Values of Beauty: Historical Essays in Aesthetics

ISBN-13: 9780521606691 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 382 str.

Paul Guyer

Opis

Values of Beauty covers major ideas and figures in the history of aesthetics, from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. All of the essays emphasize the complexity, rather than isolation of our aesthetic experience of both nature and art. They also reveal the interconnection of aesthetic values, such as beauty and sublimity, as well as prudential and moral values. Paul Guyer emphasizes the idea of the freedom of the imagination as the key to both artistic creation and aesthetic experience.

Recenzje

'The author's attentive critique of Kant's position on the aesthetic experience of the ugly introduces a core motif sounding throughout the book … Guyer's book demonstrates his ability to discuss elusive ideas and impenetrable Kantian passages in a fluid and lucid prose. … I warmly recommend Values of Beauty for those desiring to deepen their understanding of Kant and his legacy in the history of modern aesthetics.' Philosophical Writings

Spis treści

Part I. Mostly before Kant: 1. The origins of modern aesthetics: 1711–35; 2. The standard of taste and the 'Most Ardent Desire of Society'; Part II. Mostly Kant: 3. The harmony of the faculties revisited; 4. Beauty and utility in eighteenth-century aesthetics; 5. Free and adherent beauty: a modest proposal; 6. Kant on the purity of the ugly; 7. Beauty, freedom, and morality; 8. The ethical value of the aesthetic; 9. The symbols of freedom in Kant's aesthetics; 10. Exemplary originality; Part III. Mostly after Kant: 11. Pleasure and knowledge in Schopenhauer's aesthetics; 12. From Jupiter's eagle to Warhol's boxes; 13. The value of a theory of beauty.