The Bloomsbury Companion to Aesthetics

Description

The Bloomsbury Companion to Aesthetics presents a practical study guide to emerging topics and art forms in aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Placing contemporary discussion in its historical context, this companion begins with an introduction to the history of aesthetics. Surveying the central topics, terms and figures and noting the changes in the roles the arts played over the centuries, it also tackles methodological issues asking what the proper object of study in aesthetics is, and how we should go about studying it. Written by leading analytic philosophers in the field, chapters on Core Issues and Art Forms cover four major topics; - the definition of art and the ontology of art work - aesthetic experience, aesthetic properties, and aesthetic and artistic value - specific art forms including music, dance, theatre, the visual arts as a whole, and the various forms of popular art - new areas in aesthetics and the philosophy of art, such as environmental aesthetics and global standpoint aesthetics, as well as other new directions the field is taking towards everyday aesthetics Featuring a list of research resources and an extensive chronology of works in aesthetics and the philosophy of art dating from the fifth century BC to the 21st century, The Bloomsbury Companion to Aesthetics provides an engaging introduction to contemporary aesthetics. Cover HalfTitle Series Title Copyright Contents Contributors Acknowledgments 1 Introduction 2 Research Methods and Problems in Aesthetics 1. Introduction 2. The Domain of the Aesthetic 3. Descriptive versus Normative Aesthetics 4. Reflective Equilibrium 5. Intuitions and Experiments 6. Philosophical Aesthetics and its Disciplinary Neighbors 3 Defining Art 1. Introduction 2. Key Issues: Agreements and Disagreements 3. Some Varieties of Institutionalism 4. From Art to Art Forms: Reductionism and Skepticism about Definitions 5. New Directions: Art, Natural Kinds, Clusters, and Definitions 6. Conclusion 4 Artworks, Objects, and Structures 1. Methodology 2. Artworks and Physical Objects: The Appeal of the Identity Relation 3. Problems with the Identity Relation 4. Alternatives to Identity 5 The Aesthetic Experience 6 Aesthetic Properties 1. Philosophy and Methodology 2. Individuation and Categorization 3. The Anti-Realist Argument 4. The Realist Argument 5. The Current State of the Debate 7 Aesthetic and Artistic Value 1. Introduction 2. What Sort of Value Does Art Have? 3. What is the Focus of Our Evaluation of Art? 4. Interaction Between Moral and Aesthetic Value 5. The Interaction Question 6. Conclusion 8 Music 1. Music and Analytic Philosophy 2. Music and Mind—Understanding and Appreciation 3. Music and Morality 4. Biomusicality 9 Literature 10 Theater 1. Introduction 2. The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Traditional Literary Model 3. The Recipe Model: A Modified, Moderate Literary Model 4. The Performance Model 5. The Production Model 6. The Ingredients Model 7. The Liveness Model 8. The Role of Pretense in Theatrical Performance 9. Conclusion 11 Dance 1. Dance as an Ephemeral Art? 2. Danceworld Bases of Ephemerality as a Normative Notion 3. Some Consequences of Ephemerality as a Normative Notion 12 Visual Arts 1. Introduction 2. Pictorial Representation 3. Pictorial Realism 13 Film 1. Introduction 2. The History of Film Theory: Some Key Philosophical Issues 3. Recent Developments 4. Cognitive Film Theory 5. Emotional Responses to Film 6. Mirroring Responses 7. Conclusion 14 Architecture 1. Introduction 2. Design 3. Style 4. Optical Correction 5. Reconstruction 6. Conclusion 15 Popular Art 1. Introduction 2. Question 1: Is There a Difference? 3. Question 2: Is Popular Art Aesthetically Inferior? 4. Conclusion 16 Environmental Aesthetics 1. The Scope of Environmental Aesthetics 2. Environmental Aesthetics and the Aesthetics of Nature 3. Recent Directions in Environmental Aesthetics 4. Themes in Recent Environmental Aesthetics 5. The Environment as Background 6. The Future of Environmental Aesthetics? 17 Global Standpoint Aesthetics: Toward a Paradigm 1. Introduction 2. Art and Globalization 3. Standpoint Epistemology 4. Revisionist History 5. Marginalization 6. Aesthetics and Standpoint Epistemology 7. Conclusion: Standards for a Global Standpoint Aesthetic 18 New Directions in Aesthetics 19 Chronology of Works in Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art Notes on Selection Fifth Century BCE Fourth Century BCE Third Century BCE Second Century BCE First Century BCE First Century CE Second Century CE Third Century CE Fourth Century CE Fifth Century CE Sixth Century CE Seventh Century CE Eighth Century CE Ninth Century CE Eleventh Century CE Twelfth Century CE Thirteenth Century CE Fourteenth Century CE Fifteenth Century CE Sixteenth Century CE Seventeenth Century CE Eighteenth Century CE Nineteenth Century CE Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries CE 20 Research Resources in Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art Journals Print Resources Online Resources Aesthetics Societies and Associations Other Events and Centers Bibliography Index