ABSTRACT

Although various aesthetic themes have preoccupied many major philosophers, from Plato to Goodman, the central questions of the philosophy of art have remained ill-defined. This book gives a concise and systematic account of the leading philosophical ideas about art and aesthetics from ancient times to the present day, and goes on to propose a new theory of aesthetic satisfaction and artistic abilities.

chapter 1|1 pages

Art is anomalous

chapter 3|1 pages

Historical note

chapter 4|2 pages

The central issues

chapter 5|2 pages

Aestheticism

chapter 1|2 pages

General objections

chapter 4|4 pages

Hume’s theory

chapter 1|1 pages

Nutritional and medicinal analogies

chapter 2|1 pages

General difficulties

chapter 3|3 pages

Art as substitute satisfaction: Freud

chapter 4|4 pages

Tolstoy’s theory

chapter 5|2 pages

Art as a pseudo-capacity: Plato

chapter 6|4 pages

Beauty and inspiration: Plato

chapter 7|4 pages

Metaphysical aestheticism: Plotinus

chapter 1|2 pages

Aristotle’s theory of pleasure

chapter 2|2 pages

Beauty and perfection: a dilemma

chapter 2|3 pages

Art and nature: Schelling

chapter 4|2 pages

Hegel’s iconoclasm

chapter 5|3 pages

Art as respite: Schopenhauer

chapter 6|3 pages

Schopenhauer on music

chapter 1|2 pages

Knowledge by acquaintance

chapter 2|4 pages

The phenomenological approach: Dufrenne

chapter 4|4 pages

Presentational symbols: Langer

chapter 1|2 pages

The relevance of metaphor

chapter 2|2 pages

Theories of metaphor

chapter 3|2 pages

Literalist and tropist prejudices

chapter 4|4 pages

Dead and faint metaphor

chapter 5|2 pages

Viewpoints and exponability

chapter 6|5 pages

Art as metaphor

chapter 7|3 pages

Unanswered questions

chapter 2|2 pages

Cognitive virtues

chapter 3|4 pages

A pragmatic theory of beauty

chapter 4|3 pages

Art as recreation

chapter 5|4 pages

The ‘institutional’ theory of art

chapter 2|3 pages

The intellect and the senses: Aristotle

chapter 4|3 pages

The imagination as a pseudo-capacity

chapter 5|3 pages

Perception and kinaesthetic experience

chapter 6|3 pages

Productive skills and conceptual empathy

chapter 1|4 pages

Peculiarities of aesthetic enjoyment

chapter 2|5 pages

Perceptual knowledge

chapter 5|4 pages

Beauty and experiential knowledge

chapter 1|2 pages

Questions about art

chapter 2|2 pages

Two theories of artistic abilities

chapter 3|2 pages

Creative imagination

chapter 4|2 pages

Inspiration and works of art

chapter 5|3 pages

Inspiration and artistic success

chapter 6|4 pages

Understanding art