Aesthetics: The Big Questions

by Carolyn Korsmeyer (Editor)

Overview

Philosophers 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780631205944
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	11/09/1998
Series:	Philosophy: The Big Questions
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.70(h) x 1.06(d)

About the Author

Carolyn Korsmeyer is Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is the editor (with Peggy Zeglin Brand) of Feminism and Tradition in Aesthetics (1995) and (with Hilde Hein) Aesthetics in Feminist Perspective (1993) and the author (with Dubois, Kelly, Kennedy, and Robinson) of Feminist Scholarship: Kindling in the Groves of Academe (1985).

Table of Contents

List of Plates viii

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction 1

Part One: What is Art? 7

Part Two: Experience and Appreciation: How Do We Encounter Art? 73

Part Three: Aesthetic Evaluation: Who Decides? 133

Part Four: Can We Learn from Art? 179

Part Five: Tragedy, Sublimity, Horror: Why Do We Enjoy Painful Experiences in Art? 225

Part Six: Where is the Artist in the Work of Art? 295

Index

Editorial Reviews

"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, 2000

From the Publisher