The Philosophy of Art

by Stephen Davies (Editor), Philip Alperson (Series Editor)

Now available in a fully revised and updated second edition, this accessible and insightful introduction outlines the central theories and ongoing debates in the philosophy of art.

Genres: Philosophy, Art, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jeanine]

Decent-ish overview of questions in Aesthetics. I don't think it does as good a job as it could motivating why the questions are interesting. I also think it will be unappealing to people who come to from art but without an interest in philosophy might be turned off because the questions are explored too openly, too philosophically. *I am a professional philosopher so I don't say this lightly.

[Leah]

Took me way too long to get through but, all in all, a very informative and intriguing read.

[Shadi]

succinct at the cost of criticality

[Kathleen O'Neal]

A very good introduction to many key issues in the philosophy of the arts. As with all introductions, it did not go into certain interesting topics (such as the problematic way in which pornography blends fact and fiction which brought to mind for me the work of Andrea Dworkin) in as much depth as I would have preferred, but it is a solid introduction to the topic.

[Erin]

Informative, well-written, and interesting. Davies calls on countless historical aesthetics texts to portray all sides of debates in aesthetic theory. I am really enjoying this, and it has helped me a lot in my Art Theory course.

[Kaia]

For Aesthetics and Education class.