The Aesthetic Ground of Critical Theory

The Aesthetic Ground of Critical Theory
Author: Nathan Ross
Publisher: Founding Critical Theory
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Aesthetics
ISBN: 9781783482924

This edited collection of original essays explores the irreducible role of aesthetic forms of experience and activity in the philosophies of Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno.

Aesthetics, Theory and Interpretation of the Literary Work

Aesthetics, Theory and Interpretation of the Literary Work
Author: Paolo Euron
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2019-08-12
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9004409238

This book introduces the reader to the literary work and to an understanding of its cultural background and its specific features. In doing so, it refers to two main traditions of Western culture: one of aesthetics and the theory of art and the other of literary theory. In our postmodern world, language and artistic creation (and above all literature as the art of language) occupy a special role in understanding the human world and become existential issues. A critical attitude requires knowledge of the relevant past in order to understand what we are today. The author presents key topics, ideas, and representatives of aesthetics, theory, and the interpretation of works of art in an historical perspective, in order to explain the Western tradition with constant attention to the present condition. Aesthetics, Theory and Interpretation of the Literary Work offers an outline of essential concepts and authors of aesthetics and theories of the literary work, presenting basic topics and ideas in their historical context and development, considering their relevance to the contemporary debate, and highlighting the specificity of the experience of the art work in our present world. The best way to approach a work of art is to enjoy it. In order to enjoy a literary work, we have to consider its correct context and its specific artistic qualities. The book is conceived as a general and enjoyable introduction to the experience of the work of art in Western culture. See inside the book.

Adorno and Art

Adorno and Art
Author: J. Hellings
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-05-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780230347885

A comprehensive, critical and accessible account of Theodor W. Adorno's materialist-dialectical aesthetic theory of art from a contemporary perspective, this volume shows how Adorno's critical theory is awash with images crystallising thoughts to such a degree that it has every reason to be described as aesthetic.

Adorno’s Aesthetics as a Literary Theory of Art

Adorno’s Aesthetics as a Literary Theory of Art
Author: Mario Farina
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2020-06-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3030452816

This book re-examines Adorno’s aesthetics, developing a new literary approach that aims to unveil hidden elements of Adorno’s thought. Farina proposes to read Adorno’s aesthetics as a literary theory of art, showing its efficacy in its comprehension of the most advanced trends of contemporary literature. As a result, this book provides an image of Adorno’s aesthetics as a complete, satisfying and consistent philosophy of literature, a robust theory which is able to stand its ground in contemporary aesthetic debate. Challenging the prevalent prejudice that defines Adorno’s thought, and especially his aesthetics, as ‘modernist’, Farina argues that Adorno's philosophy of literature shows its value precisely in its application to and comprehension of postmodern literature, such as the works of Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo and David Foster Wallace. Precise and compelling, this book provides a new paradigm for understanding Adorno’s theory of artwork, serving as an essential reference for researches investigating the relation between classical critical theory and contemporary art.

Natural Beauty

Natural Beauty
Author: Ronald Moore
Publisher: Broadview Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2007-08-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1770480102

Natural Beauty was selected for the Choice Outstanding Academic Title list for 2008! Natural Beauty presents a bold new philosophical account of the principles involved in making aesthetic judgments about natural objects. It surveys historical and modern accounts of natural beauty and weaves elements derived from those accounts into a “syncretic theory” that centers on key features of aesthetic experience—specifically, features that sustain and reward attention. In this way, Moore’s theory sets itself apart from both the purely cognitive and the purely emotive approaches that have dominated natural aesthetics until now. Natural Beauty shows why aesthetic appreciation of works of art and aesthetic appreciation of nature can be mutually reinforcing; that is, how they are cooperative rather than rival enterprises. Moore also makes a compelling case for how and why the experience of natural beauty can contribute to the larger project of living a good life.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics
Author: George Dickie
Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
Total Pages: 678
Release: 1989-02-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780312003098

Aesthetics is both a comprehensive introduction to the field and a broad, in-depth survey of Anglo-American aesthetic thought that provides a collection of 48 classic historical readings, influential scholarly works, and critical analyses. The text also offers unique “theory-and-critique” pairings that help students understand concepts and participate in philosophical debate.

Aesthetic and Critical Theory of John Ruskin

Aesthetic and Critical Theory of John Ruskin
Author: George P. Landow
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2015-03-08
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1400872022

This book traces the sources and development of Ruskin's aesthetic and critical theories. In his attempt to skirt the danger of excessive emotion and association in art, Ruskin's struggle with the sublime but not the picturesque, is, along with the pathetic fallacy, examined. These concepts, too, are considered in light of Ruskin's continuing religious and intellectual development. Finally, Ruskin's loss of faith is analyzed in relation to the problem of allegory in art. Ruskin argued for an unchanging standard of beauty, though the psychological nature of the artist is related to his art medium. Originally published in 1971. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

How Folklore Shaped Modern Art

How Folklore Shaped Modern Art
Author: Wes Hill
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2015-11-19
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1317394712

Since the 1990s, artists and art writers around the world have increasingly undermined the essentialism associated with notions of "critical practice." We can see this manifesting in the renewed relevance of what were previously considered "outsider" art practices, the emphasis on first-person accounts of identity over critical theory, and the proliferation of exhibitions that refuse to distinguish between art and the productions of culture more generally. How Folklore Shaped Modern Art: A Post-Critical History of Aesthetics underscores how the cultural traditions, belief systems and performed exchanges that were once integral to the folklore discipline are now central to contemporary art’s "post-critical turn." This shift is considered here as less a direct confrontation of critical procedures than a symptom of art’s inclusive ideals, overturning the historical separation of fine art from those "uncritical" forms located in material and commercial culture. In a global context, aesthetics is now just one of numerous traditions informing our encounters with visual culture today, symptomatic of the pull towards an impossibly pluralistic image of art that reflects the irreducible conditions of identity.

Conversations on Art and Aesthetics

Conversations on Art and Aesthetics
Author: Hans Maes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2017-05-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191509620

What is art? What counts as an aesthetic experience? Does art have to beautiful? Can one reasonably dispute about taste? What is the relation between aesthetic and moral evaluations? How to interpret a work of art? Can we learn anything from literature, film or opera? What is sentimentality? What is irony? How to think philosophically about architecture, dance, or sculpture? What makes something a great portrait? Is music representational or abstract? Why do we feel terrified when we watch a horror movie even though we know it to be fictional? In Conversations on Art and Aesthetics, Hans Maes discusses these and other key questions in aesthetics with ten world-leading philosophers of art: Noël Carroll, Gregory Currie, Arthur Danto, Cynthia Freeland, Paul Guyer, Carolyn Korsmeyer, Jerrold Levinson, Jenefer Robinson, Roger Scruton, and Kendall Walton. The exchanges are direct, open, and sharp, and give a clear account of these thinkers' core ideas and intellectual development. They also offer new insights into, and a deeper understanding of, contemporary issues in the philosophy of art.