Aesthetics

Imagination: A Very Short Introduction

Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei

9780198830023
Paperback
26 October 2023

Very Short Introductions

Examining philosophical, evolutionary, and literary perspectives, this book explores imagination as a cognitive power and an essential dimension of human flourishing. It demonstrates how imagination plays multiple roles in human cognition and shapes humanity in profound ways, making possible our experience of a meaningful world.

Aesthetics: A Very Short Introduction

Bence Nanay

9780198826613
Paperback
24 October 2019

Very Short Introductions

Bence Nanay introduces aesthetics, a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of art, beauty, and taste. Looking beyond traditional artistic experiences, he defends the topic from accusations of elitism, and shows how more everyday experiences such as the pleasure in a soft fabric or falling leaves can become the subject of aesthetics.

A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful

Second Edition

Edmund Burke, Paul Guyer

9780199668717
Paperback
08 January 2015

Oxford World's Classics

In his Enquiry Edmund Burke overturned the Platonic tradition in aesthetics and replaced metaphysics with psychology. His revolutions in method and sensibility influenced later philosophers and literary and artistic movements from the Gothic novel to Romanticism and beyond. This new edition guides the reader through Burke's arguments.

Beauty: A Very Short Introduction

Roger Scruton

9780199229758
Paperback
24 March 2011

Very Short Introductions

From Botticelli to birdsong, Mozart, and the Turner Prize, Roger Scruton explores what it means for something to be beautiful. This thought-provoking introduction to the philosophy of beauty draws conclusions that some may find controversial, but, as Scruton shows, help us to find greater sense of meaning in the beautiful objects around us.

Critique of Judgement

Immanuel Kant, Nicholas Walker, James Creed Meredith

9780199552467
Paperback
11 September 2008

Oxford World's Classics

Kant's Critique of Judgement analyses our experience of the beautiful and the sublime in relation to nature, morality, and theology. Meredith's classic translation is here lightly revised and supplemented with a bilingual glossary. The edition also includes the important First Introduction.