Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art

Abstract

THIS BOOK, part of Blackwell's Contemporary Debates in Philosophy series, is a collection of twenty-two previously unpublished essays paired together to comprise eleven debates, each of which addresses a distinct issue that has regularly received attention in recent analytic aesthetic practice. The rationale behind the collection seems straightforwardly to be that of exhibiting current activity within the field of philosophical aesthetics, both by revealing the diversity and range of issues falling under the scope of this discipline, and by showcasing the vibrancy and healthy rigour of the discourse through which these issues are explored. On this basis, contributions are offered by distinguished figures in the current aesthetics scene (or, as one might put it, by the ‘usual suspects’), recognized as leading authors on their specific topics. Thus, to give a sample, there are essays by Noël Carroll and Gary Iseminger on aesthetic experience, Robert Stecker and Daniel O. Nathan on intentionalism, Stephen Davies and Jerrold Levinson on musical expressiveness, Robert Hopkins and Dominic McIver Lopes on depiction, Eileen John and Daniel Jacobson on art and morality, and Berys Gaut and Peter Lamarque on cognitive values of art. The paired essays contrast with each other, offering different perspectives and positions on these central aesthetic issues, and often there is interaction within pairs, as one author responds to the other's claims. The editor has also seen to it that the essays are consistent in terms of length, aims, and sophistication (with one anomaly: Noël Carroll's contribution stands out at twice the length of all the other essays, and as the only one to have its own accompanying notes, in addition to the end-of-section notes and further reading suggestions that follow each pair of essays).

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