Aesthetic concepts

By Eaton, Marcia

Aesthetic concepts are the concepts associated with the terms that pick out aesthetic properties referred to in descriptions and evaluations of experiences involving artistic and aesthetic objects and ...

Aesthetics

By Budd, Malcolm

Aesthetics owes its name to Alexander Baumgarten who derived it from the Greek aisthanomai, which means perception by means of the senses (see Baumgarten, A.G.). As the ...

Sibley, Frank (1923–96)

By Lyas, Colin

Sibley was an English philosopher, noted for his contributions to aesthetics. His most famous published paper, ‘Aesthetic Concepts’, distinguishes ‘aesthetic’ terms (such as graceful) from ‘non-aesthetic terms’ (such ...

Aesthetics, African

By Hallen, Barry

The study and analysis of African art and aesthetics have been dominated by Western culture. Initially the aesthetic sensitivities of African cultures were characterized as ‘primitive’ and of ...

Artistic taste

By Cohen, Ted

Taste has been variously understood as (1) the capacity to take pleasure in certain artistic and natural objects, (2) the capacity to identify the constituent elements in such ...

Ducasse, Curt John (1881–1969)

By Madden, Edward H.

Ducasse was a highly systematic philosopher and scarcely any field or topic escaped his attention. He criticized Hume’s account of causality, advocated ‘soft determinism’ and developed an ‘adverbial’ ...

The aesthetics of sport

By Livingston, Paisley

The aesthetics of sport is a branch of the philosophy of sport that finds its subject matter in the specifically aesthetic dimensions of sport. As the field of ...

Aesthetics, Chinese

By Goldberg, Stephen J.

In China, poetry, painting and calligraphy are traditionally known as the ‘Three Perfections’ of the cultivated scholar. They are construed as ethico-aesthetic acts of self-signification and are evaluated ...

Lange, Friedrich Albert (1828–75)

By Stack, George J.

A German philosopher, social scientist and political activist, Lange was best known for his study of the history of materialism. He was a leading proponent of Neo-Kantianism, a ...

Sublime, the

By Crowther, Paul

The origin of the term ‘the sublime’ is found in ancient philosophy, where, for example, Longinus linked it with a lofty and elevated use of literary language. In ...

Aesthetic attitude

By Budd, Malcolm

It is undeniable that there are aesthetic and non-aesthetic attitudes. But is there such a thing as the aesthetic attitude? What is meant by the aesthetic attitude ...

Landscape, aesthetics of

Landscapes vary considerably in scale and kind. At one end are landscaped gardens and parks, carefully designed and maintained, at the other are wilderness areas of ice and ...

Baumgarten, Alexander Gottlieb (1714–62)

By Townsend, Dabney

The German philosopher Baumgarten is known primarily for his introduction of the word ‘aesthetics’ to describe the affects of art and nature, which in the course of the ...

Baumgarten, Alexander Gottlieb (1714–62)

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Czech Republic, philosophy in

By Zumr, Josef
Translated by Burša, G.R.F.

The foundation of the University of Prague in 1348 contributed significantly to establishing Bohemia as a centre of philosophical thought. The main philosophers and theologians from the University ...

Hölderlin, Johann Christian Friedrich (1770–1843)

By Walker, Nicholas

An outstanding German poet, Hölderlin is now widely recognized as one of the most important writers and thinkers of his time. After an initial period of critical neglect ...

Hölderlin, Johann Christian Friedrich (1770–1843)

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Beauty

On the subject of beauty, theorists generally agree only on rudimentary points about the term: that it commends on aesthetic grounds, has absolute and comparative forms, applies to ...

Alexander, Samuel (1859–1938)

By Emmet, Dorothy

Alexander propounded a metaphysical system based on a view of Space-Time differentiated into ‘motions’ from which new qualities emerged at certain levels of organization; matter, life and mind ...

Art criticism

By Lyas, Colin

To criticize a work of art is to make a judgment of its overall merit or demerit and to support that judgment by reference to features it possesses. ...

Beauty

By Brown, John H.

On the subject of beauty, theorists generally agree only on rudimentary points about the term: that it commends on aesthetic grounds, has absolute and comparative forms, and so ...

Art, definition of

Many of the earliest definitions of art were probably intended to emphasize salient or important features for an audience already familiar with the concept, rather than to analyse ...

Aesthetics and the philosophy of language

By Green, Mitchell

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Art, definition of

By Davies, Stephen

Many of the earliest definitions of art were probably intended to emphasize salient or important features for an audience already familiar with the concept, rather than to analyse ...

Artistic style

By Robinson, Jenefer M.

Artistic style is a problematic notion in several ways. Sometimes the term refers to style in general, as it does in ‘Good style requires good diction’. Sometimes it ...