Philosophy : Aesthetics

From Botticelli to birdsong, Mozart, and the Turner Prize, Roger Scruton explores what it means for something to be beautiful. This thought-provoking introduction to the philosophy of beauty draws conclusions that some may find controversial, but, as Scruton shows, help us to find greater sense of meaning in the beautiful objects around us. - ;Beauty can be consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane; it can be exhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling. It can affect us in an unlimited variety of ways. Yet it is never viewed with indifference. Here, the renowned philosopher Roger Scruton explores the concept of beauty, asking what makes an object - either in art, in nature, or the human form - beautiful, and examining how we can compare differing judgements of beauty when it is evident all around us that our tastes vary so widely. Is there a right judgement to be made about beauty? Is it right to say there is more beauty in a classical temple than a concrete office block, more in a Rembrandt than in last year's Turner Prize winner? Forthright and thought-provoking, and as accessible as it is intellectually rigorous, this introduction to the philosophy of beauty draws conclusions that some may find controversial, but, as Scruton shows, help us to find greater sense of meaning in the beautiful objects that fill our lives. - ;Roger Scruton has moments of great insight and clarity in this attractively slim volume. - Sebastian Smee, The Observer;A fascinating book, which I heartily recommend. - Bryan Wilson, Readers Digest;Short, fast paced, and wide ranging. - Michael Tanner, Literary Review more...

Price: $19.95

PART ONE. Wittgenstein and the Concept of Human Knowledge. I. Criteria and Judgment. II. Criteria and Skepticism. III. Austin and Examples. IV. What a Thing Is (Called). V. Natural and Conventional. PART TWO. Skepticism and the Existence of the World. VI. The Quest of Traditional Epistemology: Opening. VII. Excursus on Wittgenstein's Vision of Language. VIII. The Quest of Traditional Epistemology: Closing. PART THREE. Knowledge and the Concept of Morality. IX. Knowledge and the Basis of Morality. X. An Absence of Morality. XI. Rules and Reasons. XII. The Autonomy of Morals. PART FOUR. Skepticism and the Problem of Others. XIII. Between Acknowledgment and Avoidance more...

Price: $12.95

Despite the recent upsurge of interest in Theodor Adorno's work, his literary writings are generally under-represented. However, literature is a central element in his aesthetic theory. Bringing together original essays from a distinguished international group of contributors, this book offers a wide ranging account of the literary components of Adorno's thinking. It is divided into three sections, dealing with the concept of literature, with poetry, and with modernity and the novel respectively. At the same time, the book provides a clear sense of the unique qualities of Adorno's philosophy of literature by critically relating his work to a number of other influential theorists and theories including contemporary postmodernist theory and cultural studies. more...

Price: $130.00

This book re-examines the notion of aesthetic experience as well as its value. A team of internationally respected contributors bring together major voices that have directly theorised the concept of aesthetic experience or indirectly worked on topics connected to it. more...

Price: $115.00

Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment is widely held to be the seminal work of modern aesthetics. In recent years it has been the focus of intense interest and debate not only in philosophy but also in literary theory and all disciplines concerned with the aesthetic.The Aesthetic in Kant is a new reading of Kant's problematic text. It draws upon the great volume of recent philosophical work on this classic text and on the context of eighteenth century aesthetics. Kant's work is used as a basis on which to construct a radical alternative to the antinomy of taste - the basic problem of the aesthetic. In Kant's account is a theory of the aesthetic that, far from establishing its 'disinterested' nature, instead makes it symptomatic of what Kant himself describes as the ineradicable human tendency to entertain 'fantastic desires'. more...

Price: $130.00