Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates

by Alex Neill, Aaron Ridley

This acclaimed and accessible anthology is ideal for newcomers to aesthetics or philosophy. Neill and Ridley introduce a wide range of discussions including sentimentality, feminism and aesthetics, appreciation, understanding and nature. Each chapter is accompanied by a clear introduction and suggestions for further reading.
This new edition has been fully revised and updated. It includes five new sections on the art of food, rock music and culture, enjoying horror, art and morality and public art.
Arguing about Art will appeal to students of art history, literature, and cultural studies as well as philosophy.

Genres: Art, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Reference

496 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Sara DeSantis (Hot Reads Librarian]

Great book! I love the set up of this because it gives some general background on an aesthetic topic then presents two articles on the topic which different views. Pretty dense so this is not a light read.

[Brittany Sanford]

So yes, lets argue about art...

Interesting, and as I sat in class my classmates argued about art, it gave me headaches, but I was at least happy that I didn't need to argue. I already knew the truth. Art is simple, complex, and everything.

(Food for thought with serious headaches)
*good*

[Brendon]

Seeems a bit sophist at points.

[нєνєℓ ¢ανα]

Phenomenal, so inspiring, well informed, transformational, social relevance, memorable, expressive, spark emotion, climacteric...

[Michael Mingo]

A few of these "arguments" felt underwhelming (I'm thinking the rock music and morality discussions), but on the whole I found this collection stimulating -- it got me to think about seemingly simple notions like authenticity and publicity in a critical light. I'd never give much thought to aesthetics before (philosophically speaking), but now I want to start immersing myself in these topics.

[Valerie]

This was a refreshingly stimulating book, if you are a snob like me. I appreciated the variety of essays on food, bad art, emo music, and forgeries... even though some of the essays were taxing, it was intersting. Very interestink.

[LemontreeLime]

I had hoped for a good textbook on art critiquing, and a development of what makes art art. Alas, it was unreadable.