Bence Nanay is Professor of Philosophy and BOF Research Professor at the University of Antwerp, where he is also co-director of the Centre for Philosophical Psychology and Senior Research Associate at Peterhouse, Cambridge University. He is the author of Between Perception and Action (OUP, 2013) and the editor of Perceiving the World (OUP, 2010) and of Current Controversies in Philosophy of Perception (Routledge, forthcoming). He has published more than 90 articles on various topics mainly in philosophy of mind and in aesthetics. He used to work as a film critic and served on the jury of various major international film festivals.

"his thesis and concomitant notions are very interesting. Furthermore, he makes good use of his entire framework. Focused attention and distributed attention do seem involved in various aspects of aesthetic experiences. It would appear that the philosophy of perception can and should illuminate important features of aesthetic experience. I would recommend this book for both philosophers of perception and aestheticians-which is Nanay's intended audience." -- Charles Macmillan Urban, Philosophy in Review

"the discussions are rich with examples drawn from both 'high art' and 'popular' media, never overused and always on point. This is not to suggest that the discussion is 'overly accessible': it offers high-level discussion of technical issues in philosophical aesthetics and art theory, and no less so of issues in philosophy of and empirical studies on perception. For each separate topic or chapter, prior to offering his own critiques and positive analyses, Nanay offers a clear and engaging background story -- whether it is the conceptual history of formalism, philosophical theories about how we see pictures, or scientific evidence that suggests sensory perception is not functionally isolated from other mental processes. The book both invites and informs." -- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Online

"Nanay's book is a valuable resource for neuroaestheticians, philosophers of art, and art historians. Nanay has gathered a substantial body of evidence not only from empirical research, but from art-historical literature as well. His references include such acclaimed authors as Riegl, Baxandall, Gombrich, and Ruskin--some of the most influential authors in culture-based art history. This makes the book a wide bridge between empirically and classically trained philosophers that is easy to understand. Aesthetics as Philosophy of Perception is certainly worth reading, no matter what the reader's background, thanks to Nanay's ability to describe scientific research with quotations from art history texts and translate research-based paradigms into the language of cultural art history and theory." -- Philosophical Psychology