Aesthetics in Grief and Mourning: Philosophical Reflections on Coping with Loss

by Kathleen Marie Higgins

Overview

A philosophical exploration of aesthetic experience during bereavement.

In Aesthetics of Grief and Mourning, philosopher Kathleen Marie Higgins reflects on the ways that aesthetics aids people experiencing loss. Some practices related to bereavement, such as funerals, are scripted, but many others are recursive, improvisational, mundane—telling stories, listening to music, and reflecting on art or literature. Higgins shows how these grounding, aesthetic practices can ease the disorienting effects of loss, shedding new light on the importance of aesthetics for personal and communal flourishing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226831046
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	03/06/2024
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Kathleen Marie Higgins is professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of several books including The Music between Us: Is Music a Universal Language?, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Table of Contents

1. Aesthetics in Contexts of Loss—a Few Preliminaries
2. Aesthetic Proliferation
3. Grief and the Phenomenology of Bereavement
4. Aesthetic Resources for Orientation and Reassurance
5. Aesthetic Modes of Reconnecting
6. Artworks as Communicative Resources
7. Dealing with the Dead
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

This book is a highly original, wide-ranging, and thoroughly engaging account of how aesthetic practices shape experiences of grief and their course over time. Higgins makes a compelling case for the diversity, ubiquity, and importance of aesthetic engagement as we respond to the disorientation and isolation of loss while sustaining a connection with those who have died. She has taken philosophical inquiry in new directions and added greatly to our understanding of grief.

Matthew Ratcliffe

"As embodied beings, we reconnect to the world and others in the process of mourning mainly by aesthetic means, by touching, hearing, seeing, smelling, moving around, and being corporeally affected by things, instead of merely contemplating loss in our solitary minds. Higgins's book makes a great contribution to the philosophical literature on grief by meticulously exploring this aesthetic mode of human situationality as it is embodied in loss and grief."

Review of Metaphysics

In the midst of grieving, many people find meaning and solace in aesthetics—in the creation of works of art and in the contemplation of beauty, whether natural or human-made. But why? Higgins takes up this neglected question and convincingly shows how aesthetic experiences enable us to reengage with our lives after disorientating losses. Higgins’s inquiry will enlighten anyone with an interest in grief’s transformative power."

Michael Cholbi

"This remarkable book builds convincing bridges between psychology, philosophy, and aesthetic theory. [Higgins] argues that listening to music in community can help the grieving share emotions with others, helping them overcome the feelings of social isolation created by grief. She also argues that art can help individuals understand how to find order in grief's chaos. . . This book will interest philosophers but can also inform the work of mental health professionals who seek deeper philosophical underpinnings for their clinical work."

Choice

In Aesthetics in Grief and Mourning, Higgins combines philosophical analysis of grief with a sensitive exploration of the experience of bereavement. She reflects upon the aesthetic aspects of events that occur after the death of a loved one, including funeral practices, music, and expressions of sympathy, and she suggests that art can afford solace in times of mourning. While the subject of grief and bereavement is obviously difficult, Higgins handles it forthrightly and gently.

Carolyn Korsmeyer