A revised second edition of the bestselling anthology on the major figures and themes in aesthetics and philosophy of art, the ideal resource for a comprehensive introduction to the study of aesthetics Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology offers a well-rounded and thorough introduction to the evolution of modern thought on aesthetics. In a collection of over 60 readings, focused primarily on the Western tradition, this text includes works from key figures such as Plato, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Danto, and others. Broad in scope, this volume also contains contemporary works on the value of art, frequently-discussed continental texts, modern perspectives on feminist philosophy of art, and essays by authors outside of the community of academic philosophy, thereby immersing readers in an inclusive and balanced survey of aesthetics. The new second edition has been updated with contemporary essays, expanding the volume’s coverage to include the value of art, artistic worth and personal taste, questions of aesthetic experience, and contemporary debates on and new theories of art. This edition also incorporates new and more standard translations of Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment and Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation, as well as texts by Rousseau, Hegel, DuBois, Alain Locke, Budd, Robinson, Saito, Eaton and Levinson. Presents a comprehensive selection of introductory readings on aesthetics and philosophy of art Helps readers gain a deep historical understanding and clear perspective on contemporary questions in the field Offers new essays specifically selected to promote inclusivity and to highlight contemporary discussions Introduces new essays on topics such as environmental and everyday aesthetics, evolutionary aesthetics, and the connections between aesthetics and ethics Appropriate for both beginning and advanced students of philosophical aesthetics, this selection of texts initiates readers into the study of the foundations of and central developments in aesthetic thought.

Table of Contents:
Preface ix Acknowledgements xi Sources xiii Part I: Classic Sources 1 The Modern System of the Arts 3 Paul Oskar Kristeller 2 The Ancient and Modern System of the Arts 17 James O. Young 3 Ion 31 Plato 4 The Republic 39 Plato 5 Symposium 49 Plato 6 Poetics 57 Aristotle 7 Ennead I, vi 73 Plotinus 8 De Musica 81 St. Augustine 9 On the Reduction of the Arts to Theology 89 St. Bonaventure 10 Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times 95 Third Earl of Shaftesbury 11 An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue 105 Francis Hutcheson 12 Of the Standard of Taste 121 David Hume 13 Of Tragedy 131 David Hume 14 A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful 137 Edmund Burke 15 Laocoon 147 Gotthold Lessing 16 Critique of the Power of Judgment 155 Immanuel Kant Part II: Modern Theories 17 Introduction 199 Christopher Janaway and Sandra Shapshay 18 Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man 205 Friedrich Schiller 19 Letter to M. d’Alembert on the Theatre 209 J.-J. Rousseau 20 Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics 217 G.W.F. Hegel 21 The World as Will and Representation 241 Arthur Schopenhauer 22 The Beautiful in Music 281 Eduard Hanslick 23 The Birth of Tragedy 287 Friedrich Nietzsche 24 What is Art? 299 Leo Tolstoy 25 “Psychical Distance” as a Factor in Art and as an Aesthetic Principle 313 Edward Bullough 26 Art 331 Clive Bell 27 The Principles of Art 341 R.G. Collingwood 28 Art as Experience 357 John Dewey 29 The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction 379 Walter Benjamin 30 The Origin of the Work of Art 397 Martin Heidegger 31 Aesthetic Theory 411 Theodor Adorno 32 Criteria of Negro Art 423 W.E.B. Du Bois 33 Art or Propaganda? 429 Alain Locke Part III: Contemporary Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art 34 Introduction 433 Stephanie Ross 35 The Artworld 439 Arthur Danto 36 What is Art? An Institutional Analysis 449 George Dickie 37 “Art” as a Cluster Concept 461 Berys Gaut 38 When is Art? 475 Nelson Goodman 39 Art and Its Objects 483 Richard Wollheim 40 Varieties of Art 497 Stephen Davies 41 What a Musical Work Is 513 Jerrold Levinson 42 Fictional Characters as Abstract Artifacts 529 Amie L. Thomasson 43 Aesthetic Concepts 535 Frank Sibley 44 Categories of Art 551 Kendall L. Walton 45 The Myth of the Aesthetic Attitude 569 George Dickie 46 What is Aesthetic Experience? 581 Alan H. Goldman 47 Artistic Value 589 Malcolm Budd 48 Beauty Restored 597 Mary Mothersill 49 Artistic Worth and Personal Taste 609 Jerrold Levinson 50 Style and Personality in the Literary Work 619 Jenefer Robinson 51 Criticism and Interpretation 631 Noël Carroll 52 The Postulated Author: Critical Monism as a Regulative Ideal 641 Alexander Nehamas 53 Artistic Value and Opportunistic Moralism 653 Eileen John 54 Emotions in the Music 663 Peter Kivy 55 Music and Emotions 673 Jenefer Robinson 56 Fearing Fictions 691 Kendall L. Walton 57 Transparent Pictures: On the Nature of Photographic Realism 705 Kendall L. Walton 58 The Power of Movies 723 Noël Carroll 59 Oppressive Texts, Resisting Readers, and the Gendered Spectator: The “New” Aesthetics 737 Mary Devereaux 60 Feminist Philosophy of Art 751 A.W. Eaton 61 Appreciation and the Natural Environment 767 Allen Carlson 62 Everyday Aesthetics 777 Yuriko Saito 63 Aesthetic Value, Art, and Food 783 Carolyn Korsmeyer 64 Art and Aesthetic Behaviors as Possible Expressions of our Biologically Evolved Human Nature 791 Stephen Davies Index 797