Aesthetics

AESTHETICS A COMPREHENSIVE ANTHOLOGY

The study of aesthetics is among the oldest areas of philosophical inquiry. Philosophers of all global traditions and historical eras have theorized about why we value art, the nature of beauty, and how we make aesthetic judgments and proclamations about works of art, artists, and artistic intent.

Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology offers a well-rounded and thorough introduction to Anglo-American analytic aesthetics and the philosophy of art, beginning with the foundations of aesthetic philosophy in ancient tradition and charting a course through to modern art criticism and aesthetic thought. This large collection of over 60 readings balances contemporary commentaries from a wide range of influential thinkers in analytic aesthetics with representative samples of classic primary texts from their historical predecessors, including Plato, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, and others. Broad in scope, this anthology showcases recent scholarship on the value of art, excerpts from notable continental thinkers, and modern perspectives on feminist philosophy of art which contribute to an inclusive and balanced survey of the field.

New to the second edition are contemporary essays which expand the volume's coverage to include the value of art, artistic worth and personal taste, questions of aesthetic experience, and contemporary debates on new theories of art. This edition also incorporates new and more standard translations of Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment and Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation, as well as texts by Rousseau, Hegel, DuBois, Alain Locke, Budd, Robinson, Saito, Eaton and Levinson. Appropriate for both beginning and advanced students of philosophical aesthetics, this thoughtfully curated selection of essays initiates readers into the study of aesthetic thought.