Joseph Kupfer removes aesthetics from the exclusive province of museums, concert halls, and the periphery of human interests to reveal the impact of aesthetic experience on daily living. He combines philosophical aesthetics and critical analysis to indicate the status of aesthetic values in ordinary life, showing how aesthetic qualities and relations contribute to social, moral, and personal values. In examining the practical implications of aesthetic values for sports, sexual relationships, violence, and education, Kupfer also looks at the effect of aesthetic deprivation.

The virtues and vices examined in Prostitutes, Musicians, and Self-Respect pervade and govern daily life, refer to our own person, and involve strong emotions. Kupfer analyzes such character traits as humility, gratitude, envy and sentimentality and explores themes of self-knowledge and self-respect.