Contemplating Art [Paperback]

Contemplating Artis a compendium of writings from the last ten years by one of the leading figures in aesthetics, Jerrold Levinson. The twenty-four essays range over issues in general aesthetics and those relating to specific arts--in particular music, film, and literature. It will appeal not only to philosophers but also to musicologists, literary theorists, art critics, and reflective lovers of the arts.

Introduction
Part One. Art
1. The Irreducible Historicality of the Concept of Art
2. Artworks as Artifacts
3. Emotion in Response to Art
4. Elster on Artistic Creativity
Part Two. Music
5. Sound, Gesture, Space, and the Expression of Emotion in Music
6. Musical Expressiveness as Hearability-as-Expression
7. Non-existent Artforms and the Case of Visual Music
8. Music as Narrative and Music as Drama
9. Film Music and Narrative Agency
10. Evaluating Music
11. Musical Thinking
12. Musical Chills
Part Three. Pictures
13. Wollheim on Pictorial Representation
14. What Is Erotic Art?
15. Erotic Art and Pornographic Pictures
Part Four. Interpretation
16. Two Notions of Interpretation
17. Who's Afraid of a Paraphrase?
18. Hypothetical Intentionalism: Statement, Objections, and Replies
Part Five. Aesthetic Properties
19. Aesthetic Properties, Evaluative Force, and Differences of Sensibility
20. What Are Aesthetic Properties?
Part Six. History
21. The Aesthetics of Schopenhauer
22. Hume'sStandard of Taste: The Real Problem
Part Seven. Other Matters
23. The Concept of Humour
24. Intrinsic Value and the Notion of a Life

Jerrold Levinsonis Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park. His publications includeMusic, Art, and Metaphysics(1990),The Pleasures of Aesthetilã)