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Kant's account of taste is often taken to imply that aesthetic appreciation and moral issues are incompatible -- as if one could not consider purposes of a moral sort while passing a judgment of taste. Taking into account how morally and politically engaged art has proven to be, it is easy to see why interest in Kant's account of taste has waned. This cannot be the whole story, though. I claim that the applied judgment of taste can include the consideration of moral purposes while remaining an aesthetic judgment: I argue, first, that the beauty of buildings and the beauty of horses may include the consideration of concepts of a moral sort and that human beauty does necessarily include it; in the second part of my paper, I will give an account of why the applied judgment of taste is a genuine kind of judgment of taste. If my views are correct, the applied judgment of taste instantiates aesthetic appreciation of morally and politically engaged art objects without dismissing -- and on the contrary, considering -- their moral and political engagement. As such, Kant' s notion of applied judgment of taste might enrich current discussions in the fields of aesthetics, philosophy of art, and art itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper claims that Heidegger's confrontation with poetry and with Hegel's end of art thesis can be read as an attempt to restore the highest function of art by deconstructing the 'modern' conception of truth underlying Hegel's thesis. First, I discuss Heidegger's interpretation of art following his assessment of the failure of metaphysical language to 'unconceal' the truth of Being. Second, I analyse, with specific reference to his interpretation of Hölderlin, what I reckon to be the core thread of Heidegger's philosophy of art, namely his antisubjectivism. Third, I turn to Hegel's end of art thesis, showing how for him, as well as for Heidegger, the highest function of art is necessarily connected to antisubjectivism, and hence, under the conditions of modernity, is a thing of the past. Finally, I address Heidegger's reference to Hegel's thesis, and claim that, while Hegel fully remains within the horizon of modernity, thus affirming the irreversible pastness of art, Heidegger envisages the possibility of abandoning the fundamental orientation of modernity, and hence of revoking the thesis of the pastness of art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary criticism of the book "On Criticism" by Noel Carrol is presented. It offered as a philosophy of criticism, an attempt to reconstruct rationally the practice of art criticism. It mentions Carroll’s critic which sound like a teacher of art or music appreciation addressing students. It also mentions Carroll’s views on work of art which is the achievement of the artist.

"Without a theory to go with it, it's impossible to see an artwork." This article intends to discuss the provocation posed by Tom Wolfe, investigating the relationship established between art and art criticism in modernity. In fact, we want to suggest this relationship accompanies the transition from a theory of autonomy to the autonomy of Theory and to precisely define what this autonomy consists of. Tom Wolfe's thesis simply put: art itself had become little more than a crutch for art theorists. Art's purpose had become to illustrate theories. It is our intent to argue that his statement is a symptom of a displacement that took place in early nineteenth-century German romanticism; in fact, this is where Theory conquers its own autonomy. Ever since, those who have occupied themselves of its practice--be they philosophers of art, theoreticians, or critics--seem to have strived for a sole purpose: to extend the privileges thus far granted to Theory. The excesses of the age of Theory would culminate, as we now know, in widespread theses stating the end of art. At last, Theory reveals its most ambitious project in the writings of contemporary analytical philosopher Arthur Danto: his philosophical work, a philosophical discourse about art, offers itself as an artwork in its own right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1908 the artist-critic Walter Sickert (1860–1942) and the dealer-critic Robert Ross (1869–1918) engaged in a debate in the London art press and in their own private correspondence in which they discussed the idea of a “language of painting.” Using their debate as a case study, this article investigates how these writers posited different approaches to the practice of viewing art. I show how they used the notion of a “language of painting” as a basis for discussing critical authority, the nature of art appreciation, the role of beauty and pleasure, and the value of form and technique. In doing so, I reveal how they both adapted and departed from the ideas and rhetorical practices of nineteenth-century art writing, in order to consolidate their own critical authority and to present diversified ways of speaking about art attuned to new developments in the art world. In a wider sense, this article contributes to ongoing scholarly revaluation of the Edwardian period, which aims to recover a sense of the era’s innovation and heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

What is the role of the image in the work of Theodor W. Adorno? What is cognitive value of the image, and by what means does it work? Through an exploration of the etymologically related concepts of crisis, riddle, and sieving, this essay argues for the image itself as a form of filter, the filter of critique. For despite the philosopher's attention to the ban on graven images and the impossibility of poetry after Auschwitz, another line of thought is woven through his work: that of critique, dialectically, requiring the image. This essay is the text of the author's lecture accepting the Theodor W. Adorno Prize from the Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt am Main, in September 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Paul Klee's painting Insula dulcamara (1938) has been the focus of numerous reviews and analyses in academic and popular literature on the artist over a period of many years. However, most such readings fall short of a comprehensive interpretation of the composition as a whole, and assume – implicitly or otherwise – that the painting's black markings are not readable as 'writing' in any linguistic sense. By contrast, this paper offers a novel analysis of the painting's 'way to form' grounded in Klee's writings on his own compositional practices, biography, and approach to meaning-making, and in so doing demonstrates a compelling perceptual gestalt in which the painting's black markings are configured as a graphical abstraction of the name 'Paul Klee'; the configuration as a whole constituting the artist's signature. This signature is taken as the prototypical basis for a plausible reconstruction of the composition's 'way to form' via Klee's unfolding thematic meditation on life, death and identity. The paper explores some implications of this analysis for the long-standing debate over authorial intention versus potential signification as valid bases for interpretation in art and literature. Exploiting the thematic coincidence of authorial death and signature in both Insula dulcamara and the writings of Jacques Derrida, it is suggested that the painting may be seen as iconographically exemplifying – if not actually resolving - issues at the heart of the notorious 'Death of the Author' debate that dominated late twentieth century critical discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a philosophical discussion of the relationship between catastrophes and their pictorial representation, focusing on historiographical research into the concept of catastrophe. Topics include the relative social impact of disasters such as earthquakes, the impact of technology and visual depictions on reactions to and the memorializing of events, and a focus on the earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 1, 1755.

The article discusses the work of critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin, focusing on his views on the theoretical concepts of trace and source as applied particularly to art history. Topics include the philosophical concept of opposition, analysis of the process of historical research and thinking, and the consideration of Benjamin's writings as well as his life and career.

Supposing that talk of a distinctively artistic type of value is warranted, what separates it from other sorts of value? Any plausible answer must explain both what is of value and what is artistic about artistically valuable properties. Flaws with extant accounts stem from neglect of one component or the other; the account offered here, based on careful attention to actual art-critical practices, brings both together. The 'value' component depends on the capacity of artworks to provide subjectively valuable experiences, while the 'artistic' component relies on the specific norms constitutive of artworld institutions. Understanding artistic value in this way allows for progress on several persistent problems, including the ethical value of art, relativism in artistic value, and the proper boundaries of philosophical aesthetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article responds to an article in the same issue by philosophers of education Chris Higgins and Nicholas Burbules that describes teaching as a form of translation. Topics include the philosophy of teaching, the social roles of teachers, and the hermeneutical thought of philosopher Hans Georg Gadamer. Also discussed are philosopher John Dewey's views on art criticism, dialogical aspects of the teacher-student relationship, and the role of misunderstanding in the context of the educational process.