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349Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (edited book)Wiley-Blackwell. 2005._Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art_ features pairs of newly commissioned essays by some of the leading theorists working in the field today. Brings together fresh debates on eleven of the most controversial issues in aesthetics and the philosophy of art Topics addressed include the nature of beauty, aesthetic experience, artistic value, and the nature of our emotional responses to art. Each question is treated by a pair of opposing essays written by eminent scholars, a…Read more
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8Philosophical Aesthetics and the Sciences of Art (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2014.Musical listening, looking at paintings and literary creation are activities that involve perceptual and cognitive activity and so are of interest to psychologists and other scientists of the mind. What sorts of interest should philosophers of the arts take in scientific approaches to such issues? Opinion currently ranges across a spectrum, with 'take no notice' at one end and 'abandon traditional philosophical methods' at the other. This collection of essays, originating in a Royal Institute of…Read more
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8Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (edited book)Wiley-Blackwell. 2006._Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art _features pairs of newly commissioned essays by some of the leading theorists working in the field today. Brings together fresh debates on eleven of the most controversial issues in aesthetics and the philosophy of art Topics addressed include the nature of beauty, aesthetic experience, artistic value, and the nature of our emotional responses to art. Each question is treated by a pair of opposing essays written by eminent scholars, a…Read more
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Philosophical Aesthetics and the Sciences of Art: Volume 75 (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2014.Musical listening, looking at paintings and literary creation are activities that involve perceptual and cognitive activity and so are of interest to psychologists and other scientists of the mind. What sorts of interest should philosophers of the arts take in scientific approaches to such issues? Opinion currently ranges across a spectrum, with 'take no notice' at one end and 'abandon traditional philosophical methods' at the other. This collection of essays, originating in a Royal Institute of…Read more
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29Aesthetics and the Sciences of Mind (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2014.How far should philosophical accounts of the value and interpretation of art be sensitive to the scientific approaches used by psychologists, sociologists, and evolutionary thinkers? A team of experts urge different answers to this question, and explore how empirical inquiry can shed light on problems traditionally regarded as philosophical
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For the love of art : artistic values and appreciative virtueIn Anthony O'Hear (ed.), Philosophy and the Arts, Cambridge University Press. 2013.
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22Creativity as a Virtue of CharacterIn Elliot Samuel Paul & Scott Barry Kaufman (eds.), The Philosophy of Creativity, Oxford University Press. 2014.Examining the complex role that motivation plays in creativity foregrounds the role of intrinsic motivation in paradigmatic cases of creative achievement. This is significant given the neglect of the role of motivation in the philosophical literature. Furthermore, given the way in which intrinsic motivation typically grounds and enables the cultivation of creativity for creatures like us, it pays to think of creativity in virtue-theoretic terms. As suggested by both empirical and conceptual cons…Read more
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11Linda Weintraub, Ed., Art on The Edge and Over: Searching for Art'S Meaning in Contemporary Society, 1970S-1990SJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56 (4): 412-413. 1998.
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388Imagination, Philosophy and the Arts (edited book)Routledge. 2003._Imagination, Philosophy and the Arts_ is the first comprehensive collection of papers by philosophers examining the nature of imagination and its role in understanding and making art. Imagination is a central concept in aesthetics with close ties to issues in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language, yet it has not received the kind of sustained, critical attention it deserves. This collection of seventeen brand new essays critically examines just how and in what form the notion of…Read more
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11The nature and value of artDissertation, St. Andrews. 1995.This thesis examines the nature and value of art. It is primarily concerned to advance an argument which makes sense of the significance we ordinarily afford art, rather than rendering it merely aesthetic and thus cognitively trivial. Contrary to philosophical orthodoxy, it is argued that 'art' does not have two distinct senses. Rather, we should understand art as an inherently evaluative, evolving cultural practice. Thus, I argue, 'art' is essentially a cluster concept. I consider an account of…Read more
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169Tragedy versus Comedy: On Why Comedy is the Equal of TragedyEthical Perspectives 20 (2). 2013.Tragedy is superior to comedy. This is the received view in much philosophical aesthetics, literary criticism and amongst many ordinary literary appreciators. The paper outlines three standard types of reasons given to underwrite the conceptual nature of the superiority claim, focusing on narrative structure, audience response and moral or human significance respectively. It sketches some possible inter-relations amongst the types of reasons given and raises various methodological worries about …Read more
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225Art, imagination, and the cultivation of moralsJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 54 (4): 337-351. 1996.
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15On Obscenity: The Thrill and Repulsion of the Morally ProhibitedPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 64 (1): 31-55. 2002.The paper proceeds by criticising the central accounts of obscenity proffered by Feinberg, Scruton and the suggestive remarks of Nussbaum and goes on to argue for the following formal characterization of obscenity: x is appropriately judged obscene if and only if either (A) x is appropriately classified as a member of a form or class of objects whose authorized purpose is to solicit and commend to us cognitive‐affective responses which are (1) internalized as morally prohibited and (2) does so i…Read more
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137In defence of the ethical evaluation of narrative artBritish Journal of Aesthetics 41 (1): 26-38. 2001.
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138Aesthetic Value: Beauty, Ugliness and IncoherencePhilosophy 72 (281). 1997.[FIRST PARAGRAPHS] From Plato through Aquinas to Kant and beyond beauty has traditionally been considered the paradigmatic aesthetic quality. Thus, quite naturally following Socrates' strategy in The Meno, we are tempted to generalize from our analysis of the nature and value of beauty, a particular aesthetic value, to an account of aesthetic value generally. When we look at that which is beautiful, the object gives rise to a certain kind of pleasure within us. Thus aesthetic value is characteri…Read more
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64Creativity, Virtue and the Challenges from Natural Talent, Ill-Being and ImmoralityRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 75 203-230. 2014.We praise and admire creative people in virtually every domain from the worlds of art, fashion and design to the fields of engineering and scientific endeavour. Picasso was one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, Einstein was a creative scientist and Jonathan Ive is admired the world over as a great designer. We also sometimes blame, condemn or withhold praise from those who fail creatively; hence we might say that someone's work or ideas tend to be rather derivative and un…Read more
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University of LeedsProfessor
Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Interest
Aesthetics |
PhilPapers Editorships
Media Ethics |