Apt Imaginings

Apt Imaginings PDF Author: Jonathan Gilmore
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190096365
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
How do our engagements with fictions and other products of the imagination compare to our experiences of the real world? Are the feelings we have about a novel's characters modelled on our thoughts about actual people? If it is wrong to feel pleasure over certain situations in real life, can it nonetheless be right to take pleasure in analogous scenarios represented in a fantasy or film? Should the desires we have for what goes on in a make-believe story cohere with what we want to happen in the actual world? Such queries have animated philosophical and psychological theorizing about art and life from Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Poetics to contemporary debates over freedom of expression, ethics and aesthetics, the cognitive value of thought experiments, and the effects on audiences of exposure to violent entertainment. In Apt Imaginings, Jonathan Gilmore develops a new framework to pursue these questions, marshalling a wide range of research in aesthetics, the science of the emotions, moral philosophy, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and film and literary theory. Gilmore argues that, while there is a substantial empirical continuity in our feelings across art and life, the norms that govern the appropriateness of those responses across the divide are discontinuous. In this view, the evaluative criteria that determine the fit, correctness, or rationality of our emotions and desires for what is internal to a fiction can be contrary to those that govern our affective attitudes toward analogous things in the real world. In short, it can be right to embrace within a story what one would condemn in real life. The theory Gilmore defends in this volume helps to explain our complex and sometimes conflicted attitudes toward works of the imagination; challenges the popular view that fictions serve to refine our moral sensibilities; and exposes a kind of autonomy of the imagination that can render our responses to art immune to standard real-world epistemic, practical, and affective kinds of criticism.

Apt Imaginings

Apt Imaginings PDF Author: Jonathan Gilmore
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190096365
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
How do our engagements with fictions and other products of the imagination compare to our experiences of the real world? Are the feelings we have about a novel's characters modelled on our thoughts about actual people? If it is wrong to feel pleasure over certain situations in real life, can it nonetheless be right to take pleasure in analogous scenarios represented in a fantasy or film? Should the desires we have for what goes on in a make-believe story cohere with what we want to happen in the actual world? Such queries have animated philosophical and psychological theorizing about art and life from Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Poetics to contemporary debates over freedom of expression, ethics and aesthetics, the cognitive value of thought experiments, and the effects on audiences of exposure to violent entertainment. In Apt Imaginings, Jonathan Gilmore develops a new framework to pursue these questions, marshalling a wide range of research in aesthetics, the science of the emotions, moral philosophy, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and film and literary theory. Gilmore argues that, while there is a substantial empirical continuity in our feelings across art and life, the norms that govern the appropriateness of those responses across the divide are discontinuous. In this view, the evaluative criteria that determine the fit, correctness, or rationality of our emotions and desires for what is internal to a fiction can be contrary to those that govern our affective attitudes toward analogous things in the real world. In short, it can be right to embrace within a story what one would condemn in real life. The theory Gilmore defends in this volume helps to explain our complex and sometimes conflicted attitudes toward works of the imagination; challenges the popular view that fictions serve to refine our moral sensibilities; and exposes a kind of autonomy of the imagination that can render our responses to art immune to standard real-world epistemic, practical, and affective kinds of criticism.

Apt Imaginings

Apt Imaginings PDF Author: Jonathan Gilmore
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190096349
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
Apt Imaginings addresses the question of how our emotions and desires for the contents of fictions, fantasies, and other products of the imagination relate to the feelings we have about things in the real world. A contribution to the theory of the emotions, the philosophy of fiction, and the psychology of art, this book argues that the normative criteria that determine the fit, morality, or rationality of our feelings for what we believe are distinct from those criteria that apply to what we imagine.

Philosophy of Sculpture

Philosophy of Sculpture PDF Author: Kristin Gjesdal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429870035
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book Here

Book Description
Sculpture has been a central aspect of almost every art culture, contemporary or historical. This volume comprises ten essays at the cutting edge of thinking about sculpture in philosophical terms, representing approaches to sculpture from the perspectives of both Anglo-American and European philosophy. Some of the essays are historically situated, while others are more straightforwardly conceptual. All of the essays, however, pay strict attention to actual sculptural examples in their discussions. This reflects the overall aim of the volume to not merely "apply" philosophy to sculpture, but rather to test the philosophical approaches taken in tandem with deep analyses of sculptural examples. There is an array of philosophical problems unique to sculpture, namely certain aspects of its three-dimensionality, physicality, temporality, and morality. The authors in this volume respond to a number of challenging philosophical questions related to these characteristics. Furthermore, while the focus of most of the essays is on Western sculptural traditions, there are contributions that features discussion of sculptural examples from non-Western sources. Philosophy of Sculpture is the first full-length book treatment of the philosophical significance of sculpture in English. It is a valuable resource for advanced students and scholars across aesthetics, art history, history, performance studies, and visual studies.

Seeing More

Seeing More PDF Author: Samantha Matherne
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198898304
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Get Book Here

Book Description
Samantha Matherne defends a systematic interpretation of the philosopher Immanuel Kant's theory of imagination. To this end, she offers an account of what kind of mental capacity Kant takes imagination to be in general, as well as an account of the way in which we use this capacity in theoretical, aesthetic, and practical contexts. In contrast with more traditional theories of imagination, as a kind of fantasy that we exercise only in relation to objects that are not real or not present, Matherne argues that Kant theorizes imagination as something that we exercise just as much in relation to objects that are real and present. Thus she attributes to Kant a view of imagining as something that pervades our lives. In order to bring out this pervasiveness, Matherne explores Kant's account of how we exercise our imagination in perception, ordinary experience, the appreciation of beauty and sublimity, the production of art, the pursuit of happiness, and the pursuit of morality. However, she also argues that Kant's analysis of this wide range of phenomena is underwritten by a unified theory of what imagination is, as a remarkably flexible cognitive capacity that we can exercise in constrained and creative, playful and serious ways.

A Companion to Arthur C. Danto

A Companion to Arthur C. Danto PDF Author: Jonathan Gilmore
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119154219
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 436

Get Book Here

Book Description
A Companion to Arthur C. Danto paints a detailed portrait of one the most significant figures in twentieth-century philosophy and art criticism, offering unparalleled coverage of all aspects of Danto’s writings, artworks, and thought. Edited by two long-time colleagues of Arthur Danto, this interdisciplinary resource presents more than 40 original essays from both prominent Danto scholars and leading practitioners from various sub-fields of philosophy. The Companion illuminates Danto’s many contributions to the artworld, aesthetics, criticism, and philosophy of knowledge, action, science, history, and politics. The essays explore central concepts and intersecting themes in Danto’s writings while providing new interventions into the areas of philosophy in which Danto engaged. Topics include Danto’s mode of writing and art production, his critical engagement with artists and philosophers, conflicts in Danto’s views and in interpretations of his works, and much more. An important addition to Danto studies, A Companion to Arthur C. Danto is essential reading for practitioners, scholars, and advanced students looking for a critical, provocative, and insightful treatment of Danto’s philosophy, art, and criticism.

Dangerous Art

Dangerous Art PDF Author: James Harold
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197519776
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 207

Get Book Here

Book Description
Dangerous Art takes up the problem of judging works of art using moral standards. When we think that a work is racist, or morally dangerous, what do we mean? James Harold approaches the topic from two angles. First, he takes up the moral question on its own. What could it mean to say that a work of art (rather than, say, a human being) is immoral? He then steps back and examines how moral evaluation fits into the larger task of evaluating artworks. If an artwork is immoral, what does that tell us about how to value the artwork? By tackling the issue from both sides, Harold demonstrates how many of the reasons previously given for thinking that works of art are immoral do not stand up to careful scrutiny. While many philosophers of art have simply assumed that artworks can be evaluated morally and proceeded as though such assessments were unproblematic, Harold highlights the complexities and difficulties inherent in such evaluations. He argues that even when works of art are rightly condemned from a moral point of view, the relationship between that moral flaw and their value as artworks is complex. He instead defends a moderate, skeptic version of autonomism between morality and aesthetics. Employing figures and ideas from ancient Greece, classical China, and the Harlem Renaissance, as well as William Styron's novel The Confessions of Nat Turner, he argues that we cannot judge artworks in the same way that we judge people on moral grounds. In this sense, we can judge an artwork to be both wicked and beautiful; nothing requires us to judge an artwork more or less valuable aesthetically just because we judge it to be morally bad or good. Taking up complex issues at the intersection of art and ethics, Dangerous Art will appeal to philosophers and students interested in art, aesthetics, moral philosophy, and philosophy of mind.

The Book Of Destiny

The Book Of Destiny PDF Author: Fr. Herman B. Kramer
Publisher: TAN Books
ISBN: 1505103630
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 627

Get Book Here

Book Description
An in-depth analysis of the Apocalypse that really makes sense. Proves it is a prophetic history of the Catholic Church. Proceeds chapter by chapter and verse by verse, explaining everything in terms of the language and symbolic meaning of Scripture itself. Gives the keys to understanding the Apocalypse. Shows we are on the verge of dramatic events! A masterpiece!

Aesthetic Life and Why It Matters

Aesthetic Life and Why It Matters PDF Author: Dominic Lopes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197625797
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 129

Get Book Here

Book Description
"You have a complex and detailed aesthetic life. You make aesthetic decisions every day. You wake up, shower, and dress. When you decide what to wear, you think about how it feels and fits, how it expresses your style. You wander into the kitchen and think about what to eat. When you decide what to eat, you think about flavor, texture, smell. You head out into the world. You see your car, your bike, your shoes and appreciate how they look. When you decide what to buy, you think about how it will look in your house, or how it sounds or feels. You make aesthetic decisions every day-about what to listen to, what to watch, whether to arrange things just so, about how to sit, strut, or sing. You have aesthetic feelings and reactions every day. The sunset swings into view as you turn a corner and you think, "That's beautiful." A wave of calm and pleasure wash over you. You take a bite of cake and you think, "Wow, that's sweet." Maybe too sweet. You hear that new song and it blows you away. You play it on repeat and for your friends. You try the new restaurant and you think: "It's bland, boring, awesome, exciting, brilliant, bold." The novel is wonderful, the film disappoints, the dress looked better in the store. You have aesthetic feelings and reactions every day and these reactions move you through the world and shape your sense of self and well-being. You create aesthetic looks, atmospheres, and objects every day. When you dress you create an outfit that you put into the world. When you have friends over you play music, light a candle, arrange the dinner table, set a mood. You exercise aesthetic creativity when you design your tattoo, put on makeup, pierce your ear or nose, spritz cologne or perfume, or pay close attention to your hair. Almost everything you do has an aesthetic dimension-from the way you make your bed, prepare your coffee, and tie your shoes, to the way you speak to others and adjust photos to post on social media. You create aesthetic value every day. You have a complex and detailed aesthetic life that you orchestrate every day through your aesthetic decisions, reactions, feelings, and actions"--

The Routledge Companion to the Philosophies of Painting and Sculpture

The Routledge Companion to the Philosophies of Painting and Sculpture PDF Author: Noël Carroll
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100063454X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 737

Get Book Here

Book Description
Comprising 45 chapters, written especially for this volume by an international team of leading experts, The Routledge Companion to the Philosophies of Painting and Sculpture is the first handbook of its kind. The editors have organized the chapters across eight broader sections: Artforms History Questions of form, style, and address Art and science Comparisons among the arts Questions of value Philosophers of art Institutional questions Individual topics include art and cognitive science, evolutionary origins of art, art and perception, pictorial realism, artistic taste, style, issues of race and gender, art and religion, art and philosophy, and the end of art. The work of selected philosophers is also discussed, including Diderot, Hegel, Ruskin, Gombrich, Goodman, Wollheim, and Danto. With an introduction from the editors and comprehensively indexed, The Routledge Companion to the Philosophies of Painting and Sculpture serves as a point of entry to the subject for a broad range of students as well as an up-to-date reference for scholars in the field.

Aesthetics After Modernism

Aesthetics After Modernism PDF Author: Diarmuid Costello
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197756395
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Aesthetics after Modernism argues for the ongoing relevance of aesthetics to art after modernism. In it, I show that even what are typically taken to be the hardest of hard cases engage us in recognisably aesthetic ways and, as such, remain amenable to aesthetic analysis. Why, if that is true, do so many art theorists, critics and sometimes even artists appear to think otherwise? I trace the artworld's rejection of aesthetic theory to Clement Greenberg's success in co-opting the discourse of aesthetics, notably Kant's aesthetics, to underwrite his own formalism about modernist art. Not only has this led to Kant being tarred with the brush of Greenbergian formalism; it has also led critics and theorists of later art to miss the resources of the aesthetic tradition, perhaps especially Kant, for capturing what is distinctive about our cognitive relation to the kinds of art that interest them. There is a tendency simply to assume that Kant's aesthetics cannot speak to the more conceptual aspects of our interactions with art. I trace the legacy of Greenberg's modernism and formalism for later art criticism and theory, before offering an interpretation of Kant's theory of art that seeks to show otherwise. I take Conceptual Art as my test case: here is a form of art that often claims to forgo sensible properties altogether. But if Kant's aesthetics can accommodate to our cognitive relation to art with no sensible features relevant to its appreciation as art then it should in principle withstand the challenge of any form of art"--