'Place in garden, lawn, to beautify landscape. When Don Featherstones plastic pink flamingos were first advertised in the 1957 Sears catalogue, these were the instructions. The flamingos are placed on the cover of this book for another reason: to start us asking questions. Thats where philosophy always begins. Introducing Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art is written to introduce students to a broad array of questions that have occupied philosophers since antiquity, and which continue to bother us todayquestions like: - Is there something special about somethings being art? Can a mass-produced plastic bird have that special something? - If someone likes plastic pink flamingos, does that mean they have bad taste? Is bad taste a bad thing? - Do Featherstones pink flamingos mean anything? If so, does that depend on what Featherstone meant in designing them? Grounded in an array of real-world examples, from the classical to the contemporaryand from Marcel Duchamps signed urinal to The Exorcist to the ugliest animal in the worldeach chapter in this text opens with an illustrated guiding case, introducing a number of the issues to be discussed, and serving as a touchstone thoughout the chapter. With its trademark conversational style, clear explanations, and wealth of supporting features, Introducing Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art is the ideal introduction to the major problems, issues, and debates in the field. Now expanded and revised for its second edition, Introducing Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art is designed to give readers the background and the tools necessary to begin asking and answering the most intriguing questions about art and beauty, even when those questions are about pink plastic flamingos.
Author(s): Darren Hudson Hick
Edition: 2
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 304
City: London
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Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Figures
Preface
Introduction: Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, An Extremely Brief History
I. On art and beauty
II. The ancient period
III. The Middle Ages
IV. The modern period
1 Defining Art
I. Fountain (1917)
II. On definitions
III. Art as representation
IV. Art as form
V. Art as expression
VI. Art and aesthetic function
VII. On not defining art
VIII. Art and the artworld
IX. Art and art history
2 Interpretation and Intention
I. ‘Last Leaf’ (2011)
II. On interpretation
III. The Romantics
IV. Anti-intentionalism
V. Post-structuralism
VI. Intentionalism revisited
VII. Hypothetical intentionalism
VIII. The Patchwork Theory
3 Aesthetic Properties and Evaluation
I. Black Square (1915)
II. On evaluation
III. The search for objective beauty
IV. Taste
V. Aesthetic properties
VI. Contextualism
VII. The value of art
4 The Ontology of Art
I.
Alabama Tenant Farmer Wife (1936) and After Walker Evans: 4 (1981)
II. On ontology
III. Artworks as physical objects
IV. Singular and multiple artworks
V. Types and tokens
VI. Constructivism
VII. Mental works and action types
5 Emotions and the Arts
I. The Exorcist (1973)
II. On art and emotion
III. The paradox of fiction
IV. The problem of tragedy
6 Art and Morality
I. Helena (2000)
II. On ethics and aesthetics
III. Radical moralism and autonomism
IV. Moderate moralism and autonomism
V. Arts funding and censorship
7 Art, Aesthetics and Identity
I. The Good Earth (1932) and The Good Earth (1937)
II. Artistic exclusion
III. Aesthetic exclusion
IV. Authenticity and appropriation
V. Our bodies, ourselves
8 Aesthetics Without Art
I. Mr Blobby
II. On beauty and nature
III. Natural aesthetics
IV. Environmental aesthetics
V. Everyday aesthetics
Notes
Bibliography
Index
