Pragmatic Aesthetics: Living Beauty, Rethinking Art - Tapa blanda

"Through a generous and inspired reinterpretation of John Dewey, Richard Shusterman establishes a theory of aesthetics that is liberated from the traditional dualisms and capable of reconciling art and the political." Pierre Bourdieu "A spirited, generous, powerful, and stylish essay in which the acuity of analytical philosophy is cross-bred to the vision of continental theory to produce a work that no one interested in philosophy of art - and philosophy of life - can afford to ignore. It is clear, eloquent, fair, and urgent." Arthur Danto "A must for everyone engaged in current aesthetic debate, both for its lucid and penetrating criticisms of the dominant positions and for its reconsideration of Dewey within a contemporary cultural context." Choice "Shusterman's achievement in these essays is considerable, and that my admiration of them is real; they reward careful study, and they point in new directions for the philosophy of art." Mind "This work is one that "no one interested in philosophy of art -- or philosophy of life -- can afford to ignore." Society for American Philosophy Newsletter "Shusterman's writing is exceptionally clear, fair, and well-argued. A first-rate contribution to the ongoing renaissance of pragmatism." Philosophy and Literature

Pragmatism is experiencing a powerful revival. But the new pragmatism has not yet expressed itself in a new aesthetic, and not since Dewey's "Art as Experience" (1934) has there been a comprehensive pragmatist treatment of this field. This book seeks to fill the gap by proposing a pragmatist aesthetics for our current postmodern condition. "Pragmatist Aesthetics" treats the traditionally central topics of aesthetics - the definition of art, aesthetic experience and value, form and unity, interpretation and the cognitive and moral worth of art. But it also directs philosophical aesthetics towards a wider and more socially pertinent agenda by considering such contemporary issues as the institutionalization and cultural oppression of art, the aesthetic legitimacy of popular culture and the ethical art of living beauty through the stylization of conduct and the aesthetic construction of the self.