Meaning in the Arts

This is Volume II of three in a collection on Aesthetics. Originally published in 1969, this volume of the Muirhead library of philosophy. After distinguishing, and relating, the functions of Criticism and Aesthetics in Part I, Part II develops the basic thesis of the book, which is that the central defining characteristic of the aesthetic is 'embodiment' rather than 'expression'. Part III tests this out in examples from the different arts, 'representative' and 'abstract', with very special attention to music (as an 'abstract' art), in which the problem of art's apparently contradictory characters-of being both autonomous and yet expressive of life outside art-is seen in its most acute form. Part IV is a philosophical analysis of the main concepts so far involved-meaning, symbolism, knowledge, truth, standards-in art as distinct from other, discursive knowledge. It concludes with a discussion of the question whether art is in any sense a 'revelation'. Part V considers the bearing of the arguments of the book on aesthetic education.