Description
Book SynopsisBernard Bolzano’s (1781–1848) writings in aesthetics are clear, concise, and explicit about method. Provocative and revisionary, they champion broad views of beauty, the arts, and their social function. Dominic McIver Lopes's introductory materials place Bolzano's essays in context, give them a new interpretation, and map out how to teach them, in full or in part, in a variety of courses.
Trade Review"In two eminently teachable essays—clear, controversial, methodologically acute—Bolzano recasts a broadly Kantian aesthetics, connecting beauty to intellectual achievement, education, and art practice. Immensely helpful guidance, for scholars and students, is provided by the editorial materials: translation notes, an elegant theoretical and contextual Introduction of Bolzano and the text, and a forcefully argued Appendix detailing Bolzano’s criticisms of Kant’s aesthetics."
—Rachel Zuckert, Northwestern University
"An exciting arrival for anyone interested in fresh perspectives on central debates in aesthetics and its history. Lopes gives a lively and efficient overview of Bolzano's life and historical context, and then provides a short, engaging sketch of how the conceptions of beauty and art that Bolzano develops in these essays might compare (and contrast) with leading positions in classical and contemporary aesthetics. Bolzano’s essays themselves are especially exemplary of his philosophical and writerly virtues. Both the translation and Lopes’s interpretive commentary make for great additions to the pedagogical and scholarly resources in aesthetics and the philosophy of the arts, and the whole volume is a welcome and important contribution for anyone interested in the rich legacies of modern German philosophy."
—Clinton Tolley, University of California San Diego
