Introduced into the philosophical lexicon during the Eighteenth Century, the term "aesthetic" has come to be used to designate, among other things, a kind of object, a kind of judgment, a kind of attitude, a kind of experience, and a kind of value. For the most part, aesthetic theories have divided over questions particular to one or another of these designations: whether artworks are necessarily aesthetic objects; how to square the allegedly perceptual basis of aesthetic judgments with the fact that we give reasons in support of them; how best to capture the elusive contrast between an aesthetic attitude and a practical one; whether to define aesthetic experience according to its phenomenological or representational content; how best to understand the relation between aesthetic value and aesthetic experience.
*Plain text From Florida State University's Philosophy Department Website (https://philosophy.fsu.edu/undergraduate-study/why-philosophy/What-is-Philosophy), https://libguides.francis.edu/c.php?g=182116&p=1199480, links derived by creator.
Overview from Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Aesthetics
Resources on Aesthetics
Aesthetics: An Introduction by Call Number: BH39.D48ISBN: 0672635003Publication Date: 1971"Professor Dickie's introduction to aesthetics is unusual in that it combines a number of different approaches and methods--historical summary, exposition, and discussion of standard theories, exegesis and criticism of contemporary views, constructive solutions to particular issues and discussions focusing on problems or concepts rather than upon the views of a single theorist"--Review from Bruce N. Morton, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
Aesthetics A-Z by Call Number: Online Resource (CARLI eBooks from EBook Central)ISBN: 9780748623396Publication Date: 2010A concise yet thorough introduction to aesthetics in the form of an alphabetic guide.Written in a clear and engaging style, Aesthetics A-Z provides authoritative coverage of the main concepts, arguments, problems and key figures in aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Informative entries - extensively cross-referenced and supplemented with carefully chosen suggestions for further reading - provide a layered treatment of both historical background and contemporary debates in aesthetics, and underline points of intersection between aesthetics and other branches of philosophy or other fields that study the arts. Aesthetics A-Z is an ideal first guide for newcomers to the field of aesthetics, as well as a handy and useful reference work for more advanced students of philosophy, art history, education, media studies and the performing arts.
A Companion to Ancient Aesthetics by Call Number: Online Resource (Wiley Online Library Online Books)ISBN: 1444337645Publication Date: 2015The first of its kind, A Companion to Ancient Aesthetics presents a synoptic view of the arts, which crosses traditional boundaries and explores the aesthetic experience of the ancients across a range of media--oral, aural, visual, and literary. Investigates the many ways in which the arts were experienced and conceptualized in the ancient world Explores the aesthetic experience of the ancients across a range of media, treating literary, oral, aural, and visual arts together in a single volume Presents an integrated perspective on the major themes of ancient aesthetics which challenges traditional demarcations Raises questions about the similarities and differences between ancient and modern ways of thinking about the place of art in society
Breviary of Aesthetics by Call Number: Online Resource (Ebook Central University Press)ISBN: 9781442684089Publication Date: 2007In this edition, the Breviary of Aesthetics is presented in a brand new English translation and accompanied by informative endnotes that discuss many of the philosophers, writers, and works cited by Croce in his original text.
The Insistence of Art by Call Number: Online Resource (JSTOR, Project Muse)ISBN: 9780823275809Publication Date: 2017Philosophers working on aesthetics have paid considerable attention to art and artists of the early modern period. Yet early modern artistic practices scarcely figure in recent work on the emergence of aesthetics as a branch of philosophy over the course the eighteenth century. This book addresses that gap, elaborating the extent to which artworks and practices of the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries were accompanied by an immense range of discussions about the arts and their relation to one another. Rather than take art as a stand-in for or reflection of some other historical event or social phenomenon, this book treats art as a phenomenon in itself. The contributors suggest ways in which artworks and practices of the early modern period make aesthetic experience central to philosophical reflection, while also showing art's need for philosophy.
The New Aestheticism by Call Number: Online Resource (JSTOR)ISBN: 9780719061387Publication Date: 2004The rise of literary theory spawned the rise of anti-aestheticism, so that even for cultural theorists, discussions concerning aesthetics were often carried out in a critical shorthand that failed to engage with the particularity of the work of art, much less the specificities of aesthetic experience. identifies a turn taken by a number of important contemporary thinkers towards the idea that focusing on the specifically aesthetic impact of a work of art or literature has the potential to open radically different ways of thinking about identity, politics and culture. The appearance of a new aestheticism at a moment that is often termed post-theoretical is a direct index of the extent to which, as theory now enters a more reflective phase, there is an increased willingness among critics and philosophers to consider the ways in which literary and cultural theory often overlooked key aspects of its reliance on philosophical aesthetics. With its impressive array of contributors, literature, philosophy and cultural studies.
