R. G. Collingwood: A Philosophy of Art

by Aaron Ridley

Many philosophers have been interested in aesthetics, but Collingwood was passionate about art. His theories were never merely theoretical: aesthetics for him was a vivid, vibrant thing, to be experienced immediately in worked paint and in sculptured stones, in poetry and music. Art and life were no dichotomy for Collingwood - for how could you have one without the other? Works of art were created in and for the real world, to be enjoyed by real people, to enchant to enhance.

Aaron Ridley's fascinating introduction opens up the work of this most rewarding of aesthetic thinkers, tracing his thought from its philosophic origins through to its practical consequence and ethical implications. The man who saw art as 'the community's medicine for the worst disease of mind' had a sense of its urgent importance which we ignore at our peril today

Genres: Philosophy

53 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

Reviews

[Imlac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb short book (it's really an article) on Collingwood's philosophy of art. Ridley extracts, explains, and organizes the most important ideas in The Principles of Art in a way that illuminates the details and provides a convincing and even inspiring view of the whole. If you want a clear explanation of art vs. craft, of art as expression, and of art as a supposedly purely "mental" object, this is the book to read.

I really wish, however, that the author had also discussed Collingwood on imagination - which remains murky and obscure in the subject text.