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Stephen Davies, Ananta Ch. Sukla
Book Code: C7766
ISBN: 0-275-97766-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-97766-5
272 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 10/30/2003
List Price: $86.95 (UK Sterling Price: £49.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • The editors have put together a thoughtfully sequenced and interrelated series of essays on art and its essence.
    —Consciousness, Literature and the Arts     April 2004
Description: This exceptional new collection comprises 13 new essays on the nature and definability of art. Presenting a wide offering of contemporary philosophical perspectives--including theoretical, historical, cross-cultural, and evolutionary--Art and Essence offers thorough critical discussion on the extensive contemporary philosophical literature on the subject. The work here contrasts the idea of theorizing about why we make and consume art with that of defining it; furthermore, the authors consider the possibility that art has no definable essence and discusses differences and connections between art and nature. More historical chapters focus on ancient and medieval approaches to art, while others discuss the work of philosophers such as Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche. Non-Western cultures cultivated their own, distinctive art practices and philosophies, as discussed in chapters on India and Japan, and contemporary philosophers have added their own unique perspectives. The authors are among the leading philosophers on the subjects they cover, making Art and Essence an invaluable tool for scholars of a wide variety of fields.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Theoretical Perspectives
  • Essential Distinctions for Art Theorists by Stephen Davies
  • Art, Essence, and Wittgenstein by Graham McFee
  • Nature, Gardens, Art: The Problem of Appreciation by Stephanie Ross
  • Historical Perspectives
  • Art and Beauty in Antiquity and the Middle Ages by Liberato Santoro-Brienza
  • Art and the Aesthetic: Hume, Kant, and the Essence of Art by Dabney Townsend
  • Hegel and Nietzsche on Life and Dramatic Character by Robert Wicks
  • Cross Cultural Perspectives
  • Abhinavagupta's Definition of Art: Ontology verses Essentialism by Ananta Ch. Sukla
  • Representing the Essence of Objects: Art in the Japanese Aesthetic Tradition by Yuriko Saito
  • Western and Non-Western Concepts of Art: Universality and Authenticity by Larry Shiner
  • Contemporary Perspectives
  • Historical Definitions of Art by Kathleen Stock
  • The Ontology of Art Interpretation by Robert Stecker
  • Aesthetification as a Feminist Strategy: On Art's Relational Politics by Monique Roelofs
  • Universalism, Evolutionary Psychology, and Aesthetics by Denis Dutton
  • Bibliography
  • Index
LC Card Number: 2002190813
LCC Class: BH39
Dewey Class: 111
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