ABSTRACT

This work attempts to establish a philosophy of art that is both intellectual and objective. At first sight it may appear that these goals are at variance with contemporary ideas. On closer examination, however, the reader will see that the tendency is in the opposite direction, a closer approach to present-day thought rather than a departure from it. To admit that there exists a world other than that of our subjective states is to subscribe to an interpretation more in keeping with the real, and thus also with artistic reality. The intellectual and objective philosophy to which this book appeals in order to interpret the beauty of art will not be an intrusion, if it guards against all exclusiveness and does not itself compromise that which gives it its value.

chapter I|16 pages

Ideas and Method

chapter II|19 pages

The Genesis of the Work of Art

chapter III|5 pages

The Nature of Works of Art

chapter IV|25 pages

The Artistic Order

chapter V|20 pages

The Perception of Art

chapter VI|21 pages

Artistic Emotion

chapter VII|17 pages

Artistic Purpose

chapter VIII|19 pages

Beauty in Nature

chapter IX|10 pages

The Einfühlung

chapter X|13 pages

Sociological Aesthetics

chapter XI|8 pages

Humanist or Pragmatist Aesthetics

chapter XII|5 pages

Return to Objectivism

chapter XIII|16 pages

The Aesthetics of the Thirteenth Century

chapter XV|5 pages

Greek Aesthetics and Medieval Aesthetics