 44. Responsibilities to the Public—Professional Engineering Societies 45. Engineering as a Political Practice 46. Global Engineering Ethics 47. Engineering Practice and Engineering Policy: The Narrative Form of Engineering Policy Advice VIII: Reimagining Engineering 48. Feminist Engineering and Gender 49. Socially Responsible Engineering 50. Engineering and Social Justice 51. Engineering and Environmental Justice 52. Beyond Traditional Engineering: Green, Humanitarian, Social Justice, and Omnium Approaches 53. Engineering and Contemporary Continental Philosophy of Technology 54. Engineering Practice from the Perspective of Methodical Constructivism and Culturalism 55. Reimagining the Future of Engineering
£41.79
Taylor & Francis Monumental Names
Book SynopsisWhat stands behind the propensity to remember victims of mass atrocities by their personal names? Grounded in ethnographic and archival research with Last Address and Memorial, one of the oldest independent archives of Soviet political repressions in Moscow and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, the book examines a version of archival activism that is centred on various practices of documentation and commemoration of many dead victims of historical violence in Russia to understand what kind of historicity is produced when a single name is added to an endless list. What do acts of accumulation of names of the dead affirm when they are concretised in monuments and performance events? The key premise is that multimodal inscriptions of names of the dead entail a political, aesthetic and conceptual movement between singularity and multitude that honours each dead name yet conveys the scale of a mass atrocity without reducing it to a number. Drawing on anthropo
£37.99
Taylor & Francis Lars von Triers Cinema
Book SynopsisThis book offers a bold and dynamic examination of Lars von Trierâs cinema by interweaving philosophy and theology with close attention to aesthetics through style and narrative. It explores the prophetic voice of von Trier's films, juxtaposing them with Ezekiel's prophecy and Ricoeurâs symbols of evil, myth, and hermeneutics of revelation. The films of Lars von Trier are categorized as extreme cinema, inducing trauma and emotional rupture rarely paralleled, while challenging audiences to respond in new ways. This volume argues that the spiritual, biblical content of the films holds a key to understanding von Trierâs oeuvre of excess. Spiritual conflict is the mechanism that unpacks the filmsâ notorious excess with explosive, centrifugal force. By confronting the spectator with spiritual conflict through evil, von Trier's films truthfully and prophetically expose the spectatorâs complicity in personal and structural evil, forcing self-examination through theological thTrade Review"Lars von Trier has long been both praised and criticized as a provocateur and a jester, a genius and a charlatan, a visionary and a contrarian. Rebecca Ver Straten-McSparran adds an original and compelling perspective to this critical debate: von Trier as modern prophet-artist whose films explore the theologically-inflected struggles of good and evil. Drawing on Ricoeur, phenomenology, Levinas, and the prophet Ezekiel, she argues persuasively that von Trier’s much vaunted style of cinematic excess serves as a means of expressing spiritual conflict and of exploring the reality of evil in a secular world. She brings a keen theological and aesthetic perspective to von Trier’s films and reveals layers of theological depth and spiritual meaning that have remained hitherto concealed or overlooked by many critics. In a stunning move, she shows how von Trier’s work can be understood as articulating a ‘prophetic voice’ – in the manner and tradition of Ezekiel – that not only examines evil as an expression of spiritual conflict but confronts the viewer with their own complicity in the evil permeating our contemporary world. Lars von Trier’s Cinema is an impressive and important achievement, introducing fascinating new ways of understanding the theological dimensions of von Trier’s provocative body of work." - Robert Sinnerbrink, Macquarie University"Is it possible the shocking, harrowing, even repulsive moments in Von Trier’s oeuvre have a moral, even prophetic telos? Ver Straten-McSparran challenges skeptics to reckon with similarly appalling, even offensive sign-acts of the Biblical traditio. Then, as now, extreme times may require extreme prophetic voices. Von Trier’s methods will always stir controversy and debate, but Ver Straten-McSparran convincingly argues his central message abides throughout: evil itself is being trivialized, ignored, and, therefore, empowered. At his best, Von Trier drives us to honestly face evil in the world and in ourselves, and to urgently look for grace, even in the most unlikely places." - Joseph G. Kickasola, Professor of Film and Digital Media, Baylor University"Whatever you think of Lars von Trier’s films—and I’ve both loved and loathed certain of them—they are always fodder for discussion and serious consideration, even spiritual contemplation. In this fascinating scholarly work, Rebecca Ver Straten-McSparran makes a compelling case for von Trier as a prophetic filmmaker, in the biblical sense of the word. Daring, surprising, insightful, and passionate, this book is a great example of how theology and cinema can be natural conversation partners." - Brett McCracken, film critic and senior editor, The Gospel Coalition"One cannot understand Lars von Trier as a filmmaker without also understanding him as a prophetic theologian. So argues Ver Straten-McSparran, finding insight from the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel. Here is must reading for anyone interested in unpacking the extreme cinema of this controversial Dane." - Robert K. Johnston, Senior Professor of Theology and Culture and Co-Director of the Reel Spirituality Institute, Fuller Seminary"Ver Straten-McSparran’s groundbreaking book is a welcome addition to a subfield of study which too often plays it safe with the filmmakers and films they consider in-depth. […] This contribution to the canon of Religion and Film scholarship is an excellent example of multi-disciplinary fearlessness and offers a unique biblical, filmic, and theological approach to an important contemporary artist whose films force us to grapple with life’s big questions even if they make us uncomfortable by exposing modern hypocrisy, idolatry, and evil." - Jeanette Solano, Journal of Religion & FilmTable of Contents1 Context: Prophets and Prophecy, Ezekiel, and the Spirit 2 The Artist as Prophet: Affinities in Dante, Milton, Dostoyevsky, O’Connor, and Tarkovsky 3 Aesthetics of Prophecy: Narrative Structures and Prophetic Themes 4 Aesthetics of Image, Sound, and Style: Embodying the Prophetic Voice 5 Antichrist: Paradise Lost: Our Capacity for Evil
£128.25
Taylor & Francis Why Its OK to Enjoy the Work of Immoral Artists
Book SynopsisThe #metoo movement has forced many fans to consider what they should do when they learn that a beloved artist has acted immorally. One natural thought is that fans ought to give up the artworks of immoral artists. In Why Itâs OK to Enjoy the Work of Immoral Artists, Mary Beth Willard argues for a more nuanced view. Enjoying art is part of a well-lived life, so we need good reasons to give it up. And it turns out good reasons are hard to find. Willard shows that itâs reasonable to believe that most boycotts of artists wonât succeed, so most of the time thereâs no ethical reason to join in. Someone who manages to separate the art from the artist isnât making an ethical mistake by buying and enjoying their art. She then considers the ethical dimensions of canceling artists and the so-called cancel culture, arguing that canceling is ethically risky because it encourages moral grandstanding. Willard concludes by arguing that the popular debate has overlooked the power of aTrade Review"The question of what to do with the works of artists who have committed serious moral transgressions has never felt more pressing than it has in the years since the #metoo movement shook the foundations of the art and entertainment industry. Like many other flashpoints of contemporary discourse, discussion of this issue has been intensely polarized between strident reformers and their reactionary opponents. Little effort has been made to explore the middle ground. Mary-Beth Willard's Why it's OK to Enjoy the Work of Immoral Artists is a refreshing attempt to do just that. In a clear and accessible style, she carefully surveys a range of arguments on both sides, taking these arguments seriously while at the same time insisting that they must be critically scrutinized and weighed against competing considerations.This book is essential reading for anyone seriously interested in the topic. Many readers will find their views challenged by Willard's arguments, and whether they come away convinced or not, they will no doubt benefit from considering her thoughtful and nuanced point of view."Matthew Strohl, University of MontanaTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. Boycotts as Punishment 3. Expressive Boycotts 4. Separating the Art from the Artists 5. #CancelEverything 6. Aesthetic Lives, Ethical Reason
£19.99
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) Brecht On Art And Politics
Book SynopsisBertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is acknowledged as one of the great dramatists of the 20th century whose plays, work with the Berliner Ensemble and writing have had a considerable influence on the theatre. His landmark plays include The Threepenny Opera and, while exiled from Germany and living in the USA, such masterpieces as The Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
£19.99
Taylor & Francis From Romanticism to Critical Theory The
Book SynopsisThis study offers a new view of literary theory as an essential part of modern philosophy and contests the view that it is a product of deconstruction.Trade Review`Bowie argues brilliantly and persuasively for the continued relevance of the romantic project for contemporary thought...in the past few years I have found few books that display such a sovereignty with regard to the most difficult philosophical and aesthetic issues of the past two centuries.' - Robert Holub, University of California, Berkeley`Bowie's study is an impressive and thoughtful contribution to an important debate...he provides a rich intellectual context for the understanding of modern and postmodern culture in general and of recent critical theory in particular' - Martin Swales, University College, London'Bowie manages to tease out insights from the thinkers he discusses with remarkable dexterity,' - Austin Harrington, Radical Philosophy'Bowie's splendid book ... remains at all times demanding, intelligible and highly readable ... immensely impressive ... the book is certain to be referred to for a long time to come and should be acquired by all university libraries.' - BARS Bulletin and Review'This is an essential contribution to Romantic studies, and one that should set the terms of the debate for many years to come.' - RomanticismTable of ContentsPreface and acknowledgements; Introduction, Andrew Bowie; Chapter 1 Philosophical origins, Andrew Bowie; Chapter 2 Shifting the ground, Andrew Bowie; Chapter 3 The philosophy of critique and the critique of philosophy, Andrew Bowie; Chapter 4 Interpretative reasons, Andrew Bowie; Chapter 5 The ethics of interpretation, Andrew Bowie; Chapter 6 Being true, Andrew Bowie; Chapter 7 The truth of art, Andrew Bowie; Chapter 8 Understanding Walter Benjamin, Andrew Bowie; Chapter 9 The culture of truth, Andrew Bowie; Chapter 102 Conclusion, Andrew Bowie;
£39.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd Musical Performance A Philosophical Study
Book SynopsisThis radical new evaluation of music making in the past and future will be essential reading for students of aesthetics, the philosophy of music, as well as musicologists and performance specialists.Table of ContentsIntroduction PART I Central aspects of performance 1 A model of musical performance 2 Skills and Guilds PART II Challenges to the model 3 Performances and musical works 4 Computers, ready-mades, and artistic agency 5 Experiments with musical agency 6 Artists, programs, and performance
£36.09
Taylor & Francis Photographs Objects Histories
Book SynopsisThis innovative volume explores the idea that while photographs are images, they are also objects, and this materiality is integral to their meaning and use. The case studies presented focus on photographs active in different institutional, political, religious and domestic spheres, where physical properties, the nature of their use and the cultural formations in which they function make their ''objectness'' central to how we should understand them.The book''s contributions are drawn from disciplines including the history of photography, visual anthropology and art history, with case studies from a range of countries such as the Netherlands, North America, Australia, Japan, Romania and Tibet. Each shows the methodological strategies they have developed in order to fully exploit the idea of the materiality of photographic images.Table of ContentsList of illustrations, List of contributors, Acknowledgements, 1 Introduction: photographs as objects, 2 Un beau souvenir du Canada: object, image, symbolic space, 3 Ere the substance fade: photography and hair jewellery, 4 Mixed box: the cultural biography of a box of ‘ethnographic’ photographs, 5 Making meaning: displaced materiality in the library and art museum, 6 Making a journey: the Tupper scrapbooks and the travel they describe, 7 Photographic playing cards and the colonial metaphor: teaching the Dutch colonial culture, 8 ‘Under the gaze of the ancestors’: photographs and performance in colonial Angola, 9 The photograph reincarnate: the dynamics of Tibetan relationships with photography, 10 ‘Photo-cross’: the political and devotional lives of a Romanian Orthodox photograph, 11 Print Club photography in Japan: framing social relationships, 12 Photographic materiality in the age of digital reproduction, References, Index
£128.25
Taylor & Francis Gaston Bachelard Critic of Science and the Imagination Routledge Studies in TwentiethCentury Philosophy
Book SynopsisIn this new study, Cristina Chimisso explores the work of the French philospher of science, Gaston Bachelard by situating it within French cultural life of the first half of the twentieth century.Trade Review'This is a fascinating work, which makes a good case for the continued relevance of some of Bachelard's ideas.' - British Journal for the History of ScienceTable of ContentsIntroduction: The formation of Gaston Bachelard's philosophy 1. Painting an icon: Gaston Bachelard and the philosophical beard2. Culture generale and the new scientific spirit3. Bachelard's pedagogical rationalism4. Philosophy between the Sorbonne and the College de France5. Philosophy, history and the history of the sciences6. The study of man 7. The study of the psyche8. Bachelard as a reader
£137.75
Taylor & Francis Ltd Revealing Art
Book SynopsisWhy does art matter to us, and what makes it good? Why is the role of imagination so important in art? Illustrated with carefully chosen colour and black-and-white plates of examples from Michaelangelo to Matisse and Poussin to Pollock, Revealing Art takes us on a compelling and provocative journey.Kieran explores some of the most important questions we can ask ourselves about art: how can art inspire us or disgust us? Is artistic judgement simply a matter of taste? Can art be immoral or obscene, and should it be censored? He brings such abstract issues to life with fascinating discussions of individual paintings, photographs and sculptures, such as Michelangelo's Pieta, Andres Serrano's Piss Christ and Francis Bacon's powerful paintings of the Pope.He also suggests some answers to problems that any one in an art gallery or museum is likely to ask themselves: what is a beautiful work of art? and can art really reveal something true about our own nature?Revealing Art is ideal for anyone interested in debates about art today, or who has simply stood in front of a painting and felt baffled.Trade Review'A fine discussion of one of the most important topics in aesthetics: the value of art. Its arguments and conclusions are both original and accessible to a broad audience.' - Robert Stecker, author of Artworks: Meaning, Definition, Value'Matthew Kieran offers an urbane, broad-minded, humanistic vision of the enduring values of art from Poissin to Matisse, to conceptualism, delighting in the multi-facetedness of art and quietly admonishing those with moralistic or fashion-driven prejudices.' - Peter LeMarque, author of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art'Kieran has a particularly useful chapter on art and morality ...' - Anna James, Financial Times' ... the arguments set out in this even-handed and intelligent book provide welcome clarification of a subject which all too often falls prey to muddled and prejudiced thinking.' - The Art Newspaper 'This is a handsomely produced volume. It has a compact size that easily fits into a coat pocket. Its paper is heavy and glossy. Best of all it contains numerous illustrations, many in colour, so that one can often see what Kieran is talking about in his numerous examples.' - Robert Stecker, The British Journal of Aesthetics'...the arguments set out in this even-handed and intelligent book provide welcome clarification of a subject which all too often falls prey to muddled and prejudiced thinking.' - The Art Newspaper'...Kieran is a philosopher with the nerve of an art critic, who, in the manner of Arthur Danto, comfortably exchanges his roles...Revealing Art brings forth with vivid detail the durable effects of artworks and makes strong case for the power and complexity of art' - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'...a model of how to write analytical philosophy in a plain and accessible style without sacrificing philosophical precision or a winning literary style. It will be accessible, interesting and stimulating to undergraduates and teachers within a number of disciplines and indeed to a general reader with a curiosity in why we value art. Many basic and complex positions are explained, defended and criticised so that any reader will be prepared for further discussion of individual positions with a sound basis of their attractions and pitfalls. I would recommend this book to anyone, and especially to those with an interest and knowledge of visual art but less immersion in the philosophical literature that surrounds them.' Journal of Visual Art Practice'Revealing Art is a lively exploration of questions concerning value in art. Matthew Kieran presents a series of engaging arguments illuminated by examples drawn from across the history of European visual art, from the Roettgen Pietà to Poussin's The Adoration of the Golden Calf to Gillian Wearing's Signs series... As a result, the book will have something to offer to specialists and non-specialists alike.' - Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Is Art Sacred? 2. Beauty Resurrected 3. Revealing Art 4. Art and Morality 5. The Truth in Humanism
£36.09
Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Kant on
Book SynopsisKant's Critique of Judgment is one of the most important texts in the history of modern aesthetics. This GuideBook discusses the Third Critique section by section, and introduces and assesses: Kant''s life and the background of the Critique of Judgment the ideas and text of the Critique of Judgment, including a critical explanation of Kant's theories of natural beauty the continuing relevance of Kant's work to contemporary philosophy and aesthetics. This GuideBook is an accessible introduction to a notoriously difficult work and will be essential reading for students of Kant and aesthetics.Trade Review'This is a superb treatment of Kant’s Third Critique in its entirety – in depth, in careful analysis, and in understanding in a way not articulated by others of the integration of Kant’s aesthetic theory with the rest of his philosophy.' - Donald W. Crawford, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA'This is a superb treatment of Kant’s Third Critique in its entirety – in depth, in careful analysis...' – Donald W. Crawford, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA'The clarity of Wicks’s presentation and analysis will prove invaluable to all students and teachers of Kant’s text.' – Rachel Zuckert, Northwestern University, Illinois, USATable of ContentsPreface. Introduction 1. The Pleasure in Pure Beauty 2. The Sublime and the Infinite 3. The Fine Arts and Creative Genius 4. Beauty’s Confirmation of Science and Morality 5. Living Organisms, God and Intelligent Design. Conclusion: The Music of the Spheres and the Idealization of Reason
£25.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales) Very Little Almost Nothing Death Philosophy
Book SynopsisVery Little ... Almost Nothing puts the question of the meaning of life back at the centre of intellectual debate. Its central concern is how we can find a meaning to human finitude without recourse to anything that transcends that finitude. A profound but secular meditation on the theme of death, Critchley traces the idea of nihilism through Blanchot, Levinas, Jena Romanticism and Cavell, culminating in a reading of Beckett, in many ways the hero of the book. In this second edition, Simon Critchley has added a revealing and extended new preface, and a new chapter on Wallace Stevens which reflects on the idea of poetry as philosophy.Table of ContentsAbbreviations, Preface to Second Edition: As my father, I have already died, Preamble: Travels in Nihilon, Lecture 1: Il y a, Lecture 2: Unworking romanticism, Lecture 3: Know happiness – on Beckett, Lecture 4: The philosophical significance of a poem – on Wallace Stevens, Notes, Acknowledgements, Index
£36.09
Taylor & Francis Philosophy of the Arts
Book SynopsisPhilosophy of the Arts presents a comprehensive and accessible introduction to those coming to aesthetics and the philosophy of art for the first time. The third edition is greatly enhanced by new sections on art and beauty, modern art, Aristotle and katharsis, and Hegel. Each chapter has been thoroughly revised with fresh material and extended discussions. As with previous editions, the book: is jargon-free and will appeal to students of music, art history and literature as well as philosophy looks at a wide range of the arts from film, painting and architecture to fiction, music and poetry discusses a range of philosophical theories of thinkers such as Hume, Kant, Gaender, Collingwood, Derrida, Hegel and Croce contains regular summaries and suggestions for further reading. Trade Review'The new edition of Philosophy of the Arts provides one of the most comprehensive and pellucid introductions to aesthetics on the market.' - Andy Hamilton, Durham University, UKPraise for the second edition:'Graham's introduction to aesthetics informs, illuminates and should elicit lively discussion on any courses that utilize it.' - British Journal of Aesthetics'The new edition of Philosophy of the Arts provides one of the most comprehensive and pellucid introductions to aesthetics on the market.' - Andy Hamilton, Durham UniversityReviews of the second edition:'…clear, comprehensive yet philosophically complex.' - Matthew Kieran, University of Leeds'…accessible, wide-ranging and above all engaged.' - Jerrold Levinson, University of Maryland'Gordon Graham’s book is a delight – urbane and authoritative, accessible to all.' - Peter Lamarque, University of Hull'An excellent introduction to philosophical aesthetics, which also makes its own distinctive and original contribution to the subject.' - Alex Neill, University of SouthamptonTable of ContentsChapter One Art and Pleasure Hume on taste and tragedy – Collingwood on art as amusement – Mill on higher and lower pleasures – the nature of pleasure Chapter Two Art and Beauty Beauty and pleasure – Kant on beauty -- the aesthetic attitude and the sublime – art and the aesthetic -- Gadamer and art as play – art and sport – summary Chapter Three Art and Emotion Tolstoy and everyday expressivism – Aristotle and katharsis -- expression and imagination -- Croce and 'intuition' -- Collingwood's expressivism - expression versus expressiveness – summary Chapter Four Art and Understanding Hegel, art and mind – art, science and knowledge - aesthetic cognitivism, for and against - imagination and experience - the objects of imagination - art and the world - understanding as a norm – art and human nature -- summary Chapter Five Music and Sonic Art Music and pleasure - music and emotion - music as language - music and representation - musical vocabulary and musical grammar - the uniqueness of music - music and beauty - music as the exploration of sound – sonic art and digital technology – summary Chapter Six The Visual Arts What is representation? - representation and artistic value - art and the visual - visual art and the non-visual - film as art - montage versus longshot - talkies - the 'auteur' in film - summary Chapter Seven The Literary Arts Poetry and prose -- the unity of form and content - figures of speech - expressive language - poetic devices - narrative and fiction - literature and understanding - summary Chapter Eight The Performing Arts Artist, audience and performer – painting as the paradigm of art – Nietzsche and The Birth of Tragedy – performance and participation – the art of the actor -- summary Chapter Nine Architecture as an Art The peculiarities of architecture - form and function and ‘the decorated shed’ - façade, deception and the 'Zeitgeist' - functionalism - formalism and 'space' – resumé --architectural expression -- architecture
£41.79
Taylor & Francis Emmanuel Levinas
Book SynopsisBest known for his theories of ethics and responsibility, Emmanuel Levinas was one of the most profound and influential thinkers of the last century. In this clear, accessible guide, SeÃn Hand examines why Levinas is increasingly fundamental to the study of literature and culture today. Exploring the intellectual and social contexts of his work and the events that shaped it, Hand considers: the influence of phenomenology and Judaism on Levinasâs thought key concepts such as the âfaceâ, the âotherâ, ethical consciousness and responsibility Levinasâs work on aesthetics the relationship of philosophy and religion in his writings the interaction of his work with historical discussions his often complex relationships with other theorists and theories Emmanuel Levinasâs unique contribution to theory set an exemplary standard for all subsequent thoughtTable of ContentsWhy Levinas? Key Ideas 1. Biography 2. Phenomenology and Judaism 3. Totality and Infinity 4. Otherwise than Being 5. Aesthetics 6. Talmudic Readings 7. Difficult Freedom: Politics and Ethics After Levinas Works Cited Bibliography
£25.99
Taylor & Francis The Routledge Guidebook to Wittgensteins
Book SynopsisWittgenstein is one of the most important and influential twentieth-century philosophers in the western tradition. In his Philosophical Investigations he undertakes a radical critique of analytical philosophy's approach to both the philosophy of language and the philosophy of mind. The Routledge Guidebook to Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations introduces and assesses: Wittgenstein's life The principal ideas of the Philosophical Investigations Some of the principal disputes concerning the interpretation of his work Wittgenstein's philosophical method and its connection with the form of the text. With further reading included throughout, this guidebook is essential reading for all students of philosophy, and all those wishing to get to grips with this masterpiece.Trade Review"This is one of the best introductions to the later Wittgenstein: it is accessible without oversimplifying, closely focused on central passages in the Investigations, and takes Wittgenstein’s way of writing philosophy seriously. It would be ideal for students reading the Investigations for the first time."David Stern, Mind.Table of ContentsSeries Editor Preface Preface Abbreviations Introduction 1. Style and Method 2. Wittgenstein's Critique of Augustine 3. Rules and Rule-following 4. Privacy and Private Language 5. The Inner and the Outer 6. Intentionality: Thinking, Imagining, Believing 7. Intentionality: Thinking, Expecting, Intending 8. Seeing and Seeing Aspects Bibliography Index
£24.69
Taylor & Francis Ltd Being and Nothingness
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Sarah Richmond has now produced a meticulous, elegant translation…" - Jonathan Rée, London Review of Books"Sarah Richmond’s superb new translation…is supplemented by a wealth of explanatory and analytical material [and] a particularly detailed and insightful set of notes on the translation…The first translation of Being and Nothingness was a major academic achievement that has influenced thought across a range of disciplines for more than sixty years. This new edition has the potential to be at least as influential over the coming decades." - Jonathan Webber, Mind"The publication of this excellent new English translation of L’Être et le néant is a welcome addition to the library of Sartre scholarship … There is every chance that it will also attract non-specialist readers to Sartre’s early philosophy and will thus importantly contribute to keeping existentialist thought alive in a context and era chronically bereft of genuine philosophical enlightenment." - Sam Coombes, French Studies"Translating such a book is manifestly a labour of love—it was as much for Barnes as for Richmond, and generations of Anglophone Sartre scholars remain grateful to Barnes, even if, as I expect (and hope) it will, Richmond's careful, thoughtful, and thought‐provoking translation becomes the standard one for use by students as well as professionals." - Katherine J. Morris, European Journal of Philosophy"Sarah Richmond's marvellously clear and thoughtful new translation brings Sartre's rich, infuriating, endlessly fertile masterpiece to a whole new English-language readership." – Sarah Bakewell, author of At The Existentialist Café"Sartre’s philosophy will always be important. Being and Nothingness is not an easy read but Sarah Richmond makes it accessible in English to the general reader. Her translation is exemplary in its clarity." - Richard Eyre"Sarah Richmond's translation of this ground-zero existentialist text is breathtaking. Having developed a set of brilliant translation principles, laid out carefully in her introductory notes, she has produced a version of Sartre’s magnum opus that—finally!—renders his challenging philosophical prose comprehensible to the curious general reader and his most compelling phenomenological descriptions and analyses luminous and thrilling for those of us who have studied Being and Nothingness for years." - Nancy Bauer, Tufts University, USA"This superb new translation is an extraordinary resource for Sartre scholars, including those who can read the work in French. Not only has Sarah Richmond produced an outstandingly accurate and fluent translation, but her extensive notes, introduction, and editorial comments ensure that the work will be turned to for clarification by all readers of Sartre. All in all, this is a major philosophical moment in Sartre studies." - Christina Howells, University of Oxford, UK"A new translation of Being and Nothingness has been long overdue. Sarah Richmond has done an excellent job of translating and clarifying Sartre’s magnum opus, making its rich content accessible to a wider audience." - Dan Zahavi, University of Copenhagen, Denmark"With its scholarly introduction, up-to-date bibliography and numerous footnotes, Richmond's fluent and precise translation will be an indispensable tool even for scholars able to read Sartre in French." - Andrew Leak, University College London, UK"This fine new translation provides us with as crisp a rendering as possible of Sartre’s complex prose. Richmond’s introduction, and a panoply of informative notes, also invite readers to share with her the intricacies of the task of translation and assist in grasping many of the conceptual vocabularies and nuances of this vital text." - Sonia Kruks, author of Simone de Beauvoir and the Politics of AmbiguityTable of ContentsForeword Richard Moran, Translator’s Introduction Sarah Richmond, Introduction: In Search of Being, Part 1: The Problem of Nothingness, 1. The Origin of Negation, 2. Bad Faith, Part 2: Being-For-Itself, 1. The Immediate Structures of the For-Itself, 2. Temporality, 3. Transcendence, Part 3: Being-for-the-Other, 1. The Other’s Existence, 2. The Body, 3. Concrete Relations with the Other, Part 4: To Have, To Do and To Be, 1. Being and Doing: Freedom, 2. To Do and to Have, Conclusion, Index
£51.29
Taylor & Francis Proust as Philosopher
Book SynopsisMarcel Proustâs In Search of Lost Time has long fascinated philosophers for its complex accounts of time, personal identity and narrative, amongst many other themes. Proust as Philosopher: The Art of Metaphor is the first book to try and connect Proustâs implicit ontology of experience with the question of style, and of metaphor in particular.Miguel de Beistegui begins with an observation: throughout In Search of Lost Time, the two main characters seem prone to chronic dissatisfaction in matters of love, friendship and even art. Reality always falls short of expectation. At the same time, the narrator experiences unexpected bouts of intense elation, the cause and meaning of which remain elusive. Beistegui argues we should understand these experiences as acts of artistic creation, and that this is why Proust himself wrote that true life is the life of art.He goes on to explore the nature of these joyful and pleasurable experiences and the transformation required of art, and particularly literature, if it is to incorporate them. He concludes that Proust revolutionises the idea of metaphor, extending beyond the confines of language to understand the nature of lived, bodily experience.Trade Review"De Beistegui is bold to write yet one more book on philosophy in Proust. Bold and successful, since his attention to metaphor allows him to discover new insights, sometimes by clarification, other times through expansion into uncharted territory. … The author, with the aid of his translators, Katz and Simon, creates a work that is artful and a pleasure to read. ... Beistegui gives us much to think about." - Katherine Elkins, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews"Miguel de Beistegui is the rarest kind of philosophical reader: one who follows Proust where he goes, rather than leading him to foreordained theoretical conclusions, one who learns about life from Proust, rather than translating him into terms already known. This book deserves a place among the very small number of works on Proust that are serious about the depth and richness of Proust's thought. And the beautiful translation of Beistegui's account of Proust's style and vocabulary will enrich any English language reader's sense of Proust's language." – William Flesch, Brandeis University, USA"Miguel de Beistegui's thought-provoking exploration of memory, imagination, metaphor, and that elusive quest for joy in the recherché masterfully illuminates the genius of Proust's fusion of philosophy and literature into a cathedral of words that transcends both without leaving either behind. Not only a welcome contribution to areas often neglected in Proust scholarship; it is also a challenging engagement with Proust's exploration of the human condition." - Nicolas de Warren, University of Leuven, Belgium"De Beistegui is bold to write yet one more book on philosophy in Proust. Bold and successful, since his attention to metaphor allows him to discover new insights, sometimes by clarification, other times through expansion into uncharted territory. … The author, with the aid of his translators, Katz and Simon, creates a work that is artful and a pleasure to read. ... Beistegui gives us much to think about." - Katherine Elkins, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews"Miguel de Beistegui is the rarest kind of philosophical reader: one who follows Proust where he goes, rather than leading him to foreordained theoretical conclusions, one who learns about life from Proust, rather than translating him into terms already known. This book deserves a place among the very small number of works on Proust that are serious about the depth and richness of Proust's thought. And the beautiful translation of Beistegui's account of Proust's style and vocabulary will enrich any English language reader's sense of Proust's language." – William Flesch, Brandeis University, USA"Miguel de Beistegui's thought-provoking exploration of memory, imagination, metaphor, and that elusive quest for joy in the recherché masterfully illuminates the genius of Proust's fusion of philosophy and literature into a cathedral of words that transcends both without leaving either behind. Not only a welcome contribution to areas often neglected in Proust scholarship; it is also a challenging engagement with Proust's exploration of the human condition." - Nicolas de Warren, University of Leuven, Belgium"In short, [this] is a valuable study, incorporating what has been done before while at the same time moving things in a fresh direction. Best of all, it sends the reader back, with renewed wonder, to Proust’s giant and magnificent novel." -Adam Gonya, Independent ScholarTable of Contents1. Looking for Joy 2. Proust Among the Psychologists 3. Finding Joy (Involuntary Memory) 4. Giving Joy (Metaphor) 5. Dress or Patchwork? Index
£41.79
Taylor & Francis Ltd The Thin Red Line
Book SynopsisThe Thin Red Line is the third feature-length film from acclaimed director Terrence Malick, set during the struggle between American and Japanese forces for Guadalcanal in the South Pacific during World War Two. It is a powerful, enigmatic and complex film that raises important philosophical questions, ranging from the existential and phenomenological to the artistic and technical.This is the first collection dedicated to exploring the philosophical aspects of Malickâs film. Opening with a helpful introduction that places the film in context, five essays, four of which were specially commissioned for this collection, go on to examine the following: the exploration of Heideggerian themes â such as being-towards-death and the vulnerability of Daseinâs world â in The Thin Red Line how Malickâs film explores and cinematically expresses the embodied nature of our experience of, and agency in, the world <Trade Review‘The Thin Red Line is an intense and illuminating collection of essays, covering a breadth of approaches to this film, ranging from philosophical film analysis motivated by a Heideggerian approach to an in-depth discussion of filmic techniques. As such, it is a valuable contribution to the growing field of film and philosophy… Its emphasis on the philosophical significance of human limitations and finitude brings out what is unique and important about The Thin Red Line in clear and intelligent prose, shedding much-needed light on this extraordinary film.’ - Havi Carel, UWE Bristol, UK'This is an exciting new anthology on one of the most philosophical of filmmakers. The essays are original, provocative, and ruminative - just like Malick's work - and explore how film itself may serve as a spur to our philosophical reflections regarding death, calm, humanity, sense, and nature.' - Daniel Flory, Montana State University, USA'The Thin Red Line is an intense and illuminating collection of essays, covering a breadth of approaches to this film, ranging from philosophical film analysis motivated by a Heideggerian approach to an in-depth discussion of filmic techniques. As such, it is a valuable contribution to the growing field of film and philosophy… Its emphasis on the philosophical significance of human limitations and finitude brings out what is unique and important about The Thin Red Line in clear and intelligent prose, shedding much-needed light on this extraordinary film.' – Havi Carel, UWE Bristol, UK'This is an exciting new anthology on one of the most philosophical of filmmakers. The essays are original, provocative, and ruminative - just like Malick's work - and explore how film itself may serve as a spur to our philosophical reflections regarding death, calm, humanity, sense, and nature.' – Daniel Flory, Montana State University, USATable of Contents1. Introduction David Davies 2. Calm—On Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line Simon Critchley 3. The Thin Red Line: Dying without Demise, Demise Without Dying Hubert Dreyfus and Camilo Prince 4. Vision, Touch and Embodiment in The Thin Red Line David Davies 5. Form and Feeling in Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line Amy Coplan 6. Nature and the Will to Power in Terrence Malick’s The New World Iain Macdonald
£128.25
Taylor & Francis The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music
Book SynopsisThe Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music is an outstanding guide and reference source to the key topics, subjects, thinkers and debates in philosophy and music. Over fifty entries by an international team of contributors are organised into six clear sections: general issues emotion history figures kinds of music music, philosophy and related disciplines The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music is essential reading for anyone interested in philosophy, music and musicology.Trade Review"Comprehensive and authoritative … readers will discover many excellent articles in this well-organized addition to a growing interdisciplinary field. Summing Up: Highly recommended" - CHOICE"… succeeds well in catching the wide-ranging strands of musical theorising and thinking, and performance, and an understanding of the various contexts in which all thistakes place." - Reference Reviews"A necessary book, one that those who are passionate about music and philosophy have long been awaiting. There is simply nothing like it." - Jerrold Levinson University of Maryland, USA"An intelligent and comprehensive overview of the Philosophy of Music, featuring contributions by many of the leading figures in the field. The editors have done a remarkable job soliciting topical and historical essays from both musically-minded philosophers and philosophically-minded musicians. It should become the standard reference work in the field." - Brian Kane, Yale University, USA"By bringing together in one volume the most up-to-date thinking from the best minds in the business, from all the relevant disciplines, Gracyk and Kania have provided an invaluable service not only to numerous scholars and their students, but equally to musicians and their audiences." - Guy Dammann, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, UK"This admirable volume will be welcomed by established philosophers of music and - especially - by those coming to the subject for the first time. The coverage of topics is ideal, while the contributors range from emerging talents to the biggest names in the field. An essential resource for anyone with an interest in the philosophy of music." - Aaron Ridley, University of Southampton, UK"Comprehensive and authoritative … readers will discover many excellent articles in this well-organized addition to a growing interdisciplinary field. Summing Up: Highly recommended" - CHOICE"… succeeds well in catching the wide-ranging strands of musical theorising and thinking, and performance, and an understanding of the various contexts in which all thistakes place." - Reference Reviews"A necessary book, one that those who are passionate about music and philosophy have long been awaiting. There is simply nothing like it." - Jerrold Levinson University of Maryland, USA"An intelligent and comprehensive overview of the Philosophy of Music, featuring contributions by many of the leading figures in the field. The editors have done a remarkable job soliciting topical and historical essays from both musically-minded philosophers and philosophically-minded musicians. It should become the standard reference work in the field." - Brian Kane, Yale University, USA"By bringing together in one volume the most up-to-date thinking from the best minds in the business, from all the relevant disciplines, Gracyk and Kania have provided an invaluable service not only to numerous scholars and their students, but equally to musicians and their audiences." - Guy Dammann, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, UK"This admirable volume will be welcomed by established philosophers of music and - especially - by those coming to the subject for the first time. The coverage of topics is ideal, while the contributors range from emerging talents to the biggest names in the field. An essential resource for anyone with an interest in the philosophy of music." - Aaron Ridley, University of Southampton, UK"A reader like me seeks an introduction that faithfully reviews the major topics, offers a critical perspective on the current controversies, provides resources for further study, and presents the material in clear language and at a level of sophistication appropriate to the discourse. In these respects, the editors have crafted an excellent collection." -Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University, USA Table of ContentsPart 1: General Issues 1. Definition Andrew Kania 2. Silence, Sound, Noise, and Music Jennifer Judkins 3. Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony Roger Scruton 4. Ontology Ben Caplan & Carl Matheson 5. Medium David Davies 6. Improvisation Lee B. Brown 7. Notation Stephen Davies 8. Performances and Recordings Andrew Kania & Theodore Gracyk 9. Authentic Performance Practice Paul Thom 10. Music and Language Ray Jackendoff 11. Music and Imagination Saam Trivedi 12. Understanding Music Erkki Huovinen 13. Style Jennifer Judkins 14. Aesthetic Properties Rafael de Clercq 15. Value Alan Goldman 16. Evaluating Music Theodore Gracyk 17. Appropriation and Hybridity James O. Young 18. Instrumental Technology Anthony Gritten Part 2: Emotion 19. Expression theories Jenefer Robinson 20. Arousalist Theories Derek Matravers 21. Resemblance theories Saam Trivedi 22. Music’s Arousal of Emotions Malcolm Budd Part 3: History 23. Classical aesthetic traditions of India, China, and the Middle East Stephen Blum & Peter Manuel 24. Antiquity and the Middle Ages Thomas J. Mathiesen 25. The Early Modern Period Jeanette Bicknell 26. Continental Philosophy and Music Tiger Roholt 27. Analytic Philosophy and Music Stephen Davies Part 4: Figures 28. Plato Stephen Halliwell 29. Rousseau Julia Simon 30. Kant Hannah Ginsborg 31. Schopenhauer Alex Neill 32. Nietzsche John M. Carvalho 33. Hanslick Thomas Grey 34. Gurney Malcolm Budd 35. Wagner Thomas Grey 36. Adorno Andy Hamilton Part 5: Kinds of Music 37. Popular Music John A. Fisher 38. Rock Allan F. Moore 39. Jazz Lee B. Brown 40. Song Jeanette Bicknell 41. Opera Paul Thom 42. Music and Motion Pictures Noël Carroll & Margaret Moore 43. Music and Dance Robynn Stilwell 44. Visual Music and Synesthesia Kathleen Higgins Part 6: Music, Philosophy, and Related Disciplines 45. Musicology Justin London 46. Music Theory and Philosophy Judith Lochhead 47. Composition Roger Scruton 48. Analysis Joseph Dubiel 49. Ethnomusicology Peter Manuel 50. Music and Politics James Currie 51. Sociology and Cultural Studies Anthony Kwame Harrison 52. Music and Gender Fred Everett Maus 53. Phenomenology and Music Bruce Ellis Benson 54. Music, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science Diana Raffman 55. Psychology of Music Eric Clarke 56. Music Education Philip Alperson. Index
£58.89
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Art of Understanding Art
Book SynopsisThe Art of Understanding Art reveals to students and other readers new and meaningful ways of developing personal ideas and opinions about art and how to express them with confidence.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xiii Why Should Art Matter to You ? A Message to Art Beginners xv Introduction: What Is Art? xvi Navigating the Book: A User’s Guide xxi Why Is Art Made? The Purposes of Art: A Brief Overview from A to Z xxiv The Anatomy of a Work of Art xxxii Part One Making Art 1 1 Artists and Patrons 3 Artists and Creators 3 Originality, Authorship, Authenticity 4 Appropriations 8 Attributions and Studio Practices 9 Collaborations 11 Artists and Multiple Works 12 Artists and Artisans 12 Anonymous Artists 13 The Creative Process: Inspiration and Influences 14 Self-Reflections 14 The Formative Years: Education, Family Life, and Personal Values 15 Patronage 17 Private Patronage 17 Religious Patronage 18 Royal Patronage 19 State, City, and Community Patronage 19 Today’s Patronage: Corporations, Institutions, Foundations, and Grants 20 Summary 21 Notes 21 2 Environment, Materials, and Other Resources 22 Environment 23 Natural Resources 23 Location 24 Climate 24 Dialogues between the Environment and Art 25 Materials, Tools, and Technology 27 Materials and Artistic Values 27 The Attributes of Materials 28 The “Purity” of Materials and Mixed Media 29 Materials as Sources for Meaning 29 “Unusual” Art Materials 31 Found Objects 32 The Body as Art Material 32 Tools and Technology 34 Other Resources: Knowledge and Information 36 Summary 37 Notes 37 3 Context 38 Cultural Context 39 Artistic Context 39 Art Organizations, Institutions, and Events 40 Culture, Science and Ideas 41 Historical, Political, and Religious Context 43 Historical Context and Current Events 43 Political Context 44 Religious Context 47 Societal Context 48 Everyday Life 49 The Mass Media 49 Moral Values 50 Social Context 51 Summary 52 Notes 52 Conclusion to Part One 53 Part Two Disseminating Art 55 4 The Dissemination of Original Art 57 Institutions 57 Museums 57 Collections and Foundations 67 Galleries 68 Academic-Affiliated Art Institutions 70 Beyond Institutional Walls 71 Alternative Spaces 71 Public Art 71 Propaganda Art 72 Art and Business 73 The Art Market and other Financial Matters 73 Art Patrons, Collectors, Dealers, and Sponsors 74 Artists and Business 75 Summary 76 Notes 76 5 The Dissemination of Art through Reproductions, and Other Issues 77 Publications, Presentations, and Lectures 78 Books, Catalogues, and Periodicals (Articles, Essays, and Reviews) 78 Lectures, Courses, and Presentations 79 The Mass Media 80 Films, Documentaries, and DVDs 80 The Web 82 Art and Popular Culture 84 Today’s Art World 86 The Decontextualization of Art 87 Original Context and Contemporary Times 88 “The Art World” 89 Summary 89 Notes 90 Conclusion to Part Two 90 Part Three Analyzing Art 91 6 Visual Resources Used to Analyze Art 93 The Work of Art 94 Form and Content 94 The Physical Condition of the Work of Art 98 Originals and Reproductions 100 The Preservation and Conservation of Art 101 Scientific Tools 103 Visual Documentation and Research 103 Artists’ “Body of Work” (Oeuvre) 104 Artistic and Visual Context of the Time 104 Drawings, Architectural Plans, and other Visual Resources 105 New Art/Archaeological Discoveries 105 Symbols in Art 106 Summary 107 Notes 108 7 Textual and Other Resources Used to Analyze Art 109 Primary Textual Sources 110 Archival Material 110 Artists’ Letters, Notes, and Statements 111 Provenance 114 Secondary Textual Sources 114 Art-Historical Literature 115 Original Context and History 115 Today’s Art History, Criticism, and Context 116 Additional Resources for Research 117 Art Institutions and Exhibitions 117 Online and Other Sources 117 Comparisons 119 “Conventional” Art Comparisons 119 Cross-Chronological and Cross-Cultural Comparisons 123 Visual Culture and Interdisciplinary Comparisons 124 Summary 125 Notes 125 8 A Critical Examination of Art Classification 126 Reflections on Art Classification 126 Identifying the Category of “Art” 126 The Roots of Art Classification 129 Criteria for Art Classification 130 Chronology and Artistic Periods 130 Media 132 Fine Art/High Art 132 Painting, Drawings, Prints, and Sculptures 133 Photography 134 Mixed Media 134 New Media 135 Multimedia 136 Graphic Arts 137 “Minor Arts” 137 Decorative Arts 138 Crafts 138 Architecture 138 Other Categories 139 “Low” Art and Popular Culture 139 “Outsider” Art 140 Naïve and Folk Art 141 Vernacular Art 141 Visual and Material Culture 141 Summary 142 Notes 142 Conclusion to Part Three 142 Part Four Interpreting Art 143 9 Interpreting Art: Criteria and Values 145 Preconceived Ideas about Art 146 Modern Art and the Audience 148 Artistic Values and Art Appreciation 150 Modernism 152 The Avant-Garde 152 The Modernist Artist 153 Modernism and Global Traditions 153 Originality and the Original 154 System of Values 154 Postmodernism 155 Multiculturalism 155 Originality and the Original (Imitation/Appropriation/Re-purposing) 156 The Postmodern Artist 156 System of Values 156 Interpreting Art: Getting Started 157 Understanding Images 157 Looking at and Interpreting Art 158 Summary 161 Notes 161 10 Methodologies of Art 162 Introduction to Art Methodologies 163 Biography/Autobiography 163 Connoisseurship 164 Context 165 Deconstruction 166 Feminism 167 Formalism and Style 167 Gender 168 Iconography 169 Multiculturalism 169 Postcolonialism 170 Psychoanalysis 170 Semiotics 171 Structuralism/Poststructuralism 172 Visual Culture 172 Art Interpretation: Case Study 173 Summary 179 Notes 179 Conclusion 180 Appendix 1 The Art World 182 Appendix 2 Creative Assignments and Writing Projects 189 Appendix 3 Glossary 194 Appendix 4 “Tools of the Trade” Diagrams: Form and Content (1–5) and Art Media (6–8) 210 List of Figures and Color Plates 218 Bibliography 220 Index 227
£35.96
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Danto and His Critics
Book SynopsisUpdated and revised, the Second Edition of Danto and His Critics presents a series of essays by leading Danto scholars who offer their critical assessment of the influential works and ideas of Arthur C. Danto, the Johnsonian Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University and long-time art critic for The Nation. Reflects Danto''s revisions in his theory of art, reworking his views in ways that have not been systematically addressed elsewhere Features essays that critically assess the changes in Danto''s thoughts and locate Danto''s revised theory in the larger context of his work and of aesthetics generally Speaks in original ways to the relation of Danto''s philosophy of art to his theory of mind Connects and integrates Danto''s ideas on the nature of knowledge, action, aesthetics, history, and mind, as well as his provocative thoughts on the philosophy of art for the reader Trade Review“Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty. (Choice, 1 February 2013)Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors ix Acknowledgments xi Selected Bibliography of the Works of Arthur Danto xiii Introduction 1 Mark Rollins Part I System and Method 13 1 Danto as Systematic Philosopher, or Comme on lit Danto en francais 15 David Carrier 2 Danto's Gallery of Indiscernibles 30 Richard Wollheim Part II Intention and Interpretation 41 3 The Invisible Content of Visual Art 43 Mark Rollins 4 Deja vu All Over Again: How Danto's Aesthetics Recapitulates the Philosophy of Mind 55 Jerry A. Fodor 5 Surface and Deep Interpretation 69 Peg Brand and Myles Brand 6 "Other Pictures We Look at, – His Prints We Read": Danto Reading Lamb Reading Hogarth on the Art of the Commonplace 84 Lydia Goehr Part III Philosophy of Art 109 7 A Tale of Two Artworlds 111 Postscript George Dickie 8 Essence, Expression, and History: Arthur Danto’s Philosophy of Art 118 Noel Carroll 9 Danto's New Definition of Art and the Problem of Art Theories 146 Noel Carroll 10 Danto and Kant: Together at Last? 153 Diarmuid Costello 11 Atomism, Art, and Arthur: Danto's Hegelian Turn 172 Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins Postscript Kathleen M. Higgins Part IV Historical Knowledge 197 12 Art and Its Doubles: Danto, Foucault, and Their Simulacra Postscript 199 Gary Shapiro 13 The Beginning of the End: Danto on Postmodernism 215 Daniel Herwitz 14 Danto's Aesthetic: Is It Truly General As He Claims? 232 David Carrier Part V What Philosophy Is 249 15 Art as Religion: Transfigurations of Danto's Dao 251 Richard Shusterman 16 Looking Beyond the Visible: The Case of Arthur Dantwo 267 Carlin Romano Part VI Responses 283 17 Replies to Essays 285 Arthur C. Danto Afterword: Not by a Soap Box but First by a Kiss 313 Arthur C. Danto Index 317
£92.10
University of California Press The Thought of Music
Book SynopsisWhat, exactly, is knowledge of music? And what does it tell us about humanistic knowledge in general? This book grapples directly with these fundamental questions - questions especially compelling at a time when humanistic knowledge is enmeshed in debates about its character and future.Trade Review"The volume is essential; the issues under study here remain vital, and the author enunciates them clearly ... Summing up: recommended." CHOICE "Kramer has been hugely successful in creating a community of formalist and hermeneutic analytical discourse that has inspired a new generation of thinkers to question music's inherent meaning and value in contemporary society... a hugely important and timely work that should no doubt become the focus of much future work and pedagogy." NotesTable of ContentsPreface: The Thought of Music Acknowledgments 1 * Music and the Forms of Thought 2 * Speaking of Music: In Search of an Idiom 3 * The Ineffable and How (Not) to Say It 4 * Pleasure and Valuation 5 * The Cultural Field: Beyond Context 6 * Virtuosity, Reading, Authorship: A Genealogy 7 * The Newer Musicology? Context, Performance, and the Musical Work Postscript: Imagining the Score Notes Index of Names Index of Concepts
£25.50
Cambridge University Press Fiction and Metaphysics Cambridge Studies in Philosophy
Book SynopsisThis challenging study places fiction squarely at the centre of the discussion of metaphysics. Philosophers have traditionally treated fiction as involving a set of narrow problems in logic or the philosophy of language. By contrast Amie Thomasson argues that fiction has far-reaching implications for central problems of metaphysics. The book develops an 'artifactual' theory of fiction, whereby fictional characters are abstract artifacts as ordinary as laws or symphonies or works of literature. By understanding fictional characters we come to understand how other cultural and social objects are established on the basis of the independent physical world and the mental states of human beings.Table of ContentsIntroduction: from fiction into metaphysics; Part I. The Artifactual Theory of Fiction: Foreword; 1. If we postulated fictional objects, what would they be?; 2. The nature and varieties of existential dependence; 3. Fictional characters as abstract artifacts; 4. Reference to fictional characters; 5. Identity conditions for fictional characters; Part II. Ontological Decisions: Foreword; 6. Fiction and experience; 7. Fiction and language; 8. Ontology and categorization; 9. The perils of false parsimony; 10. An ontology for a varied world; Notes; Bibliography.
£37.99
Cambridge University Press The Question of Style in Philosophy and the Arts
Book SynopsisThe essays in this book examine the historical transition in our perception of the arts and philosophy which occurred during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as the foundationalism of Descartes and Spinoza gave way to the idea that alternative styles of enquiry are possible.Trade Review"...this book reminds us that style has always played a role in philosophical writing despite claims to the contrary. Not only does it show that philosophy has influenced the arts, but that the arts might hold the key to understanding style in philosophical writing." Jeffrey R. DiLeo, Philosophy and LiteratureTable of Contents1. The style of method: repression and representation in the genealogy of philosophy B. Lang; 2. Style in painting R. Wollheim; 3. Stylistic strategies in William Hogarth's theatrical satires M. K. Lindberg; 4. Style in architecture J. Mordaunt Crook; 5. Par le style on atteint au sublime: the meaning of the term style in French architectural theory of the late eighteenth century C. A. Van Eck; 6. Aesthetic forms of philosophising L. Wiesing; 7. Style and community S. Kemal; 8. Metaphor and paradox in Toqueville's analysis of democracy F. R. Ankersmit; 9. The formation of styles: science and the applied arts J. W. McAllister; 10. Beyond the mannered: the question of style in philosophy or questionable styles of philosophy N. Davey; 11. Style and subjective agency C. Altieri; 12. Style and innocence: lost, regained, and lost again? D. Franck; Appendix; Index.
£33.99
Cambridge University Press Kant on Beauty and Biology
Book SynopsisKant's Critique of Judgment has often been interpreted by scholars as comprising separate treatments of three uneasily connected topics: beauty, biology, and empirical knowledge. Rachel Zuckert's book interprets the Critique as a unified argument concerning all three domains.Trade ReviewReview of the hardback: '… impressive in its intellectual scope, its clearly-written quality, its well-informed, considerable citation of the secondary literature in Kant scholarship and its manner of arguing for a variety of nuanced positions that arise within the text's many subthemes. It is a contribution that stands solidly on the shoulders of the presently leading Kant scholarship and that integrates itself well into it.' British Journal for the History of PhilosophyTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. The problem: unity of the diverse; 2. Reflective judgment and its principle: preliminary remarks; Part I. Teleological Judgment: 3. The critique of teleological judgment: purposiveness is the 'highest formal unity'; 4. A merely subjective principle: time and the 'peculiarities of our intellects'; Part II. Aesthetic Judgment: Introduction; 5. Beautiful objects: subjectively purposive form; 6. Aesthetic pleasure: the feeling of subjective, projective temporality; 7. The free harmony of the faculties: purposiveness as the principle of aesthetic Beurteilung; 8. The justification of aesthetic judgment: purposiveness as the principle of reflective judging; Conclusion.
£36.99
Cambridge University Press The PostModern and the PostIndustrial A Critical Analysis
Book SynopsisThis book offers an historical and critical guide to the concepts of the post-modern and the post-industrial. It brings admirable clarity and thoroughness to a discussion of the many different uses made of the term post-modern across a number of different disciplines (including literature, architecture, art history, philosophy, anthropology and geography). It also analyses the concept of the post-industrial society to which the concept of the post-modern has often been related. Dr Rose discusses the work of many theorists in the area, including Hassan, Lyotard, Jameson and the architectural historian Charles Jencks, and also looks at analyses and uses of the concepts of the post-modern and post-industrial by Frampton, Portoghesi, Peter Fuller and others.Trade Review'Rarely can one say of a scholarly work that it is so good as to advance the discourse on a subject - but here I can. Margaret Rose has studied and understood all sides of the debate on post-modernism, which is more than one can say of the debaters, and she has represented the arguments with sympathy. Anyone who wants to understand post-modernism - especially now that confused books are appearing on the subject monthly - need look no further than this summary and criticism.' Charles JencksTable of ContentsPreface; Introduction; 1. Defining the post-modern; 2. Defining the post-industrial; 3. Deconstructionist theories; 4. Double-coded theories; 5. Alternative theories; 6. Conclusion and summary; Bibliography; Index.
£30.99
Cambridge University Press Nietzsche Philosophy and the Arts Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and the Arts
Book SynopsisNietzsche's writings have shaped much contemporary reflection on the relation between philosophy and art. This book brings together a number of distinguished contributors to examine his aesthetic account of the origins and ends of philosophy. They discuss the transformative power which Nietzsche ascribes to aesthetic activity, including his aesthetic justification of existence and its fusion of social and personal existence, and they investigate his experiments with an 'aesthetic politics' and a politicisation of aesthetics. Together their essays set out the ground for future debate about the inter-relation between art, philosophy, and value.Trade Review"Emphasizing the various senses of experiment, temptation, and seduction wrapped up in this German word, Conway sees Nietzche as a thinker of eros, concerned to articulate the possibility of exceptional figures--philosophers, artists,, or saints--who are strong enough to squander their strength and resources in legislating (literally or metaphorically) for the rest of us...Conway's reading should actually help in giving a fresh analysis of these themes that shows how they can be made intelligible without implicating them in such disasters." - Gary Shapiro, University of RichmondTable of ContentsIntroduction: Nietzsche and art Salim Kemal, Ivan Gaskell and Daniel W. Conway; 1. Nietzsche's conception of irony Ernst Behler; 2. The transfiguration of intoxication: Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Dionysus Martha Nussbaum; 3. Nietzschean self-transformation and the transformation of the Dionysian Adrian Del Caro; 4. Socratism and the question of aesthetic justification Randall Havas; 5. What is the meaning of Aesthetic ideals? Aaron Ridley; 6. The splitting of historical consciousness Stephen Bann; 7. Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze, truth, and The Birth of Tragedy Timothy W. Hiles; 8. Improvisations, on Nietzsche/on jazz John Carvalho; 9. Unstable identities: Nietzsche on the force of art and language Fiona Jenkins; 10. Dionysus lost and found: literary genres in Nietzsche and Lukács Henry Staten; 11. Nietzsche's politics of aesthetic genius Salim Kemal; 12. Love's labour's lost: the philosopher's Versucherkunst Daniel W. Conway; 13. Nietzsche's Dionysian arts: dance, song, and silence Claudia Crawford.
£44.99
Cambridge University Press Heideggers Philosophy of Art
Book SynopsisDrawing on material hitherto unknown in the anglophone world, Julian Young establishes a new account of Heidegger's philosophy of art and shows that his famous essay 'The Origin of the Work of Art' is its beginning, not its end.Table of Contents1. 'The origin of the work of art'; 2. Hölderlin: the early texts; 3. Hölderlin: the later texts; 4. Modern art.
£22.99
Cambridge University Press Nietzsche The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings
Book SynopsisThis edition of The Birth of Tragedy, one of the seminal philosophical works of the modern period, presents a new translation by Ronald Speirs and an introduction by Raymond Geuss that sets the work in its historical and philosophical context.Trade Review'The main purpose of the book was to challenge nineteenth-century idealisations of classical Greece: ancient tragedy at its greatest, Nietzsche argued, was animated not by orderliness and quite decorum but by an inebriated frenzy of music, dnace and rollicking enormity.' New HumanistTable of Contents1. The birth of tragedy; 2. The dionysiac world view; 3. On truth and lying in a non-moral sense.
£49.99
Cambridge University Press The German Aesthetic Tradition
Book SynopsisThis book, first published in 2002, is a systematic overview of German aesthetics from 1750 to the present. It begins with the work of Baumgarten and covers all the major writers on German aesthetics that follow. It offers a clear, non-technical exposition of ideas, placing these in a wider philosophical context where necessary.Trade Review'… will serve as a valuable introduction to central aspects of nineteenth-century art and thought.' Art NewspaperTable of ContentsPreface; Part I. The Age of Paradigms: 1. Baumgarten, Mendelssohn; 2. Kant; 3. Schiller; 4. Schelling; 5. Hegel; Part II. Challenging the Paradigms: 6. Schopenhauer; 7. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche; Part III. Renewing the Paradigms: 8. Cassirer, Lukács; 9. Heidegger, Gadamer; 10. Adorno; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.
£75.00
Cambridge University Press Kants Theory of Taste A Reading of the Critique of Aesthetic Judgment Modern European Philosophy
Book SynopsisThis book constitutes one of the most important contributions to recent Kant scholarship. In it, one of the pre-eminent interpreters of Kant, Henry Allison, offers a comprehensive, systematic, and philosophically astute account of all aspects of Kant's views on aesthetics. The first part of the book analyses Kant's conception of reflective judgment and its connections with both empirical knowledge and judgments of taste. The second and third parts treat two questions that Allison insists must be kept distinct: the normativity of pure judgments of taste, and the moral and systematic significance of taste. The fourth part considers two important topics often neglected in the study of Kant's aesthetics: his conceptions of fine art, and the sublime.Trade Review'Kant's Theory of Taste is a well produced volume usefully equipped at the end with a compendious bibliography.' MindTable of ContentsAcknowledgments; Note on sources and key to abbreviations and translations; Introduction; Part I. Kant's Conception of Reflective Judgment: 1. Reflective judgment and the purposiveness of nature; 2. Reflection and taste in the introductions; Part II. Te Quid Facti and the Quid Juris in the Domain of Taste: 3. The analytic of the beautiful and the quid facti: an overview; 4. The disinterestedness of the pure judgment of taste; 5. Subjective universality, the universal voice, and the harmony of the faculties; 6. Beauty, purposiveness, and form; 7. The modality of taste and the sensus communis; 8. The deduction of pure judgments of taste; Part III. The Moral and Systematic Significance of Taste: 9. Reflective judgment and the transition from nature to freedom; 10. Beauty, duty, and interest: the moral significance of natural beauty; 11. The antinomy of taste and beauty as a symbol of morality; Part IV. Parerga to the Theory of Taste: 12. Fine art and genius; 13. The sublime; Notes; Bibliography; Index.
£34.99
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Lyotard Reader
Book SynopsisJean-Francois Lyotard was one of the founding members of the College Internationale de philosophie. Ha has taught at Vincennes, Saint Denis and is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of California at Irvine. Several of his books have appeared in English, notable The Postmodern Condition, Just Gaming and The Dirrerend. The Lyotard Reader is a collection of Jean-Francois Lyotard''s most important and significant papers to date. While they are all written from within philosophy, they seek to address subjects as wide-ranging as film, painting (Adami, Francken, Newman), psychoanalysis, Judaism and politics. The originality of Lyotard''s work means that it can not be readily situated within any one philosophical tradition. Instead he returns philosophy itself to debates across a range of areas and, in so doing, redefines the philosophical enterprise. A number of chapters in The Lyotard Reader appear for the first time in EnglTrade Review‘Andrew Benjamin asks me for a short – very short – foreword for this Lyotard Reader, nothing much, only four or five pages. Just like that , quite casually. As though it was the most natural thing in the world. But there's nothing natural at all about this Lyotard Reader, or about the idea that Lyotard himself should write a foreword for the Reader. You say foreword. Let him say a word before you read his words. A key word that gives the Reader, a key to the words in the Reader ...' Jean- Reader Francois Lyotard from the forewordTable of ContentsForeword by Jean-Francois Lyotard. Und So Weiter: In Lieu of an Introduction. Acknowledgements. 1. The Tensor. 2. The Dream-Work Does Not Think. 3. Passages from Le Mur du Pacigique. 4. Figure Foreclosed. 5. One of the Things at Stake in Women's Struggles. 6. Lessons in Paganism. 7. Beyond Representation. 8. Acinema. 9. Philosophy and Painting in the Age of Their Experimentation: Contribution to an Idea of Postmodernity. 10. The Sublime and the Avant-Garde. 11. Scapeland. 12. Anamnesis of the Visible, or Candour. 13. Newman: The Instant. 14. The Story of Ruth. 15. Analysing Speculative Discourse as Language-Game. 16. Levinas' Logic. 17. Universal history and Cultural Differences. 18. Judiciousness in Dispute, or Kant after Marx. 19. Discussions, or Phrasing ‘after Auschwitz'. 20. The Sign of History. Select bibliography of English Translations of Lyotard's Writings. Index.
£36.86
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Aesthetics
Book SynopsisPhilosophers have considered questions raised by the nature of art, of beauty, and critical appreciation since ancient times, and the discipline of aesthetics has a long tradition that stretches from Plato to the present.Trade Review"An anthology that paired the strongest evidence in favor of the tradition with the strongest evidence against it would have obvious appeal for many teachers of aesthetics, especially those of us who remain genuinely ambivalent about the tradition. That anthology does not yet exist, at least to my knowledge. In the meantime, the next best thing may be to pair this provocative collection with one of its more traditional competitors." James Shelley, American Society for Aesthetics "Carolyn Korsmeyer has produced a very useful anthology which will undoubtedly become a well used textbook for students of aesthetics and a valuable source of otherwise less readily available texts...the volume is radical in enriching the discipline and Korsmeyer has made the presence of women scholars and feminist theory in philosophy felt in fundamental ways." Melanie Selfe, Women's Philosophy Review, Special Issue no. 25, 2000Table of ContentsList of Plates. Acknowledgments. Introduction. Part One: What is Art?. Preface. John Dewey. The Live Creature. Richard L. Anderson, from Calliope's Sisters. The Artworld. Arthur C. Danto. Crafty Women and the Hierarchy of the Arts. Roszika Parker and Griselda Pollock. Zen and the Art of Tea. D. T. Suzuki. Dressing Down Dressing Up. The Philosophic Fear of Fashion. Karen Hanson. Part Two: Experience and Appreciation: How Do We Encounter Art?. Preface. A Contested Term: What is "Aesthetic"?. The Aesthetic Attitude. Jerome Stolnitz. Locating the Aesthetic. Marcia Eaton. From Truth and Method. Hans Georg Gadamer. How is Art Presented to the Public?. Artistic Dropouts. Kevin Melchionne. Museums: From Object to Experience. Hilde Hein. The MoMA's Hot Mamas. Carol Duncan. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Arthur Danto. Part Three: Aesthetic Evaluation: Who Decides?. Preface. Of the Standard of Taste. David Hume. From Distinction. Pierre Bourdieu. Disinterestedness and Political Art. Peggy Zeglin Brand. High and Low Thinking About High and Low Art. Ted Cohen. Part Four: Can We Learn from Art?. Preface. From The Republic. Plato. The Sovereignty of Good. Iris Murdoch. From Love's Knowledge. Martha Nussbaum. Carnage and Glory, Legends and Lies. Michael Norman. Paintings and Their Places. Susan L. Feagin. Part Five: Tragedy, Sublimity, Horror: Why Do We Enjoy Painful Experiences in Art?. Preface. Tragedy: Sophocles, Choral Ode from Oedipus at Colonus. From the Poetics. Aristotle. From The Birth of Tragedy. Friedrich Nietzsche. Sublimity. Descent into the Maelstrom. Edgar Allen Poe. From A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. Edmund Burke. From The Critique of Judgement. Immanuel Kant. Horror. From The Philosophy of Horror. Noel Carroll. Realist Horror. Cynthia Freeland. Part Six: Where is the Artist in the Work of Art?. Preface. Genius and Creativity. From Critique of Judgement. Kant. Gender and Genius. Christine Battersby. Interpreting the Artist in Society. What is an Author? Michael Foucault. Truth and other Cultures. Michael Baxandall. Musical Thinking and Thinking About Music. Bruno Nettl. Index.
£31.46
John Wiley and Sons Ltd One Thousand Years of Philosophy
Book SynopsisExplores the distinctive character of three traditions - Indian, Chinese and Western - that have dominated philosophical thought over the past thousand years. This book covers the history of Western thought alongside the Vedic philosophies of India, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, as well as Islamic and Jewish contributions to philosophy.Trade Review"Harre's work must rank as one of the most unique historical sources available: it provides an account of how particular philosophers and their works fit into the far broader context of a millennium's worth of thought without regard to hemisphere." Times Higher Education Supplement "He engages readers with a clear style, periodic conclusions, and predictions of dominant philosophical themes in the future. Helpful aids include an events time line, historical chart, notes, bibliography, and index." D.A. Haney, Marywood University, Choice, June 2001 "A millennium of deep thought compressed in an utterly accessible volume. Rom Harré serves the interested reader well in this carefully, systematically organized work. This is a book that invites the earnest reader to join the Long Debate and to recognize its vital importantce." -- Daniel N. Robinson, Georgetown UniversityTable of ContentsPreface. Acknowledgments. Events Timeline and Historical Chart. 1. What is Philosophy?. The traditional Disciplines of Philosphy. The Methods of Philosophy. The Products of Philosophy. Part I: Philosophy in the East. 2. India: The Traditions. The Scope of Philosophy in India. The Vedic Tradition. The Velic Philosophies. 3. Indian Philosophy in the Second Millennium. Indian Materialism. The Analysis of Judgments. From Deliverance to Salvation. The Influence of the West. 4. China: Ancient Sources. Confucius and the Confucius. Taoism. The Issue of Immortality. Buddhism: From Mahayana to Zen. 5. Chinese and Japanese Philosophy in the Second Millennium. Neo-Conficianism. Chinese Philosophy Aboard. The Influence of the West. Part II: Philosophy In The West: Medieval Philosophy. 6. Islamic Philosophy. Three Sources of Islamic Philosophy. The Problems and their Philosphical Treatment. Traditionilst' Philosphical Attack on Philosophy. The Jewish Contribution to Medieval Philosophy. The Revival of the Aristotelian Influence. The Influence of Islam on the Latin West. The LAter Historyu of Islamic Thought. 7. Philosophy in Medieval Europe. The Christian Tradition. Our Knowledge of God, his Nature, and his Existence. Moral Rewsponsibility and God's Omniscience. The Great Divide: The via moderna displaces the via antiqua. Part III: Philosophy In The West: Modern Philosophy One: Mind And Cosmos. 8. The World Shapes The Mind: Realism and Positivism. The Foundations of Science. The Rise of Realism. Realism in Retreat. The Rise of Positivism. 9. Mind and Cosmos: Rationalism and Conventionalism. The Rationalist Account of Knowledge. Convetionalism: The Mind Shapes the World. Paradigms and the Sociology of Knowledge. 10. The Unity of Mind and World: Idealism, Phenomenalism and Phenomenology. The Rise of Idealism. Phenomenalism. Phenomenolgy. Part IV: Philosophy in the West: Modern Philosophy Two; Persons and Their Relations. 11. Human Nature. The Nature of a Person. Personal Identity. Knowinf People. Dualism and Destiny. 12. Relations Among Persons I: Moral Philosophy. Foundations of Morality. The Content of Moral Judgements. Existentialism. Recent Extensons of the Traditional Ethical Topics. Moral Relativism. 13. Relations Among Persons II: Political Philosophy. Philosophical Foundations of the State. The Evolution of States. The Historical Conditioning of Social Norms. Philosophical Foundations of Representative Government. Bibliography: References and Further Reading. Index.
£31.46
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Art and Value
Book SynopsisFocuses on questions of history, methods, and the nature of art theories, as well as the value and evaluation of art. This book is intended as a primer to aesthetics, as well as a summary and extension of the author's contribution to the field.Trade Review"George Dickie's Art and Value is an elegant restatement of the virtues of the institutional theory of art and his conception of artistic evaluation. This lively and trenchant riposte to critics will ensure that his work remains much discussed and will prove to be an invaluable resource for students." Matthew Kieran, University of Leeds. "Professor Dickie does an excellent job combining and articulating the insights accumulated during his long career in the philosophy of art. Of special significance is his discussion of how 'what is art' relates to 'what is good art?" George Bailey, East Carolina University.Table of ContentsIntroduction. 1. The Historical Background Of The Philosophy Of Art. 2. Methodological Background In The Philosophy Of Art. 3. The Nature Of Art Theories. 4. The History of the Institutional Theory. 5. The Evaluation of Art. 6. Art and Value.
£87.26
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Art and Value
Book SynopsisFocuses on questions of history, methods, and the nature of art theories, as well as the value and evaluation of art. This book is intended as a primer to aesthetics, as well as a summary and extension of the author's contribution to the field.Trade Review"George Dickie's Art and Value is an elegant restatement of the virtues of the institutional theory of art and his conception of artistic evaluation. This lively and trenchant riposte to critics will ensure that his work remains much discussed and will prove to be an invaluable resource for students." Matthew Kieran, University of Leeds. "Professor Dickie does an excellent job combining and articulating the insights accumulated during his long career in the philosophy of art. Of special significance is his discussion of how 'what is art' relates to 'what is good art?" George Bailey, East Carolina University.Table of ContentsIntroduction. 1. The Historical Background Of The Philosophy Of Art. 2. Methodological Background In The Philosophy Of Art. 3. The Nature Of Art Theories. 4. The History of the Institutional Theory. 5. The Evaluation of Art. 6. Art and Value.
£29.40
Harvard University Press OneWay Street
Book SynopsisPresented in a new edition with expanded notes, this genre-defying meditation on the semiotics of late-1920s Weimar culture, composed of 60 short prose pieces that vary wildly in style and theme, offers a fresh opportunity to encounter Walter Benjamin at his most virtuosic and experimental, writing in a vein that anticipates later masterpieces.Trade ReviewThe prose in One-Way Street is positively electrified by the historical moment…Far more important than any residues of past literature, however prevalent, are the ways in which One-Way Street ushers in a wholly original literary aesthetics. Its formal daring is unmatched by any of Benjamin’s earlier work…One-Way Street is dead set on a new mode of materialism, one that shares with Surrealism an esteem for everyday objects, debris, junk, and dross—for whatever is marginal, marginalized, outmoded, or fleeting. This edition’s index testifies to the dizzying thematic diversity of Benjamin’s undertaking: children’s toys, capital punishment, money, mobs, utopia, fancy goods, misery, souvenirs, beggars, and red neon advertising signs reflected in pools of dirty rain. Form in One-Way Street is no mere envelope, but the very arena in which these objects and phenomena clash and generate their sparks. Benjamin’s aphorisms mimic the rhythms of the street, instantiating the experiences most proper to it: distraction, reverie, shock, haste, detour, etc. Scathing critique is mixed with imagistic commentary and surrealistic prose poetry—all broken into shards and scattered like a mosaic of fragments. But however atomized and heterogeneous, the little pieces of One-Way Street pursue a common goal: an idiosyncratic exposé on history (specifically, the disintegration of culture) as deciphered in the most concrete of its artifacts and rituals. -- Michael Blum * Los Angeles Review of Books *One-Way Street is Benjamin’s most daring and experimental book; though short, it contains a wide range of genres ranging from aphorisms and political satire to maxims and instructions. -- Carolin Duttlinger * Times Literary Supplement *
£14.36
Harvard University Press What Art Is Like In Constant Reference to the
Book SynopsisThis comic, serious inquiry into the nature of art takes its technical vocabulary from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. It is ridiculous to think of poems, paintings, or films as distinct from other things in the world, including people. Talking about art should be contiguous with talking about other relevant matters.Trade ReviewMiguel Tamen's What Art Is Like admirably opens up both the risks and rewards of stepping through the looking glass. No reader of this book will come out unscathed: it is both the most rigorous application of 'Alice-logic' and the most idiosyncratic work of 'Alice-philosophy' ever to have been attempted. It is also, in parts, extremely funny. -- Peter de Bolla, author of Art MattersMiguel Tamen's wonderful book—compact, highly original, lucid, and utterly attractive in style and tone—is most impressive for the care, depth and acuity with which it discerns, articulates, and scrutinizes both leading and misleading analogies that exert explicit or implicit influence on our thinking about art and aesthetic experience. If, as Tamen shows in What Art Is Like, we place art next to other experiences that can profoundly change us and then work through the telling similarities and differences, we come to see a good deal about what kind of thing art actually is for us. An engaging book, sparkling with life, brilliantly preserving a special lightness of touch while acutely investigating some matters of deep human concern. -- Garry Hagberg, author of Describing Ourselves: Wittgenstein and Autobiographical Consciousness
£29.71
Harvard University Press Philosophys Artful Conversation
Book SynopsisTheory—an embattled discourse for decades—faces a new challenge from those who want to model the methods of all scholarly disciplines on the sciences. What is urgently needed, says D. N. Rodowick, is a revitalized concept of theory that can assess the limits of scientific explanation and defend the unique character of humanistic understanding.Trade ReviewIn this beautiful meditation on film and philosophy, D. N. Rodowick guides us through original combinations of thinkers, artworks, and ideas to argue for new ethical possibilities for the humanities. His studies transcend disciplinary boundaries in style and approach such that new ways of reflecting on deep social and existential problems come to the fore, carried by exceptional learning and feel. His surprising alliance of Cavell and Deleuze allows for the most moving and wise appreciation of film as ethical domain available today. -- James Williams, University of Dundee
£34.81
Harvard University Press Mimesis as MakeBelieve On the Foundations of the
Book SynopsisRepresentation—in visual arts and fiction—play an important part in our lives and culture. Walton presents a theory of representation which illuminates its many varieties and goes a long way toward explaining its importance. Walton’s theory also provides solutions to thorny philosophical problems concerning the existence of fictitious beings.Trade ReviewRigor, ingenuity and arresting subtlety are evident in the detailed working out of Walton’s ideas. -- Sebastian Gardner * Times Literary Supplement *This is philosophy at its best; combining the breadth of concern of the best continental philosophy (but shorn of its often wilful cloudiness) and the precision of the best analytical philosophy… A work of very great importance that will set the agenda for discussions in aesthetics for a long time to come. * Philosophy *Walton’s aim…is to explore and explain the foundations of the representational arts. His theory is one that he has stated and restated with increasing detail and sophistication over the last seventeen years, and in this book it bears all the refinement and subtlety of argument that analytic philosophy can muster. This is an engaging, insightful, and persuasive volume. * Philosophy and Literature *Kendall Walton’s book is one of the few genuinely distinguished contributions to aesthetic theory published in the last decade or two. It will be essential reading for anyone in the field and contains much that will be of great interest to scholars and critics of the arts. -- Marshall Cohen, University of Southern CaliforniaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction PART 1: REPRESENTATIONS 1. Representation and Make-Believe 1. Imagining 2. Prompters 3. Objects of Imaginings 4. Imagining about Oneself 5. Props and Fictional Truths 6. Fictionality without Props: Dreams and Daydreams 7. Representations 8. Nonfigurative Art 9. Fictional Worlds 10. The Magic of Make-Believe 2. Fiction and Nonfiction 1. Nonfiction 2. Fiction versus Reality 3. Linguistic Strategies 4. Fiction and Assertion 5. Pretended and Represented Illocutionary Actions 6. Fiction Making as an Illocutionary Action? 7. Mixtures, Intermediates, Ambiguity, Indeterminacy 8. Legends and Myths 9. A Note on Truth and Reality 10. Two Kinds of Symbols? 3. Objects of Representation 1. What Objects Are 2. Representation and Matching 3. Determinants 4. Representing and Referring 5. Uses of Objects 6. Reflexive Representation 7. The Inessentiality of Objects 8. Nonactual Objects? 4. The Mechanics of Generation 1. Principles of Generation 2. Direct and Indirect Generation 3. Principles of Implication 4. The Mechanics of Direct Generation 5. Silly Questions 6. Consequences PART 2: APPRECIATING REPRESENTATIONS 5. Puzzles and Problems 1. Rescuing Heroines 2. Fearing Fictions 3. Fictionality and Other Intentional Properties 6. Participation 1. Participation in Children's Games 2. Appreciators as Participants 3. Verbal Participation 4. Restrictions on Participation 5. Asides to the Audience 6. Seeing the Unseen 7. Psychological Participation 1. Fearing Fictionally 2. Participating Psychologically 3. Paradoxes of Tragedy 4. Suspense and Surprise 5. The Point of Participation 6. Appreciation without Participation PART 3: MODES AND MANNERS 8. Depictive Representation 1. Depiction Defined 2. Looking at Pictures and Looking at Things 3. Styles of Depiction 4. Realism 5. Cross-Modal Depiction 6. Musical Depictions 7. Points of View (in Depictions) 8. Conclusion 9. Verbal Representations 1. Verbal Depiction 2. Narration 3. Two Kinds of Reliability 4. Nonverbal Narration 5. Absent and Effaced Narrators 6. Storytelling Narrators 7. Mediation 8. Points of View in Narrated Representations PART 4: SEMANTICS AND ONTOLOGY 10. Doing without Fictitious Entities 1. The Problem 2. Speaking within and about Fictional Worlds 3. Ordinary Statements 4. Unofficial Games 5. Variations 6. Logical Form 11. Existence 1. Betrayal and Disavowal 2. Claims of Existence and Nonexistence Works Cited Index
£37.36
Harvard University Press Guilty Aesthetic Pleasures
Book SynopsisFor scholars invested in supporting or challenging dominant ideologies, the beauty of literature seemed frivolous, even complicit with social iniquities. Suspicion of aesthetics became a way to establish the rigor of one’s thought and the purity of one’s politics. Yet aesthetic pleasure never disappeared, Timothy Aubrey writes. It went underground.Trade ReviewA groundbreaking, scintillating counter-history of literary theory in the twentieth century. In extraordinarily lucid and sure-footed prose, Aubry reveals not only the ways in which political criticism trades in and on aesthetic pleasures, but also that in failing to acknowledge this fact it renders itself incapable of delineating honestly between pragmatic political stakes and disinterested aesthetic ones—frequently misrecognizing the relationship between them and vitiating its own force as an agent for the real-world change it aspires to. -- Benjamin Widiss, Hamilton CollegeGuilty Aesthetic Pleasures is a wonderfully astute and thought-provoking examination of trends and paradigms in literary studies from the New Critics through the digital humanities. Aubry argues that the aesthetic vision of the New Critics continued to influence subsequent critical dispensations that announced themselves—and were accordingly received—as breaking with New Criticism and especially with the primacy of aesthetics. This book offers an innovative and persuasive analysis that will be of interest to anyone working in literary studies today. -- Nancy Glazener, University of PittsburghAn aesthetic experience of reading, understood as productive of pleasure for its own sake, has been more or less eschewed by those involved in ideological critique, the dominant critical methodology in literary studies today. In this fine book, Aubry persuasively argues that aesthetic pleasure has been there all along. * Choice *
£30.56
