Showing titles in Aesthetics

Philosopher Nick Riggle explores the beauty of being alive by investigating the things we say to inspire ourselves and each other: seize the day, treat yourself, you only live once. These clichés are at best vague, at worst stupid. They imply that you should do something wild with your life because your life is precious, a little like saying you should go swimming with your grandfather’s watch because it is irreplaceable.  

Il tema della bellezza viene qui affrontato da Umberto Galimberti, come nel suo stile, con un ritorno alle sorgenti della nostra cultura. Se quella ebraica era una cultura della parola, quella greca era invece una cultura della visione, dominata dal senso della finitudine e della misura. Così anche la bellezza per l'uomo greco antico è ciò che rispetta delle misure, e cioè ha proporzioni calcolabili. Il cristianesimo porterà poi sulla scena un Dio che si fa corpo visibile, dando in questo modo maggior spazio all'immagine e quindi all'arte figurativa.

La misteriosa natura del bello, a cui faceva riferimento Simone Weil, non è puramente estetica, cioè riconducibile a questioni di gusto. Essa è piuttosto ontologica ed etica, strettamente unita com'è al vero, al giusto e al bene. È questo il senso della bellezza che si ritrova nei testi classici della grecità, da Omero a Saffo ai tragici. Umberto Curi vi si sofferma ampiamente in questo suo saggio, che ha al centro l'analisi del rapporto tra bellezza e tempo.

Kant ataca por primera vez el problema estético, y aunque sus ideas fundamentales acerca del arte y la belleza se hallan sistemáticamente expuestas en su obra posterior, la Crítica del Juicio, tienen, sin embargo, las Observaciones sobre el sentimiento de lo bello y lo sublime cierto interés para el conocimiento de los orígenes de la estética kantiana. Pero sobre todo constituyen, una serie de delicadas ocurrencias, de certeras observaciones, de agudas críticas, sin el aparato solemne de la exposición didáctica.

Immanuel Kant, seiner Zeit voraus und besonders spannend im Kontext aktueller Geschlechter- und Rassismusdiskussionen zu lesen, positioniert sich in der Rolle des Beobachters und beschreibt seine Erfahrungen gegenüber dem Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen - in vier verschiedenen Kontexten.

Un ensayo breve y al mismo tiempo revelador sobre el pensamiento estético en el arte japonés. En él, Tanizaki Junichiro reflexiona sobre el amor por el detalle, el minimalismo, la disciplina y la sutileza que encarna el arte japonés en oposición a la contundencia de lo occidental. Un texto imprescindible para quien quiera empezar a comprender los preceptos del arte nipón.

The Art of Rhetoric, a guide on the principles behind oratorical skill, is a core text on the art of persuasion. Aristotle contends that rhetoric is one of the key elements of philosophy – along with logic and dialectic. The work consists of three books: the first is a general overview, the second concerns the means of persuasion that an orator must deploy, and the third discusses elements of style and arrangement.

Más que de estética, en el sentido estricto de la palabra, este tratado explora asuntos diversos como la moral, la psicología, la descripción de los caracteres individuales y nacionales. Temas que pueden ocurrirse alrededor del asunto principal. Es una obra sencilla, llena de ingenio y alegría. Kant, ataca por primera vez el problema estético, y aunque sus ideas fundamentales acerca del arte y la belleza se hallan sistemáticamente expuestas en su obra posterior, la "Crítica del Juicio", tienen aquí cierto interés para el conocimiento de los orígenes de la estética Kantiana.

Wer durch irgendetwas auf Hermann Broch stößt, hat es bald mit Kitsch zu tun. Oder umgekehrt: wer das Phänomen Kitsch auf den Begriff bringen will, kommt an ihm nicht vorbei. Broch sagt Wesentliches zum Thema. Und er ist nicht zimperlich dabei. Seine sehr anspruchsvolle Aufklärung ist fundamental und rigoros. Wer sich darauf einlässt, hat viel gewonnen.

"Ueber das Erhabene" wurde erstmals 1801 als Essay veröffentlicht und war Bestandteil des Bandes "Kleinere prosaische Schriften". Im Gegensatz zu Kant sind bei Schiller die Begriffe Schönheit und Erhabenes gleichwertig und bilden zusammen die Basis eines vollwertigen moralischen Menschen. Zur vollendeten Menschlichkeit gehört laut Schiller zudem die Kunst, die bei Kant ebenfalls autark auftritt.

Repulsive and yet strangely attractive, the gimmick is a form that can be found virtually everywhere in capitalism. It comes in many guises: a musical hook, a financial strategy, a striptease, a novel of ideas. Above all, acclaimed theorist Sianne Ngai argues, the gimmick strikes us both as working too little (a labor-saving trick) and as working too hard (a strained effort to get our attention).

"The Birth of Tragedy" stands alongside Aristotle’s "Poetics" as essential works for all who seek to understand poetry and its relationship to human life. In this, his first book, Nietzsche developed a way of thinking about the arts that unites the Greek gods Apollo and Dionysus as the central symbol of human existence. Although tragedy serves as the focus of this work, music, visual art, dance, and the other arts can also be viewed using Nietzsche’s analysis and integration of the Apollonian and the Dionysian.

Tutte le culture hanno un'idea del bello e dell'arte, ma non tutte la elaborano in forma teorica consapevole ed esplicita. Il Medioevo - dopo secoli in cui è stato trattato solo come periodo buio e barbaro - è stato riscoperto come un'epoca ricca di riflessioni sulla bellezza, sul piacere estetico, sul gusto, sul bello naturale e artistico, sui rapporti tra l'arte e le altre attività umane.

The Phaedrus by Plato, is a dialogue between Plato's protagonist, Socrates, and Phaedrus, an interlocutor in several dialogues. It was probably written around 370 BC, at about the same time as Plato's Republic and Symposium. Ostensibly about love, the discussion in the dialogue focuses on the art of rhetoric and how it ought to be practiced. The dialogue appears in the direct words of Socrates and Phaedrus, without an introduction.

Edgar Allan Poe’s essay, "The Philosophy of Composition", sets forth a theory on good writing. It first appeared in the April 1846 issue of Graham's Magazine, and Poe illustrates his theory on the composition of his poem, "The Raven". The three main elements of his philosophy of composition are length, logical method, and "unity of effect". Poe believed that literary works should be short, claimed that writing is methodical, not spontaneous, and asserted that a work of fiction ought to be written only after the author has decided on the conclusion.

Arthur Schopenhauer's The Art of Literature is a lively, illuminating and brutally honest collection of essays on literary style and values, writers and critics, and the nature of genius. Schopenhauer advises seclusion and independent thought, criticizes Pliny's reading habits, and explains the pitfalls of certain schools of thought and even virtues like modesty. His thought-provoking arguments, caustic wit, and accessible style make this a must for any aspiring writer.

“You don’t write a novel out of sheer pity any more than you blow a safe out of a vague longing to be rich”, writes Nelson Algren in his only longer work of nonfiction, adding: “A certain ruthlessness and a sense of alienation from society is as essential to creative writing as it is to armed robbery.” Nonconformity is about 20th-century America: “Never on the earth of man has he lived so tidily as here amidst such psychological disorder.” In Nonconformity, Algren identifies the essential nature of the writer’s relation to society....

Unlike their biblical precursors, Kahlil Gibran's parables espouse the importance of personal spiritual insight rather than moral rectitude. In Gibran's view, sin and virtue, mercy and justice, and sanity and madness are all sides of the one coin - one cannot exist without its opposite.

Cuteness has taken the planet by storm. Global sensations Hello Kitty and Pokémon, the works of artists Takashi Murakami and Jeff Koons, Heidi the cross-eyed opossum and E.T. - all reflect its gathering power. But what does “cute” mean, as a sensibility and style? Why is it so pervasive? Is it all infantile fluff, or is there something more uncanny and even menacing going on - in a lighthearted way? In The Power of Cute, Simon May provides nuanced and surprising answers.

There is a cause, or a reason, behind everything that happens. This is the fundamental view behind the classical proposition the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which, in 1813, Schopenhauer chose as his subject for further examination in his doctoral dissertation On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason....