Philosophy of the Arts: An Introduction to Aesthetics

206 Pages·1997·1.28 MB·English

by  Gordon Graham

PHILOSOPHY OF THE ARTS
Philosophy of the Arts is designed specifically for readers studying aesthetics for
the first time; it is the first comprehensive introduction for students of philosophy, as
it will be for those of literature, music, or art. Written in nontechnical language,
equipped with regular summaries of the argument and suggestions for further
reading, this textbook is up-to-date and full of examples from all the arts, from film
to poetry, architecture to music.
The chapters consider:
(cid:1) The value of art: as a form of entertainment, a source of beauty, a means of
emotional expression, or something bringing insight and understanding.
(cid:1) The theories of Hume, Mill, Kant, Habermas and Collingwood.
(cid:1) Central topics in the philosophy of music: musical expression, music as a
language, the uniqueness of music.
(cid:1) The importance of representation to painting; some central problems of film
theory.
(cid:1) Philosophical issues in the literary arts, for example, ‘What does poetry lose in
paraphrase?’ and a wide-ranging discussion of literary devices.
(cid:1) The context in the philosophy of architecture for the debates between formalists
and functionalists, modernists and traditionalists.
(cid:1) The Marxist, structuralist and modernist objections to philosophical aesthetics;
with the writings of Althusser, Lukács, Lévi-Strauss and Derrida.
(cid:1) A defence of normative theories of art in Hegel and Schopenhauer.
Ideal for readers who do not necessarily have a background in philosophy and are
new to aesthetics, Philosophy of the Arts is a clear, accessible introduction to what is
often seen to be a difficult but fascinating subject.
Gordon Graham is Regius Professor of Moral Philosophy at King’s College,
University of Aberdeen. He has published widely on ethics, aesthetics, and social
philosophy; his books include Contemporary Social Philosophy (1987), The Idea of
Christian Charity (1990), Ethics and International Relations (1996), and The Shape
of the Past (1997).

PHILOSOPHY OF THE
ARTS
An Introduction to Aesthetics
Gordon Graham
London and New York
First published 1997
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
© 1997 Gordon Graham
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 0–415–16687–X (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–16688–8 (pbk)
ISBN 0-203-00443-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-17462-3 (Glassbook Format)
In memory of
Christina Marie Kennedy
(1974–1997)
to whom these questions mattered

Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
1 ART AND PLEASURE 4
Hume and the standard of taste 4
Mill and pleasure 5
Kant and beauty 11
Gadamer and art as play 15
Art and sport 18
Summary 21
2 ART AND EMOTION 24
Tolstoy and everyday expressivism 24
Collingwood’s expressivism 31
Expression versus expressiveness 33
Summary 40
3 ART AND UNDERSTANDING 42
Art and knowledge 43
Aesthetic cognitivism 46
Art as understanding 47
Imagination and experience 50
The objects of imagination 53
Art and the world 56
Understanding as a norm 59
Art and human nature 60
Summary 62
4 MUSIC AND MEANING 64
Music and pleasure 65
Music and emotion 68
Music as language 71
vii
CONTENTS
Music and representation 74
Musical vocabulary and musical grammar 76
Resumé 79
The uniqueness of music 80
Music and beauty 81
Music as the exploration of sound 83
Summary 85
5 FROM PAINTING TO FILM 87
What is representation? 88
Representation and artistic value 89
Art and the visual 92
Visual art and the non-visual 96
Film as art 100
Montage versus long shot 101
‘Talkies’ 104
The ‘auteur’ in film 106
Summary 108
6 POETRY AND PARAPHRASE 110
Poetry and prose 110
The unity of form and content 113
Figures of speech 114
Expressive language 116
Poetic devices 118
Narrative and fiction 123
Literature and understanding 127
Summary 129
7 ARCHITECTURE AS AN ART 131
The peculiarities of architecture 131
Form and function 135
Façade, deception, and the ‘Zeitgeist’ 137
Functionalism 140
Formalism and ‘space’ 141
Architectural expression 144
Architecture and understanding 145
Summary 147
8 THEORIES OF ART 149
Defining art 149
Art as an institution 156
Marxism and the sociology of art 158
Lévi-Strauss and structuralism 163
viii
CONTENTS
Derrida and deconstruction 166
Normative theory of art 171
Summary 175
EXAMPLES 178
Architecture 178
Film and television 179
Literature 179
Music 180
Paintings and sculpture 181
Bibliography 182
Index 185
ix