The Aesthetic Value of the World

by Tom Cochrane

Overview

In The Aesthetic Value of the World, Tom Cochrane defends Aestheticism, the claim that everything is aesthetically valuable and that a life lived in pursuit of aesthetic value can be a particularly good one. Furthermore, in distilling aesthetic qualities, artists have a special role to play in teaching us to recognize values; a critical component of virtue. Cochrane grounds his account upon an analysis of aesthetic value as 'objectified final value', which is underwritten by an original psychological claim that all aesthetic values are distal versions of practical values. This is followed by systematic accounts of beauty, sublimity, comedy, drama, and tragedy, as well as appendix entries on the cute, the cool, the kitsch, the uncanny, the horrific, the erotic, and the furious.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192848819
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/25/2022
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 5.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Tom Cochrane, Lecturer in Philosophy, Flinders University

Tom Cochrane studied philosophy at University College London, before completing an MA in music composition at Birmingham Conservatoire and a PhD in philosophy at the University of Nottingham. Following his PhD, Cochrane held postdoctoral research positions at the University of Geneva and Queen's University Belfast. He was then a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Sheffield and the University of York before joining Flinders University in 2018. His main areas of expertise are the philosophy of emotions and related issues in psychology, extended and collective cognition, and aesthetics.

Table of Contents

Introduction1. Aesthetic Value2. The Beautiful3. The Sublime4. The Dramatic5. The Tragic6. The Comic7. In Defence of Aestheticism8. The Creation of ArtAppendix: Minor Aesthetic Values

Editorial Reviews

"To establish this striking and ambitious claim, Cochrane's book begins with a general account of aesthetic appreciation that draws on the Kantian and Aristotelian heritage of modern aesthetics, and which shows an admirable commitment to naturalism and empiricism." — Grant Tavinor, Australasian Journal of Philosophy

"This is an important contribution, and Cochrane makes a convincing case (echoing everyday aestheticists such as Yuriko Saito) that aesthetic values animate more aspects of our life than one might immediately suspect." — Shannon Brick , British Journal of Aesthetics

"[Readers] will learn much from Cochrane's well-informed yet fresh and provocative approach to enduring questions about aesthetic value." — Jennifer Welchman , Philosophy in review

From the Publisher