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.
Introduction; 1. Art is anomalous; 2. Forms of aesthetic scepticism: philistines and iconoclasts; 3. Historical note; 4. The central issues; 5. Aestheticism; Section 01 I Hedonism and the Theory of Taste; Section 01-01-01 1. General objections; Section 01-01-02 2. Beauty as a secondary quality: Hutcheson, Reid, Burke; Section 01-01-03 3. Beauty as a primary quality: Santayana. Bell; Section 01-01-04 4. Hume’s theory; Section 02 II Theories that Assign a Direct Practical F’urpose to Art; Section 02-01-01 1. Nutritional and medicinal analogies; Section 02-01-02 2. General difficulties; Section 02-01-03 3. Art as substitute satisfaction: Freud; Section 02-01-04 4. Tolstoy’s theory; Section 02-01-05 5. Art as a pseudo-capacity: Plato; Section 02-01-06 6. Beauty and inspiration: Plato; Section 02-01-07 7. Metaphysical aestheticism: Plotinus; Section 03 III Perfection and the Play of Cognition; Section 03-01-01 1. Aristotle’s theory of pleasure; Section 03-01-02 2. Beauty and perfection: a dilemma; Section 03-01-03 3. Rationalist aesthetics: Leibniz, Baumgarten; Section 03-01-04 4. Kant’s theory (I): the existence of a non-cognitive aim of cognition; Section 03-01-05 5. Kant’s theory (2): the sublime and the moral signijicance of beauty; Section 04 IV Art as the Experience of Metaphysical Truth; Section 04-01-01 1. The reception of Kant’s theory: Schiller, Schelling; Section 04-01-02 2. Art and nature: Schelling; Section 04-01-03 3. Art as the ‘sensuous presentation of the Absolute’: Hegel; Section 04-01-04 4. Hegel’s iconoclasm; Section 04-01-05 5. Art as respite: Schopenhauer; Section 04-01-06 6. Schopenhauer on music; Section 04-01-07 7. Conclusion: the needfor a theory offorms of knowledge; Section 05 V Art as Language; Section 05-01-01 1. Knowledge by acquaintance; Section 05-01-02 2. The phenomenological approach: Dufrenne; Section 05-01-03 3. Croce’s theory of intuition and expression; Section 05-01-04 4. Presentational symbols: Langer; Section 05-01-05 5. Art and the general theory of symbols: Goodman; Section 06 VI Art and Metaphor; Section 06-01-01 1. The relevance of metaphor; Section 06-01-02 2. Theories of metaphor; Section 06-01-03 3. Literalist and tropist prejudices; Section 06-01-04 4. Dead and faint metaphor; Section 06-01-05 5. Viewpoints and exponability; Section 06-01-06 6. Art as metaphor; Section 06-01-07 7. Unanswered questions; Section 07 VII Virtues and Indirect Pleasures; Section 07-01-01 1. A problem about pleasure and ‘completeness’; Section 07-01-02 2. Cognitive virtues; Section 07-01-03 3. A pragmatic theory of beauty; Section 07-01-04 4. Art as recreation; Section 07-01-05 5. The ‘institutional’ theory of art; Section 07-01-06 6. Cognitive pleasure: Aristotle on happiness; Section 08 VIII The Aim Behind Perception; Section 08-01-01 1. Cognition and the essentially metaphorical; Section 08-01-02 2. The intellect and the senses: Aristotle; Section 08-01-03 3. Further problems in understanding particulars; Section 08-01-04 4. The imagination as a pseudo-capacity; Section 08-01-05 5. Perception and kinaesthetic experience; Section 08-01-06 6. Productive skills and conceptual empathy; Section 09 IX Aesthetic Satisfaction; Section 09-01-01 1. Peculiarities of aesthetic enjoyment; Section 09-01-02 2. Perceptual knowledge; Section 09-01-03 3. Aesthetic understanding (1): empathic enjoyment; Section 09-01-04 4. Aesthetic understanding (2): beauty and necessity; Section 09-01-05 5. Beauty and experiential knowledge; Section 10 X Art and Artistic Abilities; Section 10-01-01 1. Questions about art; Section 10-01-02 2. Two theories of artistic abilities; Section 10-01-03 3. Creative imagination; Section 10-01-04 4. Inspiration and works of art; Section 10-01-05 5. Inspiration and artistic success; Section 10-01-06 6. Understanding art; Section 10-01-07 7. The value of art: aesthetic experience as a source of meaning; Bibliography; Index;
