Synopses & Reviews
This unique and engaging text traces aesthetics from its ancient beginnings through the changes it underwent in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and the first half of the twentieth century. The first part of the book traces the history of the two organized notions of aesthetics-the theory of beauty and the imitation theory of art-and describes the transformations they went through from ancient Greek times until the 1950s. The responses of the cultural theories in the 1960s to these earlier developments are then discussed in detail. Four additional topics-intentionalistic criticism, symbolism, metaphor, and expression-are also addressed. Finally, five traditional art evaluational theories are presented, and the author constructs an evaluational theory of his own by building on ideas drawn from the work of Monroe Beardsley and Nelson Goodman.
Written by one of the foremost philosophers of aesthetics, Introduction to Aesthetics is ideal for undergraduate courses in the philosophy of art and aesthetics, and is also suitable for graduate seminars and courses in these areas. It offers students both a historical introduction to and the latest work on theories of art, theories of the experience of art, and theories of art evaluation.
About the Author
George Dickie is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at University of Illinois, Chicago. He is the author of
The Century of Taste (OUP, 1996),
Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, Second Edition (co-editor, 1989),
Evaluating Art (1988),
The Art Circle: A Theory of Art (1984), and
Art and the Aesthetic (1974).
Table of Contents
Preface
PART 1 - An Historical Introduction to Analytic Aesthetics
1. Introductory Remarks
2. The Theory of Beauty - Plato to the 19th Century
Plato - St. Thomas Aquinas - The Eighteenth Century: Taste and the Decline of Beauty - Shaftesbury - Hutcheson - Burke - Hume - Alison - Kant - Summary - The Nineteenth Century: The Birth of the Aesthetic - Schopenhauer
3. The Aesthetic Attitude in the 20th Century
The Aesthetic State: Psychical Distance - Aesthetic Awareness: Disinterested Attention - Aesthetic Perception: "Seeing As" - Summary and Conclusions
4. Metacriticism: Alternative to Aesthetic Attitude
5. The Theory of Art - Plato to the 19th Century
Introductory Remarks - Plato - Aristotle - The Nineteenth Century: New Directions - The Expression Theory of Art - What Is a Theory of Art?
6. 20th Century Theories of Art, 1914 to the 1950s
Clive Bell: A 20th Century Beauty Theory of Art
Suzanne Langer: A 20th Century Imitation Theory of Art
R. G. Collingwood: A 20th Century Expressionist Theory of Art
Morris Weitz: Art as an Open Concept
PART II - Aesthetics in the 20th Century - 1960s to Present
7. A Change of Directions and New Developments
A New Direction for the Experience of Art
A New Direction for the Theory of Art
8. The Institutional Theory of Art
The Earlier Version - The Later Version
PART III - Four Problems in Aesthetics
9. Intentionalist Criticism
10. Symbolism in Art
11. Metaphor
12. Expression
PART IV - The Evaluation of Art
13. 20th Century Theories of Evaluation
Personal Subjectivism - Intuitionism - Emotivism - Relativism - Critical Singularism
14. Monroe Beardsley's Instrumentalism
15. Nelson Goodman's Instrumentalism
16. Another Kind of Instrumentalism
Summary
Epilogue