Aesthetic Life and Why It Matters

by Dominic Lopes, Bence Nanay, Nick Riggle

As the sunset swings into view, you think, "That's beautiful." 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 for your friends. The novel is wonderful, the movie disappoints, the dress looked better in the store. Aesthetic Life and Why It Matters offers three new answers to Socrates's great question about how we should live that focus on the place of aesthetic engagement in well-being. Three philosophers offer their perspectives on how aesthetic commitments move us through the world and shape our well-being, our sense of self, and our connections to others. Aesthetic engagement is a site for achievement, it cultivates individuality within a context of community, and it satisfies a hunger for exploring our differences. A closing dialogue between the authors probes some flash points in thinking about disagreement, subjectivism, ethnocentrism, fads and fashions, and ideology critique.
Written in appealing prose, with vivid examples, a comprehensive introduction, and suggestions for further reading, the book is designed as a self-contained module in aesthetics for introductory courses in philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

128 pages, Hardcover

Published January 25, 2022

Reviews

[GJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re wondering if you should read this, you should read this. Not sure why I’ve been reading topic-intro books for undergraduates this year, but this is one of the better ones since it doesn’t feel like a lit review, list of key thinkers, or an overly systematic reconstruction of the field. The first two essays were a pleasure, the third was exhausting but only because it was exhaustive. There’s a section in Alva Noe’s “The Entanglement” called “existential style” that pairs well with the topic of this book.

[Nat]

I <3 short books!

I have some standard objections to the views introduced by Nanay, Riggle, and Lopes in this nice short intro, but there's a lot of good material here, and the suggestions for further reading are great. One note for my own future reference: Nanay's view, which focuses on aesthetic experience, is a helpful counterweight to C. Thi Nguyen's view that art is a practice that exists in order for us to have fun, detailed conversations about art.

[Margaryta · Rating 4 out of 5]

REVIEW FORTHCOMING

[Billy Kid · Rating 3 out of 5]

We all enjoy (and love to comment on) our experiences with media, cuisine, design, games and more. Clearly, aesthetic pursuits are an integral part of the human experience, this book tries to tell us why from three different points of view.

It's a textbook meant to be read and discussed in the classroom but I enjoyed reading it outside of that context.

Compared to a few other psychology texts that I've read, the writing was concise and to the point. It mostly avoided repeating itself which I appreciated.

I quite enjoyed Nick Riggle's chapter on food as art because I'm a fan of Nick Riggle's work and I'm also passionate about food.