The Pleasures of Aesthetics by
This book brings together several essays written by Levinson over the past five years. It is thus more of a collection than a book per se. Although the essays interrelate quite nicely, the volume would have benefited from a general introduction to orient the reader as to Levinson's overall agenda. This caveat aside, it must be said that this is a wonderful study. Levinson addresses key issues in aesthetics such as ontology, intention, meaning, historicism, interpretation, genre, etc. Levinson demonstrates a mastery of Anglo-American aesthetic criticism as well as actual art. Indeed, his grasp of music is particularly impressive. Each essay is an overview and interpretation of its subject. The essays, moreover, are marked by a clarity and precision that make them both accessible and persuasive. This is precisely the kind of book that will often be on the reserve shelf of libraries.
Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime by
'This early aesthetic work of Kant...is clearly and simply written and shows a deep understanding of human nature. What emerges from its pages is that far fro being a dry-as-dust pedant, Kant was a man of warmth, feeling, and humour, and possessed an acute sensitivity for the different shades of aesthetic experience.
The Birth of Tragedy by
A compelling argument for the necessity for art in life, Nietzsche's first book is fuelled by his enthusiasms for Greek tragedy, for the philosophy of Schopenhauer and for the music of Wagner, to whom this work was dedicated. Nietzsche outlined a distinction between its two central forces- the Apolline, representing beauty and order, and the Dionysiac, a primal or ecstatic reaction to the sublime. He believed the combination of these states produced the highest forms of music and tragic drama, which not only reveal the truth about suffering in life, but also provide a consolation for it. Impassioned and exhilarating in its conviction, The Birth of Tragedy has become a key text in European culture and in literary criticism.
Art and Its Significance by
This anthology has been significantly expanded for this edition to include a wider range of contemporary issues. The most important addition is a new section on multicultural theory, including important and controversial selections ranging from discussions of art in other cultures to discussions of the appropriation of nonWestern art in Western cultures. The material from Kant's Critique of Judgment has been expanded to include his writing on aesthetical ideas and the sublime. The selections from Derrida have been updated and considerably expanded for this edition, primarily from The Truth in Painting. One of Derrida's most interesting provocations has also been added, his letter to Peter Eisenman on architecture. In addition, the section on feminist theory now includes a chapter from Irigaray's Speculum of the Other Woman. The anthology includes the most important writings on the theory of art in the Western tradition, including selections from Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche; the most important philosophical writings of the last hundred years on the theory of art, including selections from Collingwood, Langer, Goodman, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty; contemporary Continental writings on art and interpretation, including selections from Gadamer, Ricoeur, Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault; also writings on the psychology of art by Freud and Jung, from the Frankfurt School by Benjamin, Adorno, and Marcuse, in feminist theory, multiculturalism, and postmodernism. The anthology also includes twentieth-century writings by artists including discussions of futurism, suprematism, and conceptual art. Stephen David Ross is Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature, State University of New York at Binghamton
The Philosophy of Art by
This anthology is intended as a core text for courses in aesthetics or philosophy of art. It contains a wealth of readings from both classic and contemporary sources, and aims to present substantial selections from those texts rather than mere "snippets." Readings are organized historically within four broad themes so that students can see how concepts of art have evolved and been debated. Each reading is introduced by the authors, who suggest connections between the reading and others in the anthology. Unlike other anthologies on the market, The Philosophy of Art is both comprehensive and affordable, making it the ideal book for course use
Musical Meaning and Expression by
We talk not only of enjoying music, but of understanding it. Music is often taken to have expressive import--and in that sense to have meaning. But what does music mean, and how does it mean?
Stephen Davies addresses these questions in this sophisticated and knowledgeable overview of current theories in the philosophy of music. Reviewing and criticizing the aesthetic positions of recent years, he offers a spirited explanation of his own position.
Davies considers and rejects in turn the positions that music describes (like language), or depicts (like pictures), or symbolizes (in a distinctive fashion) emotions. Similarly, he resists the idea that music's expressiveness is to be explained solely as the composer's self-expression, or in terms of its power to evoke a response from the audience. Music's ability to describe emotions, he believes, is located within the music itself; it presents the aural appearance of what he calls emotion characteristics. The expressive power of music awakens emotions in the listener, and music is valued for this power although the responses are sometimes ones of sadness. Davies shows that appreciation and understanding may require more than recognition of and reaction to music's expressive character, but need not depend on formal musicological training.
Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy by
Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy is a far-reaching study of how music captivates us so completely and why we form such powerful connections to it. Leading us to an understanding of the pleasures of sound, Robert Jourdain draws on a variety of fields including science, psychology, and philosophy. He uses music from around the world to show how melodies work, how rhythm differs from beat, and why some sounds are beautiful and others ugly. Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy looks at the evolution of music and introduces surprising new concepts of memory and perception, knowledge and attention, motion and emotion, all at work as music takes hold of us. Along the way, a fascinating cast of characters brings Jourdain's narrative to vivid life: idiots savants who absorb whole pieces on a single hearing, composers who hallucinate entire compositions, a psychic who claimed to take dictation from long-dead composers, and victims of brain damage who can move only when they hear music. In each of these, Jourdain assures us, we will see parts of ourselves. Using such examples, he helps explain the parallels between music and language, and asks how the brain reacts to each.
Emblems of the Mind by
Igor Stravinsky declared that mathematics is "as useful to [the musician] as the learning of another language is to a poet." In this elegant exploration, Edward Rothstein, the cultural critic for The New York Times, reveals the profound and intriguing links between these two arts. Neither history nor theory, Emblems Of Mind is an insightful and enthralling speculation that grapples with grand philosophical issues and mundane experience alike--invoking the poetry of Wordsworth, the theories of Levi-Stauss, the images of Plato, and the philosophy of Kant as it illuminates the beautiful, mysterious mathematics beneath "the art of combination which is composition." Book jacket.
Language, Music, and Mind by
The first cognitivist theory of the nature of ineffable, or verbally inexpressible, musical knowledge.
Taking a novel approach to a longstanding problem in the philosophy of art, Diana Raffman provides the first cognitivist theory of the nature of ineffable, or verbally inexpressible, musical knowledge. In the process she also sheds light on central issues in the theory of mind.
Raffman invokes recent theory in linguistics and cognitive psychology to provide an account of the content and etiology of musical knowledge that "can not be put into words." Within the framework of Lerdahl and Jackendoff's generative theory of music perception, she isolates three kinds of ineffability attending our conscious knowledge of music--access, feeling, and nuance ineffability--and shows how these arise.
Raffman makes a detailed comparison of linguistic and musical understanding, culminating in an attack on the traditional idea that human emotions constitute the meaning or semantic content of music. She compares her account of musical ineffability to several traditional approaches to the problem, particularly those of Nelson Goodman and Stanley Cavell. In the concluding chapter, Raffman explores a significant obstacle that her theory poses to Daniel Dennett's propositional theory of consciousness.
Music and the Mind by
Examines the psychological, emotional, historical and philosophical roles of the musical experience in a person's life. This text looks at music as both a social and a solitary experience and supports the contention that music is the most significant experience in life.