Philosophical aesthetics is an area in which many strands of contemporary philosophical thinking meet. The contributors to this volume are aware of the wider logical, epistemological, moral and metaphysical implications raised by conceptual problems specific to aesthetics. Three themes recur and are taken up from different angles in several of the papers: pleasure its nature and role in the experience of art and beauty; preference figuring prominently in aesthetic appraising, appreciating and judging; and value aesthetic value in particular, and the status of value in general. As these themes...