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This book investigates how we are involved in politically informed structures and how they appear to us. Following different approaches in contemporary aesthetics and cultural philosophy, such as everyday aesthetics, atmosphere and aestheticization, the contributions explore how embedded powers in politics, education, democracy, and landscape are analyzed through aesthetics.
The aim of this essay is to analyse TV series from the point of view of philosophical aesthetics. Aiming to show how philosophy may contribute to “seriality studies”, Andrzejewski and Salwa focus on seriality as a factor which defines the structure of TV series, their aesthetic properties, as well as their modes of reception. TV series have been studied within media theory and cultural studies for quite a long time, but they have been approached mainly in terms of their production, distribution, and consumption across various and changing social contexts. Following the agenda of philosophical aesthetics Andrzejewski and Salwa claim instead seriality implies a sort of normativity, i.e. that it is possible to indicate what features a television show has to have in order to be a serial show as well as the manner in which it should be watched if it is to be experienced as a serial work.
In TThe Art and Philosophy of the Garden, philosopher David Fenner and botanist Ethan Fenner examine the philosophical ideas lying behind one of the most universal human activities. They strip away our assumptions and take a close look at gardens -- starting with a definition of what a garden is -- and argue for a particularly way of understanding their aesthetic properties. Fenner and Fenner make the case that many gardens have a claim to being legitimate works of art. Their comprehensive and accessible discussion contributes to the resurgence of the theory of gardens and gardening, and will also interest any thoughtful person who cares about gardens.
This book presents interdisciplinary research on the aesthetics of perfection and imperfection. Broadening this growing field, it connects the aesthetics of imperfection with issues in areas including philosophy, music, literature, urban environment, architecture, art theory, and cultural studies. The contributors to this volume argue that imperfection has value in being open and inclusive. The aesthetics of imperfection is typified by organic, unpolished production and the avoidance of perfect finish, instead representing living and natural change, and opposing the consumerist concern with the flawless and pristine. The chapters are divided into seven thematic sections. After the first sect...
The “idea” of culture comprises almost all human activities, from science to art, from music to microscopy. Does anything important escape the limits of this idea? The authors of this collection argue that all philosophy is really the philosophy of culture, since in some way each and every discipline and subdiscipline is foremost a manifestation of our collective cultural effort. Further, they argue that by engaging with philosophy as a cultural activity and as a discipline to meaningful engage with all dimensions of (inter)cultural life, we can live more meaningful, flourishing, and wisely guided lives.
"The fifth and final volume of essays by Leo Steinberg is devoted to modern and contemporary art. Expertly edited by Steinberg's longtime assistant Sheila Schwartz, this collection includes essays on Cézanne, Monet, Matisse, Ernst, Hans Haacke, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, and, in some ways the centerpiece of the collection, Steinberg's landmark essay "Encounters with Rauschenberg." It concludes with a selection of Steinberg's lesser-known occasional humorous pieces. The collection features an introductory essay by noted scholar and curator James Meyer. As with all volumes in the Essays by Leo Steinberg series, it is lavishly illustrated throughout with works by each of the artists Steinberg analyzes"--
In this book, Katarzyna Kremplewska offers a thorough analysis of Santayana's conception of human self, viewed as part of his larger philosophy of life. Santayana emerges as an author of a provocative philosophy of drama, in which human life is acted out. Kremplewska demonstrates how his thought addresses the dynamics of human self in this context and the possibility of sustaining self-integrity while coping with the limitations of finite life. Focusing on particular aspects of Santayana's thought such as his conception of the tragic aspect of existence, and the role of the doctrine of spirit in his philosophical anthropology and critique of culture, this book also sets Santayana's thought in substantial dialogue with other thinkers, such as Heidegger, Bergson, and Nietzsche. Like Santayana's philosophy, this book seeks to build passages between theoretical reflection and practical life with the possibility of a good life in view.
Leo Steinberg was one of the most original and daring art historians of the twentieth century, known for taking interpretative risks that challenged the profession by overturning reigning orthodoxies. In essays and lectures that ranged from old masters to contemporary art, he combined scholarly erudition with an eloquent prose that illuminated his subject and a credo that privileged the visual evidence of the image over the literature written about it. His works, sometimes provocative and controversial, remain vital and influential reading. For half a century, Steinberg delved into Michelangelo’s work, revealing the symbolic structures underlying the artist’s highly charged idiom. This v...
This volume was first published by Inter-Disciplinary Press in 2015. This book, With(out) Trace: Inter-Disciplinary Investigations into Time, Space and the Body, unpacks many of the issues that surround the idea of trace: what we intentionally, an unintentionally, leave behind as well as how trace can help us to move forward. In particular this volume looks at how an inter-disciplinary approach can suggest new ways of seeing and, subsequently, exploring interconnections between time, space and the body. The papers within this work accomplish more than tracing a theme, a theory, or discipline within the study of time, space and the body. Moreover, the collection does not simply trace past debates about the relationship between the three. Indeed the interdisciplinarity of this collection will, it is hoped, suggest other ways of seeing the field and of tracing new paths through it. Exploring those new perspectives and new paths will undoubtedly enrich future thinking about the interconnections between time, space and the body.
This book inaugurates a new phase in kitsch studies. Kitsch, an aesthetic slur of the 19th and the 20th century, is increasingly considered a positive term and at the heart of today’s society. Eleven distinguished authors from philosophy, cultural studies and the arts discuss a wide range of topics including beauty, fashion, kitsch in the context of mourning, bio-art, visual arts, architecture and political kitsch. In addition, the editors provide a concise theoretical introduction to the volume and the subject. The role of kitsch in contemporary culture and society is innovatively explored and the volume aims not to condemn but to accept and understand why kitsch has become acceptable today.