Beauty
The primary aim of this page of resources is to support the course Beauty:
its pleasures and principles (PHIL2024 and PHIL3024) offered by the Philosophy
Department at the University of Adelaide. Information about the course,
including contact hours, eligibility and pre-requisites, is available in
the Course Handbook.
Enquiries about enrolling in the Beauty course may be directed to the
course coordinator: Dr Jenny McMahon (e-mail jenny.mcmahon@adelaide.edu.au).
Contents:
Definitions |
Major resources |
Search engines |
Organisations |
Journals |
Philosophers and aesthetics |
Print resources
Definitions
- Catholic Encyclopedia
- A comprehensive definition, followed by sections on the philosophy and history of aesthetics, by G. Gietmann. Includes a list of further reading. From the 1907 edition.
- The Columbia
Encyclopedia
- Aesthetics: a short definition with suggestions for further reading. From the sixth edition, 2001.
- Artlex Art
Dictionary
- A short definition with illustrative quotes and a list of links to aesthetics sites.
- Philosophical
Dictionary
- A short definition with a good list of recommended reading. From Garth Kemerling's Philosophy pages website.
Major resources
- The Internet Encyclopedia
of Philosophy
- Has a very comprehensive Aesthetics entry arranged under headings such as: Aesthetic concepts; Aesthetic value; Aesthetic attitudes; Definitions of art; Expression, and Representation, followed by an excellent bibliography: Suggestions for Further Reading.
This entry by Hartley Slater, Department of Philosophy, University of Western Australia.
- Feminist aesthetics
- Hosted by the Center for Digital Discourse and Culture at Virginia Tech University, includes information on Aesthetic theory; Art in general; History of women artists; Architecture; Dance; Film; Music; Painting and sculpture; Performance art, and Theatre. There's also a huge bibliography and a list of links to individual feminists.
- Philosophy
research base
- The Aesthetics section of the Philosophy research base provides a long list of links to online resources, and also lists books on the subject of aesthetics.
- American Transcendentalism Web: Philosophy of writing and aesthetics
- 'Aesthetics is defined by Random House as "having a sense of the beautiful." This can certainly be said of such Transcendental writers as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Both writers were constantly seeking beauty, not only in terms of nature, but also in terms of the individual spirit. While aesthetics can refer to any sense of beauty, it is often used in terms of literature. How does a piece work aesthetically? How does it look or how is it shaped and/or crafted?
- Wikipedia
- This free web encyclopedia has excellent articles on various aspects of aesthetics such as the philosophy of aesthetics and aesthetics in art, music, architecture, the performing arts, literature, landscape design and even culinary aesthetics.
- Intute: Social Sciences
- The Intute: Social Sciences page provides links to 'selected, high quality Internet information for researchers and practitioners in the social sciences, business and law'.
- Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy online
- A long article, with lots of internal links to other relevant parts of the Routledge Encyclopedia, by Malcolm Budd, Professor of Philosophy at University College London.
Search engines
To dig out specific information on aesthetics topics from the mass of material available on the web, you'll need to use a search engine.
Most people are familiar with the general-purpose search engine Google, and there are others you can you can try on my Search engines page.
Then there are more specialised search engines with specific aesthetics starting points. Try these:
- Open Directory
Project
- Dominion web
- NodeWorks Directory
Organisations
- American society for Aesthetics
- Contains articles & reviews, bibliographies, teaching resources, conference reports, etc.
- International Association
of Empirical Aesthetics
- The International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, founded in 1965, is open to all who are interested in empirical studies of aesthetics and of the arts, literature, and music. Most members are anthropologists, psychologists, semioticians, and sociologists, however, a number are practising artists, humanistic scholars, and philosophers who have an interest in empirical studies of the arts.
- British
Society of Aesthetics
- Legend has it that the British Society of Aesthetics (BSA) was founded in 1960 so that Herbert Read could lead a delegation of British aestheticians to the International Congress on Aesthetics being held in Athens that year. Its aim is to promote study, research and discussion of the fine arts and related types of experience from a philosophical, psychological, sociological, historical, critical and educational standpoint.
- Sydney Society of Literature
and Aesthetics
- The Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics encourages approaches to all art forms from philosophical, psychological, sociological, scientific, historical and/or educational standpoints. While based in Sydney, its membership is open to those interested from all states in Australia as well as overseas. The society sponsors evening seminars throughout the year, convenes conferences twice yearly, and publishes the journal Literature and Aesthetics (two issues per year).
- International Association
for Aesthetics
- The main aim of the IAA is to give institutional recognition to aesthetics as a field of humanistic knowledge, to encourage and promote inquiry into aesthetics, and to disseminate its findings. The IAA does this by publishing the IAA Newsletter (received free of charge by its members), an IAA Yearbook (in 2000 volume no. 4 appeared) and organizing international congresses: the last three being those in Madrid (1992), Lahti (1995) and Ljubljana (1998), (Tokyo 2001). In 2004 the congress will be in Rio de Janeiro.
Of interest to all scholars in philosophical or other kinds of aesthetics and in related areas such as art history, comparative literature, musicology, visual arts, cultural studies.
Journals
- British journal of aesthetics
- Published by the British Society of Aesthetics.
The Society also publishes an online journal called Postgraduate journal of aesthetics. The aim of the journal is to offer postgraduates interested in aesthetics a space not only to exchange ideas, but also to foster a resource that will promote high quality essays relevant to postgrad's interests. The journal will be published three times annually, in April, August and December. Essays are invited from postgraduate students on any topic in aesthetics. The philosophical level of essays should be such to encourage serious and focused academic thought at a level appropriate to reflect the postgraduate level of study
- Contemporary aesthetics
- An international, interdisciplinary, online journal of contemporary theory, research, and application in aesthetics. Free access.
- Journal of aesthetics and art criticism
- Publishes current research articles, symposia, special issues, and timely reviews of books in aesthetics and the arts. The 'arts' are taken to include not only the traditional forms such as music, literature, landscape architecture, dance, painting, architecture, sculpture, and other visual arts, but also more recent additions including photography, film, earthworks, performance and conceptual art, the crafts and decorative arts, contemporary technical innovations, and other cultural practices, including work and activities in the field of popular culture.
The Library has copies available - in paper format from volume 1 to 61 (1941 - 2003), and all issues are also available online.
- Canadian aesthetics journal
- Journal of the Canadian Society for Aesthetics. Free online access from Volume 1, Spring/Printemps 1996 onwards.
- Journal
of aesthetics and protest
- "The Journal of aesthetics and protest flies in the airs of the present, gathering up words like sticks shaking in the breeze. The journal sits at a discursive juncture between art and (often anarchist) activism with the knowledge that a knowledge and discourse are one tool to change the world.
The Journal, aware of the possibilities of the boundless moment, searches for ways to think through the cultural and political ramifications of representation. In word and aspiration, The Journal dreams toward a world that differs from a celebration of the choice already made in the sphere of production, and the consummate result of that choice."
Free online access from volume 1, issue 1 (August 2003).
- Literature and
aesthetics
- Literature and aesthetics, edited by Eugenio Benitez and William Christie, is the journal of the Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics. It contains fully refereed scholarly articles on the arts from a wide range of viewpoints, as well as poetry, black and white art, short stories and book reviews. Literature and Aesthetics reflects the vigour and creativity of contemporary Australian scholarly and artistic practice, and contains articles of interest from leading international scholars and researches in the arts and humanities.
The Library has from vol.13, no.2, December 2003 onwards - check the Library Catalogue record for details.
- Res: journal of anthropology and comparative aesthetics
- Res is dedicated to the study of the object, in particular cult and belief objects and objects of art. The journal brings together, in an anthropological perspective, contributions by philosophers, art historians, archaeologists, critics, linguists, architects, artists, and others. Its field of inquiry is open to all cultures, regions, and historical periods.
Res also seeks to make available textual and iconographic documents of importance for the history and theory of the arts.
The Library has from vol.1, 1981 onwards - check the Library Catalogue record for details.
Philosophers and aesthetics
- Philosophers, Artists and Critics on Art
- A clickable list leading to succinct articles on individuals such as Aristotle, Clive Bell and so on. Not all the names on the list have yet been covered - obviously this is a very useful work in progress.
- Kant, Immanuel: Theory of aesthetics and teleology (The critique of judgment)
- An analysis by Dr. Douglas Burnham in The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Includes a bibliography.
- Hume's Aesthetics
- Analysis and extensive bibliography by Ted Gracyk. From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- John
Dewey and Aesthetics
- An article by Richard Field from The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Print resources in the Barr Smith Library
Here I've listed the major works on aesthetics in the Barr Smith Library's Reference collection on Level 3 South:
To find more (many more!) books in the Main collection of the Library, use the Library Catalogue and search for Aesthetics as a Subject Heading.
- Encyclopedia of aesthetics
- This four-volume encyclopedia is the first large-scale comprehensive English-language reference on aesthetics and is destined to be a classic in the field. Drawing from experts in the areas of philosophy, art, history, psychology, feminist theory, legal theory, and many more, the encyclopedia presents 600 signed essays alphabetically arranged. Most entries include a headnote clarifying the topic. Comprehensive coverage includes key figures, concepts, periods, theories, and movements in the history of aesthetics.
Edited by Michael Kelly and published by Oxford University Press in 1998.
Location: Barr Smith Library Reference collection Call number: 111.8503 K2978e
- The Routledge companion to aesthetics
- Individual articles on topics such as the History of aesthetics and Aesthetic theory, each with references and suggestions for further reading. Contains bibliographical references and a good index.
Edited by Berys Gaut and Dominic McIver Lopes.
Published: London : Routledge, 2001.
Location: Barr Smith Reference collection Call Number: 111.85 G275r
- A companion to aesthetics
- A title in the excellent Blackwell companions to philosophy series, this 466 page encyclopedia is arranged alphabetically with signed articles and plenty of see also references. Each article includes a short selection of bibliographical references. The whole volume has a competent index at the back.
Edited by David E. Cooper; published in 1992.
Location: Barr Smith Reference collection Call number: 111.85 C776c
This page was created by Marie-Louise Krohn in March 2004, while she was working at the Barr Smith Library as part of her Library and Information studies program at the Fachhochschule Köln (University of Applied Sciences, Cologne). As part of my Philosophy resources website, I maintain the page. Alan Keig
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