"An anthology that paired the strongest evidence in favor of the tradition with the strongest evidence against it would have obvious appeal for many teachers of aesthetics, especially those of us who remain genuinely ambivalent about the tradition. That anthology does not yet exist, at least to my knowledge. In the meantime, the next best thing may be to pair this provocative collection with one of its more traditional competitors." <i>James Shelley, American Society for Aesthetics</i><br /> <p>"Carolyn Korsmeyer has produced a very useful anthology which will undoubtedly become a well used textbook for students of aesthetics and a valuable source of otherwise less readily available texts...the volume is radical in enriching the discipline and Korsmeyer has made the presence of women scholars and feminist theory in philosophy felt in fundamental ways." <i>Melanie Selfe, Women's Philosophy Review, Special Issue no. 25, 2000</i></p>
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Part One: What is Art? 7
Part Two: Experience and Appreciation: How Do We Encounter Art? 73
Part Three: Aesthetic Evaluation: Who Decides? 133
Part Four: Can We Learn from Art? 179
Part Five: Tragedy, Sublimity, Horror: Why Do We Enjoy Painful Experiences in Art? 225
Part Six: Where is the Artist in the Work of Art? 295
Index
This collection of essays assembles classic and contemporary texts to present both the tradition of aesthetic theory and the kinds of questions and challenges that it confronts today, both from other cultural traditions and from theoretical movements such as feminism and postmodernism.