The British Journal of Aesthetics - current issue

The Propositional Challenge to Aesthetics

Dilworth, J. — 2008-04-02

It is generally accepted that Picasso might have used a different canvas as the vehicle for his painting Guernica, and also that the artwork Guernica itself necessarily represents a certain historical episode—rather than, say, a bowl of fruit. I argue that such a conjunctive acceptance entails a broadly propositional view of the nature of representational artworks. In addition, I argue—via a comprehensive examination of possible alternatives—that, perhaps surprisingly, there simply is no other available conjunctive view of the nature of representational artworks in general.

Immoralism and the Anti-Theoretical View

Stecker, R. — 2008-04-02

Can a moral defect be an artistic virtue? Can it make a positive contribution to artistic value? Further, if this can happen on occasion, does this imply that moral value has no systematic connection to artistic value since every conceivable relation between them is possible? The idea that moral defects can sometimes be artistic virtues has received a fair number of defenders recently and so has the anti-theoretical view that there is no systematic relation between artistic and moral value. But I think immoralism—as the first of these views is called—is mistaken and I will try to show that no good reason has been offered to believe it. If immoralism is wrong, the anti-theoretical view at best devolves into moderate moralism—the idea that moral defects sometimes, but not always, are responsible for artistic defects.

Collingwood'S 'Performance' Theory Of Art

Davies, D. — 2008-04-02

Even if we reject the Wollheimian reading of Collingwood as an Idealist in the ontology of art, it remains puzzling how his non-Idealist ontology fits with his idea of art as expression. In trying to clarifying these matters, I argue that (i) the work of art, for Collingwood, is an activity, not the product of an activity; (ii) puzzling features of the Principles arise from attempts to reconcile this claim with the idea of art as expression while preserving the art/craft distinction; and (iii) Collingwood's principal concern in the Principles is with the role of imagination in experience.

Pictorial Space and the Possibility of Art

Crowther, P. — 2008-04-02

This paper addresses the cognitive status of making pictures, rather than their informational function. Discussion centres on the structure of pictorial space. Space of this kind is constituted from the relation between pictorial content's modal plasticity (that is, its capacity to represent actualities, possibilities, and nomological and metaphysical impossibilities) and the formative role of planar structure and idioms of recessional organization. On the basis of this, it is argued that alternative creative realizations and aesthetic significance are inherent to the structure of pictorial space itself qua pictorial. Such space is conceptually connected to the possibility of visual art.

(Kivy on) The Form-Content Identity Thesis

Jolley, K. D. — 2008-04-02

In his Philosophies of Art Peter Kivy investigates the unity of form and content in the arts, particularly in poetry. While Kivy says much with which I happily agree, I sadly disagree with him about the impossibility of form–content identities. Kivy's arguments fail to compel: there are other ways of understanding form–content identities and the need for them that has been felt by artists and critics.

How Kant Might Explain Ugliness

McConnell, S. — 2008-04-02

A number of recent studies have claimed to explain how Kant can or cannot accommodate pure judgements of ugliness in his aesthetic theory. In this paper I critically review the arguments on each side of the debate and then develop a new account of how Kant might explain the pure judgement of the ugly, namely, by appeal to the quickening of the faculties in their harmonious free play. Some implications and applications of such an explanation are then explored, including a rethink of the nature of beauty and ugliness.

Philosophy and Conceptual Art

Hanson, L. — 2008-04-02

Only the Promise of Happiness

Graham, G. — 2008-04-02

Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine

Korsmeyer, C. — 2008-04-02

Aesthetics and Architecture

Goldblatt, D. — 2008-04-02

The Subject in Art: Portraiture and the Birth of the Modern

Reed-Tsocha, K. — 2008-04-02

Ecology without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics

Wilson, R. — 2008-04-02

Serene Greed of the Eye: Leon Battista Alberti and the Philosophical Foundations of Renaissance Architectural Theory

Cracolici, S. — 2008-04-02

Books Received

2008-04-02

Journals Received

2008-04-02