Dabney Townsend is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has written extensively in the field of aesthetics, particularly on the developments in aesthetics in the eighteenth century, and has recently edited Aesthetics: Classic Readings in Western Tradition (1996).

"This is a dependable, well-informed and accessible guide to the complexities of contemporary philosophical aesthetics. In taking a problem-oriented, rather than historically-based, approach the book directly engages with core issues in the subject. What emerges is not just an introductory survey of problems but a testament to the vitality and richness of the subject itself. I recommend the book to beginners and more advanced readers alike." Professor Peter Lamarque, British Journal of Aesthetics "A highly reader-friendly guide. It is a clearly and attractively written work which will provide a very reliable text for many university courses on the subject. At the end of each chapter there are excellent, and bang-up-to-date, suggestions for further reading and there is a useful glossary of terms used in the text at the end."

• List of Acknowledgements. Introduction.1. Language About Art and Aesthetics.Getting Started. Aesthetic Predicates.Criticism and Value Terms.The Problem of Definition.2. Aesthetic Analysis and Its Objects.Formal Analysis.Aesthetic Objects.3. The Artist and the Work of Art.The Artist's Intentions.Inspiration.Creativity and Originality.Breaking the Connection Between Artist and Art.4. The Audience and the Work of Art.Attitudes of the Audience.Critics and Criticism.Institutions and the Role of the Audience.5. The Artist and the Audience.The Aesthetics of Reception.Mythpoesis: Myth and Ritual.Institutional and Post-Institutional Aesthetics.Appendix.Glossary.Index.