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#944527 in eBooks 2016-08-26 2016-08-26File Name: B01LOJXPIO
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. OverratedBy HHWhen Collingwoods earlier little book "Outlines of a Philosophy of Art" (1924) went out of print. he felt that the time had come for a different treatment of the subject to meet a new and different situation. Thus in the preface he writes. "[W]e have a new and very lively. if somewhat chaotic. growth of aesthetic theory and criticism. written mostly not by academic philosophers or amateurs of art. but by poets. dramatists. painters. and sculptors themselves" (p. v). Later on Collingwood declares that he does "not think of aesthetic theory as an attempt to investigate and expound eternal verities concerning the nature of an eternal object called Art. but as an attempt to reach. by thinking. the solution of certain problems arising out of the situation in which artists find themselves here and now" (p. vi). This is a sympathetic approach. but it implies that aesthetics should be written by a philosophic artist trying to explain to himself and other artists what artists are trying to do.At any rate. in the first part of the "Principles" Collingwood demolishes certain standard views of art which he designates the craft. representation. magic. and amusement theories. Then we come to what he considers art proper. which he classifies as expression and imagination. After dealing with imagination at length. Collingwood turns to his own theory of art. in which a good deal of attention is given to the artists relation to the community.Despite being a great stylist. Collingwoods attitude suffers from several radical defects -- for one. his identification of aesthetic appreciation with artistic activity in creation. Collingwood fails to understand that people other than artists are concerned with art. most of whom are looking for an explanation of the art objects themselves rather than the process by which they are produced. In this regard formalist theories have a leg up on Collingwoods.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. 20thC. classic of aestheticsBy B. MacIntyreA magisterial must-read for any arts historian or philosopher of the arts. Looks at the various arts from multiple perspectives simultaneously. Learn about the various (and controversial) roles of imagination. ideas. emotions. psyche. etc. in artistic endeavors throughout the course of artistic history.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Incomplete EditionBy SG1991This is only about 20 pages of the actual book; do not buy this edition.
