DOCSLIB.ORG

Download (7Mb)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Download (7Mb) A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/136077 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications The Myth o f Psychical Distance in Aesthetic Experience Jacqueline H.M. Bazin Submitted for the Degree of Ph.D. University of Warwick Department of Philosophy October 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 1 Summary 2 PART ONE The Concept of ‘Distance’ in Aesthetic Experience Chapter I Introduction to the Concept of ‘Aesthetic Experience’ 3 Chapter II An Account of Psychical Distance in Aesthetic Experience 9 Introduction 9 Edward BULLOUGH’s theory of ‘Psychical Distance’ 10 Conclusion 35 PART TWO An Investigation into Modes of Aesthetic Experience Chapter III The Aesthetic Experience of Natural Beauty 40 Chapter IV A Comparative Analysis of Craftsmanship and Art 58 Chapter V Genius in Creative Art 71 PART THREE Art and Symbolic Expression Chapter VI 80 1. The Concept of ‘Expression’ in Art 80 2. LANGER’s Theory of Symbolic Art 94 Introduction 94 Symbolic Agency in Art 101 Implementation of Symbolic Agency in Art 108 Representational Symbolism in Literature 117 A View of ‘Psychical Distance’ in Aesthetic Experience 124 A Synopsis and Assessment of Langer’s Theory of Symbolic Art 128 Chapter VII The Need for a ‘Contextual’ and ‘Genetic’ Approach to the Aesthetic Experience of Art 138 continued PART FOUR The Structuralist Approach to Aesthetic Experience Chapter VIII GADAMER’s Theory of ‘Play’ as an Ontological Explanation of Art 171 Introduction to the Theory of ‘Play’ 171 A Hermeneutical Approach to Art 179 Chapter IX MERLEAU-PONTY’s Phenomenology of Perception as applied to Art 190 Introduction to the Phenomenology of Perception 190 A View of Art in the Context of the Phenomenology of Perception 196 The Phenomenology of Language 198 Synopsis 205 Conclusion 209 Conclusion 212 Bibliography 221 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I dedicate this thesis to the memory of my parents. My sincere thanks go to my supervisor Martin Warner for his help and advice, and to Professor David Wood who initially inspired and motivated my research. I would also like to thank Professor Stephen Houlgate for his invaluable advice and encouragement. My special thanks go to Ursula Kelly for her constant dedication and care in the production of this typescript. I am also very grateful to the Department of Philosophy, the Graduate Office, the Library, and the University of Warwick for providing such a supportive research environment throughout my work. 2 SUMMARY The object of the present thesis is: 1. to question the modem and prevalent view that some kind of ‘psychical attitude’ is necessary to the emergence and success of an aesthetic experience. Edward BULLOUGH’s theory of ‘psychical distance’ has been chosen and thoroughly analyzed as a significant example of the above view. 2. to offer an alternative to the above theory, which is based on a teleological/cosmological argument, and which makes an aesthetic experience dependent on a metaphysical ‘intuition’ of our ‘attunement’ to, and ‘symbiosis’ with, the world. In support of my research, I examine and discuss: i. the aesthetic experience of ‘beautiful’ nature, ‘beautiful’ craftsmanship, and art, and I suggest some distinctions between them which have an important bearing on my rejection of ‘psychical distance’ as a viable aesthetic process. ii. how the unique nature and role of ‘genius’ in art provides us, not only with arguments supporting the views expressed in my theory, but with more reasons to believe that art is in a league apart in aesthetics, and could perhaps benefit further from its study through a philosophy of mind. iii. ‘expression’ and ‘communication’ as fundamental sources of, and constituents of art, and their application through a form o f ‘Representational Symbolism’ developed in S. LANGER’s theory of aesthetics. iv. the need for a thorough familiarization and understanding of the content, context, and genetic sources of works of art, in order to achieve a rapprochement/communion between artists and the observers of their works. v. H.G. GADAMER’s theory of ‘play’, 1) as an explanation of how the essence of works of art, though shaped by the thoughts and feelings of artists, interpreters, and observers, is protected by the work’s ‘circle of meaning’ which sets observers at an ‘absolute distance’ from the work, making therefore ‘any practical purposive share’ in it impossible; and 2) as a hermeneutical approach which allows Gadamer to solve problems of ‘contemporaneity’ in art. vi. some important aspects of M. MERLEAU-PONTY’s theory of ‘perception’; in particular, his emphasis on the necessity, for an understanding of, and communion with, the world, of a grasp of nature’s language. 3 CHAPTER I Introduction to the Concept of ‘Aesthetic Experience’ The etymology of the word aesthetic directs us to the concept of sensation; whatever else it may involve, a theory of aesthetics deals with human sensitivity. This assessment should not, however, mean that we agree with Nietzsche’s extreme view that . aesthetics is but an applied physiology, or with Armand CUVILLIER who writes that ‘the sensation becomes aesthetic matter only after having undergone a “purification”, a shedding which frees it from the utilitarian interpretations of everyday life.' (1954, II, 204, my transl.) For L.A. REID, aesthetic experience is more than sheer perception. ‘On the one hand’, he says, ‘we apprehend the perceptual data.... On the other hand, our interest is interest in appearance for the sake of a meaning, a significance, a value, which could not be contained literally in a mere perceptual appearance, but must in some sense transcend it... and when that embodied meaning is enjoyed intrinsically, for its own sake, and not for its practical, or cognitive, or existential implications, then the contemplation is “aesthetic” contemplation, and the total complex before the mind we may call an “aesthetic” object.’ (1954,41-43) There are many problems involved in any attempt at giving a satisfactory definition of what constitutes an aesthetic experience. Certainly as Dian6 COLLINSON remarks, ‘No single account of a particular aesthetic experience... seems able to yield a characteristic or group of characteristics than can serve as the basis of a definition of the experience. It seems to have a variety and complexity that defy attempts to state its 4 essential conditions. It can be intense or gentle, sustained or fleeting, immediate or cumulative, or combinations of any o f these.’ (in Hanfling, 1992, 117) Another difficulty which makes of any endeavour at analyzing and defining aesthetic experience a daunting task, comes from the fact that, as Arnold BERLEANT points out, ‘while aesthetic experience has an identity, it is not set off from other modes of expression by some unique attributes. Indeed, the aesthetic is not a separate kind of experience but rather a mode in which experience may occur:... it is continuous with the whole range of human activity.’ (1970,93) Our first efforts will, therefore, bear on attempting to clarify the ‘mode’ in which aesthetic experiences are said to occur, and, for this, we need to identify the factors and signs that are commonly manifesting themselves in such experiences. For Berleant, although there is no infallible basis on which to claim that an account of aesthetic experience is authentic, one can start by ‘consciously expunging the influence - moral, religious, pedagogical, metaphysical, historical and cultural - of any a priori expectations of what that experience must be like’ (1970, 96). However, what is to be feared with such an approach is that, once the above criteria are eliminated, the analysis turns out to be exclusively based on psychological ‘attitudes’ (i.e. sensitive and emotional responses). Such analysis would thus make of what is generally regarded as a very complex and extraordinary experience in life, an oversimplified and immature phenomenon. Another possible standpoint is to try to assess which elements in the form and content of an object, or event, would, with single sufficiency or articulated joint necessity, make of that object, or event, an aesthetically valuable entity. This approach is bound to 5 raise a web of metaphysical and ontological issues, some of them very complex and as old as philosophy itself; taken on its own, it would also tend to leave unexplored the intricate, influential, and essential roles played in the aesthetic experience of art, by artists and observers of their works. Another viewpoint regarding aesthetic experience is expressed by L.A. REID who writes: ‘Aesthetic expressions may be (among other things) expressions in a finer, in a subtler... sense than, say, an “expression” which is a mere relief of tension or the mere satisfaction of some desire’ (1973, 50). This particular aspect will be given some particular attention in this thesis. For Bernard BOSANQUET, aesthetic experience is mainly distinguished by three characteristics closely connected with each other: i. a stable feeling, i.e. a pleasure in something pleasant which does not pass into satiety, as it can in eating and drinking. ‘The aesthetic want is not a perishable want, which ceases in proportion as it is gratified.’ (1923,4) ii. a relevant feeling - ‘attached, annexed to the quality of some object - to all its detail...’ (4) but unlike, for example, the hearing of a dinner-bell which is not an aesthetic experience ‘unless my feeling of pleasure is relevant, attached to the actual sound as I hear it.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Walter Pater's Aesthetic Historicism
    Transfigured World · CAROLYN WILLIAMS · Transfigured World · WALTER PATER'S AESTHETIC HISTORICISM · Cornell University Press ITHACA AND LONDON Copyright © 1989 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850, or visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. First published 1989 by Cornell University Press. First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2016. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Williams, Carolyn, 1950– Transfigured world: Walter Pater’s aesthetic historicism / Carolyn Williams p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-8014-2151-8 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-5017-0724-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Pater, Walter, 1839–1894—Aesthetics. 2. Pater, Walter, 1839–1894— Knowledge—History. 3. Historicism. I. Title. PR5138.A35W5 1989 824'.8—dc20 89-42883 The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ For Cecil Lang Contents Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xi Introduction I Part One • Opening Conclusions II I. "That Which Is Without" 14 2. "The Inward World of Thought and Feeling" 18 3. Aestheticism 26 4. Answerable Style 37 5. Iiistoricism 46 6. Aesthetic Iiistoricism and "Aesthetic Poetry" 57 7. The Poetics of Revival 68 Part Two • Figural Strategies in Th e Renaissance 79 I. Legend and Iiistoricity 82 2. Myths of Iiistory: Th e Last Supper 94 3. The Iiistoricity of Myth 103 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Leonard Bernstein
    chapter one Young American Bernstein at Harvard In 1982, at the age of sixty-four, Leonard Bernstein included in his col- lection of his writings, Findings, some essays from his younger days that prefi gured signifi cant elements of his later adult life and career. The fi rst, “Father’s Books,” written in 1935 when he was seventeen, is about his father and the Talmud. Throughout his life, Bernstein was ever mind- ful that he was a Jew; he composed music on Jewish themes and in later years referred to himself as a “rabbi,” a teacher with a penchant to pass on scholarly learning, wisdom, and lore to orchestral musicians.1 Moreover, Bernstein came to adopt an Old Testament prophetic voice for much of his music, including his fi rst symphony, Jeremiah, and his third, Kaddish. The second essay, “The Occult,” an assignment for a freshman composi- tion class at Harvard that he wrote in 1938 when he was twenty years old, was about meeting Dimitri Mitropoulos, who inspired him to take up conducting. The third, his senior thesis of April 1939, was a virtual man- ifesto calling for an organic, vernacular, rhythmically based, distinctly American music, a music that he later championed from the podium and realized in his compositions for the Broadway stage and operatic and concert halls.2 8 Copyrighted Material Seldes 1st pages.indd 8 9/15/2008 2:48:29 PM Young American / 9 EARLY YEARS: PROPHETIC VOICE Bernstein as an Old Testament prophet? Bernstein’s father, Sam, was born in 1892 in an ultraorthodox Jewish shtetl in Russia.
    [Show full text]
  • IV. Concerning the Relation of Mind and Medium in Aesthetic Appre- Ciation Little Need Be Said
    MIND AND MEDIUM IN ARTf. (1V.j BY EDWARD BULLOUGH. I AGREE with Mr Walkley’s criticism of Mr Marriott’s proposal to base an aesthetic theory upon Medium and its technical manipulation. The attempt has been made more than once-the example of Semper has been mentioned by Mr Watt-and has always broken down in the face of objections such as are urged by Mr Walkley-in the last resort because Art is a manifestation of mind and cannot be satisfactorily accounted for by the nature and treatment of the material it employs. The second part of Mr Walkley’s paper rests upon the theory of Benedetto Croce. I am in doubt how far I agree or disagree with him. Croce’s aesthetic theory does not stand by itself, as is far too commonly supposed. It is part of a general philosophical, and in addition monistic, system and is exposed to all the difficulties created by such a depen- dence. I feel doubt about the fourfold division of the activities of the spirit; about the precise limits of the theoretical and practical activities; about the ultimate implications of his general point of view; as regards the aesthetic sphere in particular, about the nature of the ‘intuition’ and the essential ‘lyricism’ of Art, and their consequences. Indeed, I am inclined to agree with the objections recently urged by G. A. Borgese in the Preface to the new edition of his Storia della critica romantica in Italia2. I readily admit that Croce’s conception of intuition as the A contribution to the Symposium presented at the Congress of Philosophy in Oxford, 24-27 September, 1920.
    [Show full text]
  • A Century of Mathematics in America, Peter Duren Et Ai., (Eds.), Vol
    Garrett Birkhoff has had a lifelong connection with Harvard mathematics. He was an infant when his father, the famous mathematician G. D. Birkhoff, joined the Harvard faculty. He has had a long academic career at Harvard: A.B. in 1932, Society of Fellows in 1933-1936, and a faculty appointmentfrom 1936 until his retirement in 1981. His research has ranged widely through alge­ bra, lattice theory, hydrodynamics, differential equations, scientific computing, and history of mathematics. Among his many publications are books on lattice theory and hydrodynamics, and the pioneering textbook A Survey of Modern Algebra, written jointly with S. Mac Lane. He has served as president ofSIAM and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Mathematics at Harvard, 1836-1944 GARRETT BIRKHOFF O. OUTLINE As my contribution to the history of mathematics in America, I decided to write a connected account of mathematical activity at Harvard from 1836 (Harvard's bicentennial) to the present day. During that time, many mathe­ maticians at Harvard have tried to respond constructively to the challenges and opportunities confronting them in a rapidly changing world. This essay reviews what might be called the indigenous period, lasting through World War II, during which most members of the Harvard mathe­ matical faculty had also studied there. Indeed, as will be explained in §§ 1-3 below, mathematical activity at Harvard was dominated by Benjamin Peirce and his students in the first half of this period. Then, from 1890 until around 1920, while our country was becoming a great power economically, basic mathematical research of high quality, mostly in traditional areas of analysis and theoretical celestial mechanics, was carried on by several faculty members.
    [Show full text]
  • AH 302: the Idea of the Aesthetic Syllabus Course Description Texts
    Fall 2020 AH 302: The Idea of the Aesthetic Syllabus The schedule of classes/readings is subject to change. Registered students should consult the syllabus on Google Classrooms, which will be kept updated. Instructor: Katalin Makkai Course times: Monday and Wednesday 15:45-17:15 Email: [email protected] Office hours: TBA Office: P98 004 Course description “Aesthetics” and “aesthetic” are terms that are often taken for granted inside as well as outside academic discourse. We speak of aesthetic experiences and judgments and qualities, and we employ “aesthetics” to designate the study of such matters. Although their root is taken from the Greek, the now-familiar terms (in their now-familiar usages) are, however, comparatively new. They are commonly regarded as having been introduced into the philosophical lexicon in the eighteenth century—a few hundred years ago. This course studies some of the texts that were key to the discovery, or perhaps the invention, of the “aesthetic”. What work was the idea meant to do? How did its evolution retain or reconfigure its original senses and purposes? Is the idea of the aesthetic problematic, ideological, or chimerical? Do we need an idea of the aesthetic to think about art? Texts All readings will be provided during the semester electronically and are to be brought to class as printouts. Electronic devices Students may not use any electronic devices (laptop, tablet, mobile phone) in the classroom, unless an accommodation letter has been issued. Requirements ACADEMIC INTEGRITY ​ ​ ​ Bard College Berlin maintains the staunchest regard for academic integrity and expects good academic practice from students in their studies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ethical Significance of the Aesthetic Experience of Non-Representational Art Taylor Rogers Oberlin College
    The Ethical Significance of the Aesthetic Experience of Non-Representational Art Taylor Rogers Oberlin College May, 2011 I. Introduction II. Key Terms III. Key Features of Aesthetic Experience: Attention & Distraction IV. Delicacy & Distance V. The Ethical Significance of Perceptual Delicacy VI. Ethico-Aesthetic Properties VII. Delicacy and Representational Art VIII. Conclusion Bibliography 1 I. Introduction This paper‟s aim is to give an account of the distinctive ethical significance of the aesthetic experience of non-representational art. I hope to demonstrate how perceptual skills necessary for such engagement prove to be ethical as well as aesthetic skills. First, I will offer some background on the nature of aesthetic experience, before adopting Noël Carroll‟s content- oriented account for my own investigation. After clarifying my use of “aesthetic experience,” I explain my focus on non-representational art, illustrating the way in which it more accessibly fosters pure aesthetic experience, as opposed to art that is representational. By employing the terms „non-representational‟ and „representational,‟ I will be referring to paradigm cases of each sort of art as a way of circumventing the need for an account of when and how art represents. Mitchell Green in “Empathy, Expression and What Artworks Have to Teach” asserts, “Some forms of engagement with works of art…either convey or activate a skill1.” In light of this assertion, I analyze how one‟s aesthetic engagement with non-representational art distinctly cultivates the skill of sensitive perception, or, „delicacy,‟ which allows one to perceive all of the aesthetically relevant features present in a work of art, no matter how subtle.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy 585: Emotions in the Arts Spring 2009 Professors Paul Guyer and Elisabeth Camp
    Philosophy 585: Emotions in the Arts Spring 2009 Professors Paul Guyer and Elisabeth Camp Contact Information Paul Guyer Office: 421 Cohen Hall Office Hours: Thursdays 2-4 and by appointment Email: [email protected] Elisabeth Camp Office: 426 Cohen Hall Office Hours: Thursdays 1:30 to 3 and by appointment Email: [email protected] Course Description This course will investigate historical and contemporary philosophical views on the role of the emotions in the arts. Do we have genuine emotional responses to works of art – to fiction? paintings? music? If so, what are the conditions under which we do and don't have such emotional responses? When are such responses appropriate? In particular, does an appropriate aesthetic attitude require emotional distance from the object of the artwork? Is it inappropriate to respond emotionally to morally depraved artworks? How do formal devices induce, constrain, and otherwise alter our emotional responses to art? Readings will be drawn from philosophers including Jean-Baptiste Du Bos, David Hume, Edmund Burke, Moses Mendelssohn, Henry Home Lord Kames, Arthur Schopenhauer, Edward Bullough, R.G. Collingwood, Tamar Szabo Gendler, Richard Moran, Kendall Walton, and others. Course Requirements Everyone registered for the course will be expected to lead discussion for one meeting; auditors are strongly encouraged to do so as well. We hope you can do this in pairs. Your main task is to bring out the philosophical issues in play, and specifically to locate the readings in relation to each other; raising questions for discussion is much more important than summarizing. You should also prepare a handout, no more than 2 pages long, which can easily be reviewed in class, to help coordinate the discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • Accepts That the Traditional Definition of Abstrac- Tion Does Apply to Some
    9781405169226_4_00A.qxd 12/8/08 7:50 PM Page 107 A abstraction Artworks are abstract, we might accepts that the traditional definition of abstrac- think, when they do not represent: abstraction tion does apply to some paintings. The prob- is simply the absence of representation. After all, lem is that it does not apply to most of those we there is a natural contrast between abstract think of as abstract. and representational painting; and music, at We can flesh out the second difficulty by least in its “absolute” (i.e., abstract) form, does considering either abstract painting or music. not clearly represent at all. Absolute music, It is hardly plausible that these never make like abstract painting, expresses feelings and any reference to things beyond themselves. perhaps thoughts, but, we suppose, expression The idea that they express emotions and ideas and representation are different. is intended to concede as much, without rein- However, there are two difficulties with tak- troducing representation. But is it clear that ing this to capture the nature of abstraction. expression is not simply another form of repre- First, on closer inspection it excludes art that sentation? Of course, it differs from some kinds intuitively counts as abstract; and second, the of representing – from the depiction that con- definition is only as clear as the rather murky cerns Wollheim, for instance, or from describing notion of representation itself. things in language. But the notion of represen- To illustrate the first difficulty, consider tation is both highly general and resists easy Richard Wollheim’s argument (1987: ch.
    [Show full text]
  • ¾Sthetik/Ästhetisch
    308 ¾sthetik/ästhetisch ¾sthetik/ästhetisch Einleitung: Zur Aktualität des ¾sthetischen (engl. aesthetics, aesthetic, aesthetical; frz. esthØtique; ital. estetica, estetico; span. estØtica, Der Begriff ­¾sthetik¬, im zweiten Drittel des estØtico; russ. 1stetika, 1stetiheskoe) 18. Jh. von Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten ge- prägt, um die als niedere Erkenntnisvermögen dis- Einleitung: Zur Aktualität des ¾sthetischen; kriminierten Sinne philosophisch zu legitimieren, 1. Wandel der ¾sthetik; 2. Selbstreflexion der ¾sthetik; hat in Deutschland Karriere gemacht. Bevor er a) Erfahrung contra Wahrnehmung; b) Ethik und ¾sthe- sich auch auûerhalb seines Ursprungslandes durch- tik; 3. ¾sthetisierung; I. Der europäische Kontext setzen konnte, hat es fast anderthalb Jahrhunderte einer deutschen Gründung; II. Die Institutiona- lisierung der ¾sthetik; 1. Der Weg zu Baumgartens gebraucht. Nach weiteren hundert Jahren ist nun ­Aesthetica¬; 2. ¾sthetik als Lebenskunst: Der felix der Begriff ¾sthetik weltweit ebenso allgemein aestheticus bei Baumgarten; 3. ­¾sthetik¬ und die ­Theo- wie von seinem ursprünglichen Bedeutungsum- rien der schönen Wissenschaften und Künste¬; 4. ¾stheti- fang entfernt. Daran muûte erinnert werden. sche Pathologie; 5. Der Streit um die neue Wissenschaft; »Pourquois appeler esthØtique un jugement de goßt? III. Kant: Transzendentale ¾sthetik und Kritik des Geschmacks; IV.¾sthetik als Philosophie der schö- [¼] Le jugement de goßt n'est pas un jugement de nen Kunst; 1. Die romantische Kritik der ¾sthetik; connaissance, il n'est pas ­logique¬ mais subjectif et 2. Hegels ¾sthetikbegriff; V.Der europäische Be- donc esthØtique: rapport à l'affect (aisthesis).«1 Man griffstransfer; 1. Frankreich; a) EsthØtique ± ­cette hat von einer »aesthetic world-view« gesprochen science d'importation¬. Von der ­thØorie des sensations¬ zur ­science du beau¬ und ­philosophie des beaux-arts¬; und ¾sthetik sogar eine »guiding science in a gene- b) Zwischen Künstlerästhetik und wissenschaftlicher ral epistemology of the modern age« genannt, die ¾sthetik; 2.
    [Show full text]
  • The Philosophy of Art : an Introduction Pdf, Epub, Ebook
    THE PHILOSOPHY OF ART : AN INTRODUCTION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Theodore Gracyk | 284 pages | 20 Dec 2011 | Polity Press | 9780745649160 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom The Philosophy of Art : An Introduction PDF Book It makes centralized list management across all your devices simple. Many great works of painting and sculpture , for example, were created to glorify a deity and not, insofar as can be ascertained , for an aesthetic purpose to be enjoyed simply in the contemplation of them for their own sake. In the seventies and the eighties two excellent readers saw the light: George Dickie and Richard J. Do we have free will? This will help you develop your critical reasoning and argumentative skills more generally. This process still continues today. Google Scholar. If you acquire expensive pieces, insure them against theft and disasters. Download pdf. Give Feedback External Websites. It takes time to curate the perfect collection for your interests, tastes and passions. What Happened to Aesthetics? For the purposes of further, more advanced introductory reading, I have confined suggestions to two books that have appeared since the first edition was published the Routledge Companion to Aesthetics and the Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, both of which are accessible, comprehensive and authoritative. Martin's Press, Originally published Not surprisingly, every new movement is accompanied by a theoretical discourse to justify its premises. Inhalt Introduction. Over that long period a number of important answers have been developed and explored, and the purpose of this book is to introduce newcomers to the field of aesthetics and art theory to both the problems and their resolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Psychical Distance As a Factor in Art and An
    VOLUMEV JUNE, 1912 PART2 ‘PSYCHICAL DISTANCE ’ AS A FACTOR IN ART AND AN AESTHETIC PRINCIPLE, BY EDWARD BULLOUCH. I. 1. Meaning of the term ‘ Distance.’ 2. Distance as a factor in Art. 3. Diutunce as an aesthetic principle. 11. 1. Distance describes a personal relation. 2. The antinomy of Distance. 3. The variability of Distance. 4. Distance as the psychological formulation of the anti- realism of Art : naturalistic ard idealistic Art. 5. Distance UB applied to the antithesis ‘ sensual’ and ‘ spiritual.’ 6. Distance as applied to the antithesis individualistic’ and ‘ t9pical.’ 111. Distance as an aesthetic principle : 1. as a criterion between the agreeable adthe beautiful. 2. as a phase of artistic production : falsity of the theory of ‘self-expression of the artist.’ [3. Distance and some recent aesthetic theorbs.] 4. Distance as a fbndamentd principle of the ‘aesthetic cmciousness.’ I. 1. THE conception of ‘ Distance ’ suggests, in connexion with Art, certain trains of thought hy no means devoid of interest or of specu- lative importance. Perhaps the most obvious suggestion is that of actual spatial distance, i.e. the distance of a work of Art from the spectator, or that of represented spatial distance, i.e. the distance repre- sented within the work. Less obvious, more metaphorical, is the J. of Psych. v 7 88 Psychical Distance meaning of temporal distance. The first was noticed already by Aristotle in his Poetics; the second has played a great part in the history of painting in the form of perspective; the distinction between these two kinds of distance assumes special importance theoretically in the differentiation between sculpture in the round, and relief-sculpture.
    [Show full text]
  • 19Chronology of Works in Aesthetics and Philosophy Of
    Chronology of 19 Works in Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art Darren Hudson Hick Notes on Selection This chronology, as with this Companion as a whole, focuses on those works that contribute to the Western tradition of aesthetics, and, beginning in the twentieth century, in the analytic current of thought within that tradition (as opposed to the Continental one). As with the history of Western philosophy in general, the study of philosophical problems in art and beauty dates back to the ancient period, and is infl uenced by the major philosophical and cultural move- ments through the centuries. Much of what survives from the ancient to the post-Hellenistic period does so in fragments or references. In cases where only fragments or references exist, and where dating these is especially problematic, the author or attributed author and (where available) his dates of birth and death are listed. Where works have not survived even as fragments, these are not listed. As well, much of what sur- vives up to the medieval period is diffi cult to date, and is at times of disputable attribution. In these cases, whatever information is available is listed. Aesthetics in the period between the ancients and the medievals tends to be dominated by adherence to Platonic, Aristotelian, and other theories rooted in the ancient period, and as such tends to be generally lacking in substantive the- oretical advancements. And while still heavily infl uenced by ancient thinking, works from the medieval period tend also to be heavily infl uenced by religious thinking, and so many issues pertaining to art and aesthetics are intertwined with issues of religion as “theological aesthetics.” Movements in art theory and aes- thetics in the Renaissance, meanwhile, were largely advanced by working artists, and so tend to be couched in observational or pedagogical approaches, rather than strictly theoretical ones.
    [Show full text]