What is art? What counts as an aesthetic experience? Does art have to be beautiful? Can we reasonably dispute taste? What is the relation between aesthetic and moral evaluations? How do we interpret a work of art? Can we learn anything from literature, film or opera? What is sentimentality? What is irony? How do we think philosophically about architecture, dance, or sculpture? What makes something a great portrait? Is music representational or abstract? Why do we feel terrified when we watch a horror movie even though we know it is fictional?
In “Conversations on Art and Aesthetics”, Maes discusses these and other key questions in aesthetics with ten world-leading philosophers of art: Noel Carroll, Gregory Currie, Arthur Danto, Cynthia Freeland, Paul Guyer, Carolyn Korsmeyer, Jerrold Levinson, Jenefer Robinson, Roger Scruton and Kendall Walton.
The exchanges are direct, open, and sharp, and give a clear account of these thinkers' core ideas and intellectual development.
They also offer new insights into, and a deeper understanding of, contemporary issues in the philosophy of art.
Source:Tehran Times