Philosophies of Art and Beauty: Selected Readings in Aesthetics from Plato to Heidegger (Phoenix Books) [Paperback]

Albert Hofstadter (Author), Richard Kuhns (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1976 | ISBN-10: 0226348121 | ISBN-13: 978-0226348124

This anthology is remarkable not only for the selections themselves, among which the Schelling and the Heidegger essays were translated especially for this volume, but also for the editors' general introduction and the introductory essays for each selection, which make this volume an invaluable aid to the study of the powerful, recurrent ideas concerning art, beauty, critical method, and the nature of representation. Because this collection makes clear the ways in which the philosophy of art relates to and is part of general philosophical positions, it will be an essential sourcebook to students of philosophy, art history, and literary criticism.

Product Details

• Paperback: 728 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (August 15, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226348121
• ISBN-13: 978-0226348124
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good start, but don't stop here., September 2, 2001

By 

Christopher W. Chase "Christopher W. Chase" (East Lansing, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Philosophies of Art and Beauty: Selected Readings in Aesthetics from Plato to Heidegger (Phoenix Books) (Paperback)

This is an excellent and very well done anthology. Covering the classic readings, Croce, Plato, Ficino, Salsbury, Schelling, Dewey and others. The editors take space to introduce each selection and highlight its contribution to the field of Aesthetics. The selections are fair, even those including the existentialists, such as Nietzsche and Heidegger, who make large shifts in direction in Aesthetics. Hofstadter also contributes his own translation of Heidegger's selections and Schelling's selections. These are very good in particular.

The first difficulty is that the volume fails to point to advances beyond Heidegger. No volume can contain all the imporant classical and contemporary readings, but it should
have some sort of suggested reading list for newer materials. The problems of Aesthetics that have confronted the field since the 50's and 60's are just as important as the ones of ancient and medieval European culture. The problem of interpreting pure music (no lyrics) and its aesthetic effects in especially important to this field. Even Ayn Rand, who had a quick philosophical (if often flippant or facile) remark on any facet of culture, admitted she was confounded by the act of interpreting and judging pure music.

To address this, the reader should also read or purchase Arthur Danto's volumes. In particular Danto has articulated the main problems of the field (such as the problem of making value judgements) and set the tone. Problems such as ethnocentrism and cultural relativism in Western Aesthetics also need to be investigated by serious students of this topic.

Another issue to investigate that this volume misses is the category of the "Artist," which did not exist in ancient Greece or Rome as we know it today. In fact, the category of Artist, whether bohemian or otherwise, seems to be a fairly recent invention, and has had profound consequences for Aesthetics. To investigate this more, start by reading Flauber's novel "Sentimental Education." This staple of French literary realism will help jump start you past this anthology of philosophical readings.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Classics of Aesthetic Literature, November 8, 2000

By 

philly aladdin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philosophies of Art and Beauty: Selected Readings in Aesthetics from Plato to Heidegger (Phoenix Books) (Paperback)

This anthology of aesthetic texts surveys the key figures from the classic Western tradition in aesthetics beginning with Plato. Since the book's first pulbication in 1964, Hofstadter and Kuhns have been known among theoreticians, historians, and philosophers alike for this book's remarkable contribution to the field of aesthetics. In this book, one will find selections from the ancient Greeks: Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus; to the medieval: St. Augustine; to the Neoplatonist: Ficino; to the German Idealists: Kant, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer; as well as others like: Shaftesbury, Croce, Nietzsche, Dewey, and Heidegger. This motley assortment is an indisputable must for every art historian, philosopher of art, literary critic, aesthetician, theoretician, and the general scholar. I would relish the opportunity at seeing a 21st century revision of this work; perhaps professor Kuhns may consider such a project with some of his brilliant collegues at Columbia University.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best (or Second Best) Aesthetics Anthology in English, June 9, 2009

By 

T. Anderson (Utah) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Philosophies of Art and Beauty: Selected Readings in Aesthetics from Plato to Heidegger (Phoenix Books) (Paperback)

I teach university level aesthetics, and I find myself switching between this text and Stephen David Ross's "Art and Its Significance." Neither does everything I'd like, but they represent the best of the rest.

"Philosophies of Art and Beauty" is the text I most often use for my classes simply because what it does, it does better than any other available anthology: aside from some missing Kant sections and no Renaissance writers or Hume selections, it has virtually every essntial text and passage written by the most enduringly influential philosophers of art up to 1930 except perhaps Tolstoy. It includes Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, Ficino, Shaftesbury, Kant, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Croce, Dewey, and Heidegger. (It has no Gadamer, contrary to the claims of another reviewer.) But the book includes no contemporary theory at all except that of Heidegger. And the chapter introductions, while solid, are certainly dated since it's been almost a half a century since the book was compiled.

Ross' anthology, by contrast, includes the really important material from Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger (which most other aesthetics anthologies, excepting Hofstadter's, do not), plus it has selections from Hume and Tolstoy and many contemporary figures of import. But the early historical selections are much less comprehensive than those in Hofstadter's volume, and Ross includes no medieval or Renaissance writers at all.

I like the Hofstadter text mostly because of the depth of its selections and because it's not the least bit trendy. But since Hofstadter's book has no contemporary theory at all after Heidegger, it may not be the text for those who want a broad representation of theory.

In sum, if you want an anthology that comes close to covering all the essential writers on the subject (past and present) and doing it fairly well, "Art and Its Significance" is perhaps your best choice despite its nod to trendiness. But if you want to concentrate on pre-20th century theory and know you've covering almost all the important writings of those figures, then Hofstadter's "Philosophies of Art and Beauty" is the better book. And it's perhaps the most reasonably priced philosophy of art anthology available.