Synopses & Reviews
Beyond Aesthetics brings together philosophical essays addressing art and related issues by one of the foremost philosophers of art at work today. Countering conventional aesthetic theories--those maintaining that authorial intention, art history, morality and emotional responses are irrelevant to the experience of art--Noël Carroll argues for a more pluralistic and commonsensical view in which all of these factors can play a legitimate role in our encounter with art works. The book explores works of high culture and the avant-garde, as well as works of popular culture, jokes, horror novels, and suspense films.
Review
"Beyond Aesthetics is but the latest in a series of important works in which Carroll undertakes to expose the shortcomings of traditional and conventional modes of interpretation and appreciation." Journal of Aesthetic Education
Synopsis
Countering conventional aesthetic theories that maintain that authorial intention, art history, morality and emotional responses are irrelevant to the experience of art, Carroll argues that all of these factors can play a legitimate role in our encounter with art works.
Table of Contents
Foreword Peter Kirvy; Introduction; Part I. Beyond Aesthetics: 1. Art and interaction; 2. Beauty and genealogy of art theory; 3. Four concepts of aesthetic experience; Part II. Art, History, and Narrative: 4. Art, practice, and narrative; 5. Identifying art; 6. Historical narratives and the philosophy of art; 7. On the narrative connection; 8. Interpretation, history and narrative; Part III. Interpretation and Intention: 9. Art, intention, and conversation; 10. Anglo-American aesthetics and contemporary criticism: intention and the hermeneutics of suspicion; 11. The intention of fallacy: defending myself; 12. Intention and interpretation: the debate between hypothetical and actual intentionalism; Part IV. Art, Emotion, and Morality: 13. Art, narrative, and emotion; 14. Horror and humor; 15. The paradox of suspense; 16. Art, narrative, and moral understanding; 17. Moderate moralism; 18. Simulation, emotions, and morality; Part V. Alternative Topics: 19. On jokes; 20. The paradox of junk fiction; 21. Visual metaphor; 22. On being moved by nature; 23. Emotion, appreciation, and nature.