Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to introduce eight debates in the philosophy of art through discussion of eight particular examples. 'The philosophy of art' is sometimes bracketed with another topic, aesthetics, to which it stands in a complicated relationship. The term "aesthetics" is derived from the Greek word aisthanomai, which means "I perceive". That is, "aesthetics" originally encompassed a whole range of issues to do with perception and consciousness. The book does follow the Anglo-American tradition; it is unusual in its detailed discussion of particular examples. In 1914 Clive Bell wrote, in this book, Art, the following much ridiculed passage: "The starting-point for all systems of aesthetics must be the personal experience of a peculiar emotion. The objects that provoke this emotion we call works of art. All sensitive people agree that there is a peculiar emotion provoked by works of art".