The Philosophy of Art: The Question of Definition: From Hegel to Post-Dantian Theories

Description

Drawing on the philosophies of art developed by the continental authors and studies of Anglo-American philosophers, this book presents a panorama of the philosophy of art. It discusses definitions offered from the analytical school including Arthur Danto's representationalism, Dipert's theories of artefactualism, Dickie's institutional and procedural theories and Levinson's historical and cultural theories. From the continental theories it reflects on Hegel's notion of philosophy of art, Martin Heidegger's and Hans Georg Gadamer's hermeneutic tradition and Alexius Meinong's theory of objects. This range of definitions and theories are judged and defended using a form of representationalism that begins with the results of Arthur Danto's thinking and integrates the aesthetic reflection of the Baumgarten School. The result is not only a presentation of philosophy of art from the beginning of the twentieth century to present day, but a study that proposes a theory capable of synthesizing the finest contributions of the analytic and continental traditions.

Tiziana Andina is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Turin, Italy. Natalia Iacobelli is a translator in the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University, USA.

Written with a pleasing lightness of touch and well-informed in the history of aesthetics, this book offers an illuminating critical survey of the perennial efforts to define art. -- Peter Lamarque, Professor of Philosophy at University of York, UK.