Aesthetics as Philosophy of Perception

ISBN-13: 9780198811619 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 240 str.

Bence Nanay

Opis

Bence Nanay explores how many influential debates in aesthetics look very different, and may be easier to tackle, if we clarify the assumptions they make about perception and experience. He focuses on the ways in which the distinction between distributed and focused attention can help us re-evaluate various key concepts and debates in aesthetics.

Recenzje

the discussions are rich with examples drawn from both "high art" and "popular" media, never overused and always on point. This is not to suggest that the discussion is "overly accessible": it offers high-level discussion of technical issues in philosophical aesthetics and art theory, and no less so of issues in philosophy of and empirical studies on perception. For each separate topic or chapter, prior to offering his own critiques and positive analyses, Nanay offers a clear and engaging background story — whether it is the conceptual history of formalism, philosophical theories about how we see pictures, or scientific evidence that suggests sensory perception is not functionally isolated from other mental processes. The book both invites and informs.

O autorze

Bence Nanay is Professor of Philosophy and BOF Research Professor at the University of Antwerp and has worked as a film critic. He is co-director of the Centre for Philosophical Psychology at the University of Antwerp and Senior Research Associate at Peterhouse, Cambridge University. He is the author of Between Perception and Action (OUP, 2013) and the editor of Perceiving the World (OUP, 2010) and of Current Controversies in Philosophy of Perception (Routledge, forthcoming). He has published more than 90 articles on various topics mainly in philosophy of mind and in aesthetics. He used to work as a film critic and served on the jury of various major international film festivals.