An Introduction to Aesthetics

by Townsend, Dabney

• ISBN13: 9781557867315
• ISBN10: 1557867313
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-12-08
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This volume is a fascinating introduction to the core themes and basic methods of aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Providing an analytic and historical treatment of the issues, and including many illustrative examples to both motivate and reinforce theoretical discussion, An Introduction to Aesthetics is the ideal course book for the philosophical novice. It includes an Appendix (containing the texts referred to in the book), a comprehensive Glossary and further reading suggestions to help the student reader develop a deeper comprehension of the field.

Author Biography

Dabney Townsend is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has written extensively in the field of aesthetics, particularly on the developments in aesthetics in the eighteenth century, and has recently edited Aesthetics: Classic Readings in Western Tradition (1996).

Table of Contents

Introduction

Language About Art and Aesthetics

Getting Started

Aesthetic Predicates

Criticism and Value Terms

The Problem of Definition

Aesthetic Analysis and Its Objects

Formal Analysis

Aesthetic Objects

The Artist and the Work of Art

The Artist's Intentions

Inspiration

Creativity and Originality

Breaking the Connection Between Artist and Art

The Audience and the Work of Art

Attitudes of the Audience

Critics and Criticism

Institutions and the Role of the Audience

The Artist and the Audience

The Aesthetics of Reception

Mythpoesis: Myth and Ritual

Institutional and Post-Institutional Aesthetics

Appendix

Glossary

Index

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