Aesthetics and Material Beauty

Aesthetics Naturalized
1. Auflage 2007
ISBN: 978-0-415-37830-7
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 244 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 540 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy

In Aesthetics and Material Beauty, Jennifer A. McMahon develops a new aesthetic theory she terms Critical Aesthetic Realism - taking Kantian aesthetics as a starting point and drawing upon contemporary theories of mind from philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science. The creative process does not proceed by a set of rules. Yet the fact that its objects can be understood or appreciated by others suggests that the creative process is constrained by principles to which others have access. According to her update of Kantian aesthetics, beauty is grounded in indeterminate yet systematic principles of perception and cognition. However, Kant’s aesthetic theory rested on a notion of indeterminacy whose consequences for understanding the nature of art were implausible.

McMahon conceptualizes "indeterminacy" in terms of contemporary philosophical, psychological, and computational theories of mind. In doing so, she develops an aesthetic theory that reconciles the apparent dichotomies which stem from the tension between the determinacy of communication and the indeterminacy of creativity. Dichotomies such as universality and subjectivity, objectivity and autonomy, cognitivism and non-cognitivism, and truth and beauty are revealed as complementary features of an aesthetic judgment.

Autoren/Hrsg.

McMahon, Jennifer A.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturkritik: Hermeneutik und Interpretation
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Gattungen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Stoffe, Motive und Themen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: Formalism and the Problem of Beauty 2. Universality and Subjectivity 3. Objectivity and Autonomy 4. Critical Aesthetic Realism 5. Beauty and Truth 6. Natural Generativity and Systematicity 7. The Ubiquity of Beauty 8. Ugliness 9. Conclusion: An Ontology of Art

Über Autor(innen)

Jennifer A. McMahon is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Adelaide, Australia.