In a recent poll of practicing art critics, 75 percent reported that rendering judgments on artworks was the least significant aspect of their job. This is a troubling statistic for philosopher and critic Noel Carroll, who argues that that the proper task of the critic is not simply to describe, or to uncover hidden meanings or agendas, but instead to determine what is of value in art.

Carroll argues for a humanistic conception of criticism which focuses on what the artist has achieved by creating or performing the work. Whilst a good critic should not neglect to contextualize and...

Minerva's Night Out presents series of essays by noted philosopher and motion picture and media theorist Noel Carroll that explore issues at the intersection of philosophy, motion pictures, and popular culture.

• Presents a wide-ranging series of essays that reflect on philosophical issues relating to modern film and popular culture
• Authored by one of the best known philosophers dealing with film and popular culture
• Written in an accessible manner to appeal to students and scholars
• Coverage ranges from the philosophy of Halloween...

We live in a world surrounded by mass art. Movies, TV, pulp literature, comics, rock music--both broadcast and recorded--surround us everywhere. Yet despite the fact that for the majority of people mass art supplies the primary source of aesthetic experience, the area has been neglected entirely by analytical philosophers of art.
In this pathbreaking new book, a leading philosopher of art provides an accessible and wide-ranging look at the topic. Noel Carroll shows why philosophers have previously resisted and/or misunderstood mass art and he develops frameworks for understanding the...

Philosophy of Art is a textbook for undergraduate students interested in the topic of philosophical aesthetics.
It introduces the techniques of analytic philosophy as well as key topics such as the representational theory of art, formalism, neo-formalism, aesthetic theories of art, neo-Wittgensteinism, the Institutional Theory of Art. as well as historical approaches to the nature of art.
Throughout, abstract philosophical theories are illustrated by examples of both traditional and contemporary art including frequent reference to the avant-garde in this way enriching the...

In a recent poll of practicing art critics, 75 percent reported that rendering judgments on artworks was the least significant aspect of their job. This is a troubling statistic for philosopher and critic Noel Carroll, who argues that that the proper task of the critic is not simply to describe, or to uncover hidden meanings or agendas, but instead to determine what is of value in art.

Carroll argues for a humanistic conception of criticism which focuses on what the artist has achieved by creating or performing the work. Whilst a good critic should not neglect to contextualize and...

Designed for classroom use, this authoritative anthology presents key selections from the best contemporary work in philosophy of film.

• The featured essays have been specially chosen for their clarity, philosophical depth, and consonance with the current move towards cognitive film theory
• Eight sections with introductions cover topics such as the nature of film, film as art, documentary cinema, narration and emotion in film, film criticism, and film's relation to knowledge and morality
• Issues addressed include the objectivity of documentary films, fear...