Aesthetics - (Philosophy: The Big Questions) by Carolyn Korsmeyer (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Philosophers have considered questions raised by the nature of art, of beauty, and critical appreciation since ancient times, and the discipline of aesthetics has a long tradition that stretches from Plato to the present.

From the Back Cover

Philosophers have considered questions raised by the nature of art, of beauty, and critical appreciation since ancient times, and the discipline of aesthetics has a long tradition that stretches from Plato to the present. Aesthetics has also been the subject of a number of theoretical challenges that investigate the conceptual frameworks customarily assumed by theories of art.

This collection of essays assembles classic and contemporary texts to present both the tradition of aesthetic theory and the kinds of questions and challenges that it confronts today, both from other cultural traditions and from theoretical movements such as feminism and postmodernism.

Review Quotes

"An anthology that paired the strongest evidence in favor of the tradition with the strongest evidence against it would have obvious appeal for many teachers of aesthetics, especially those of us who remain genuinely ambivalent about the tradition. That anthology does not yet exist, at least to my knowledge. In the meantime, the next best thing may be to pair this provocative collection with one of its more traditional competitors." James Shelley, American Society for Aesthetics

"Carolyn Korsmeyer has produced a very useful anthology which will undoubtedly become a well used textbook for students of aesthetics and a valuable source of otherwise less readily available texts...the volume is radical in enriching the discipline and Korsmeyer has made the presence of women scholars and feminist theory in philosophy felt in fundamental ways." Melanie Selfe, Women's Philosophy Review, Special Issue no. 25, 2000

About the Author

Carolyn Korsmeyer is Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is the editor (with Peggy Zeglin Brand) of Feminism and Tradition in Aesthetics (1995) and (with Hilde Hein) Aesthetics in Feminist Perspective (1993) and the author (with Dubois, Kelly, Kennedy, and Robinson) of Feminist Scholarship: Kindling in the Groves of Academe (1985).