The Seventh Sense: Francis Hutcheson and Eighteenth-Century British Aesthetics

by Peter Kivy

Now reissued with substantial new material, The Seventh Sense is the definitive study of the aesthetic theory of the great eighteenth-century philosopher Francis Hutcheson, and its huge influence on British aesthetics. Peter Kivy's book is a seminal work on early modern aesthetics, and has been much in demand since going out of print some years ago; this new edition brings the book up to date with the addition of eight essays that Kivy has written on the subject since 1976.

418 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Eugeniu Kanskii · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is interesting, the argument solid, though at times the author repeats himself. While the work is centred around Hutcheson, a great deal of attention is paid to Hume, which is not surprising, keeping in mind that the latter was influenced by the former. What did surprise me was the discussion of Thomas Reid's aesthetics in the last two chapters, with scarce any reference to Hutcheson. The chapters are intriguingly written, however, and I am now willing to learn more about Reid and his Common Sense philosophy.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little disappointing for me but I'm not part of the traditional philosophy audience. Perhaps it was the style: long quotations, little discussion of them. Very little about the larger cultural definitions of words like taste, beauty, and sense.