Showing titles in Aesthetics

Beauty today is a paradox. The cult of beauty is ubiquitous but it has lost its transcendence and become little more than an aspect of consumerism, the aesthetic dimension of capitalism. The sublime and unsettling aspects of beauty have given way to corporeal pleasures and 'likes', resulting in...

In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, the renowned philosopher Roger Scruton explores the concept of beauty, asking what makes an object - either in art, in nature, or the human form - beautiful and examining how we can compare differing judgments of beauty when it is evident all around us that our tastes vary so widely.  

Bloomsbury presents The Love of Analog: Meditations on Value by Darren Hudson Hick read by John Chancer Vinyl records. Board games. Paperback books. Film. A philosopher dives into the analog world to show what it offers us and what it says about our values. Packed with first-person anecdotes...

Written by an acknowledged master of comedy, this study reflects on the nature of humor and the functions it serves. Why do we laugh? What are we to make of the sheer variety of laughter, from braying and cackling to sniggering and chortling? Is humor subversive, or can it defuse dissent? Can we define wit?

One of the great, but often unmentioned, causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kind of walls, chairs, buildings, and streets we’re surrounded by. And yet a concern for architecture and design is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. The Architecture of Happiness starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be - and argues that it is architecture’s task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.

A profound, playful, and kaleidoscopic collection from one of our most evocative contemporary philosopher-poets. A posthumanist polymath and "trans-public" intellectual, Báyò Akómoláfé has produced a vast body of work that represents a startling picture of the world in perpetual process and radical relation. Through an ever-growing archive of books, articles, interviews, films, social media posts, workshops, and rituals, Akómoláfé seeks to interrogate the fundamental assumptions and epistemological blind spots of our current culture in crisis.

The classic study of alienation, creativity and the modern mind 'Excitingly written, with a sense of revelation' GUARDIAN THE OUTSIDER was an instant literary sensation when it was first published in 1956, thrusting its youthful author into the front rank of contemporary writers and thinkers...

Bloomsbury presents The Politics of Aesthetics by Jacques Ranciere, read by Charles Armstrong. The Politics of Aesthetics rethinks the relationship between art and politics, reclaiming "aesthetics" from the narrow confines it is often reduced to. Jacques Rancière reveals its intrinsic link to...

Imagination: A Very Short Introduction explores imagination as a cognitive power and an essential dimension of human flourishing, demonstrating how imagination plays multiple roles in human cognition and shapes humanity in profound ways. Examining philosophical, evolutionary, and literary perspectives on imagination, the author shows how this facility, while potentially distorting, both frees us from immediate reality and enriches our sense of it, making possible our experience of a meaningful world.

Ecce Homo, subtitled How One Becomes What One Is, is the final original book written by Friedrich Nietzsche before he succumbed to the insanity which lasted until his death in 1900. In this extraordinary autobiography, Nietzsche chronicles his life and development as a philosopher, his tastes as an individual, and his vision for humanity.

An informative, fun and rather charming essay on the nature and history of one of life’s most desirable assets, Charm, by renowned culture and design critic, Stephen Bayley. Aiming to wound, a schoolmaster wrote on future design-guru Stephen Bayley’s last ever school report “Charm alone...

当现代生活的极速运转让你深陷焦虑与内耗时，汲取东方哲学的正念智慧，正是你重建内心秩序的破局之法。这套历经千年的心智修炼工具，将高深的思想转化为应对高压日常的实用指南，让你在喧嚣中迅速找回专注与清明。...

تخلص من ضجيج الحياة المعاصرة واستعد هدوءك الداخلي عبر مبادئ التأمل والحضور الذهني المستمدة من الحكمة الشرقية. سواء كنت تستمع أثناء تنقلك المزدحم أو تبحث عن مساحة...

絶え間ない情報と終わりのない不安に疲弊する日々の中で、禅とわびさびの哲学は、完璧主義を手放し、揺るがない心の平穏を取り戻すための最強の自己啓発ツールとなります。満員電車に揺られる通勤時や就寝前の静か...

血塗られた凄惨な戦闘技術が、いかにして息を呑むほど美しい身体芸術へと昇華されたのか、歴史の深淵と心身の調和を紐解く知的な探求へご案内します。静かな夜のリラックスタイムや一人で過ごす移動中に、この深く...

日本民族に独自の美意識をあらわす語「いき（粋）」とは何か．「運命によって〈諦め〉を得た〈媚態〉が〈意気地〉の自由に生きるのが〈いき〉である」――九鬼は「いき」の現象をその構造と表現から明快に把えてみせたあと，こう結論する．

A vigorous call to restore imagination, judgment, and intellectual courage to American culture. In this essay from Civilization in the United States, J. E. Spingarn challenges universities and critics to recover the purpose behind their learning. He questions scholarship reduced to collecting...

Comprenez l'essence du mouvement avec cette philosophie martiale où la violence du combat devient pure esthétique. Que vous soyez en plein trajet quotidien ou en phase de concentration avant l'effort, cette écoute immersive redéfinit votre vision de la maîtrise corporelle. Laissez-vous...

In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Bence Nanay introduces the field of aesthetics, considering both Western and non-Western aesthetic traditions and exploring why it is sometimes misunderstood or considered to be too elitist - by artists, musicians, and even philosophers. As Nanay shows, so-called "high art" has no more claims on aesthetics than sitcoms, tattoos, or punk rock. 

Bloomsbury presents Waste by Brian Thill, read by Kevin Shen. Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Though we try to imagine otherwise, waste is every object, plus time. Whatever else an object is, it’s also waste—or was...