Uselessness of Art: Essays in the Philosophy of Art and Literature (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781845199562)

Oscar Wilde's famous quip 'All art is quite useless' might not be as outrageous or demonstrably false as is often supposed. No-one denies that much art begins life with practical aims in mind: religious, moral, political, propagandistic, or the aggrandising of its subjects. But those works that survive the test of time will move into contexts where for new audiences any initial instrumental values recede and the works come to be valued for their own sake. The book explores this idea and its ramifications. The glorious Palaeolithic paintings on the walls of the Chauvet Cave present a stark example. In spite of total ignorance of their original purposes, we irresistibly describe the paintings as works of art and value them as such. Here we are at the very limits of what is meant by art and aesthetic appreciation. Are we misusing these terms in such an application? The question goes to the heart of the scope and ambition of aesthetics. Must aesthetics in its pursuit of art and beauty inevitably be cult

Author: Peter Lamarque
ISBN-10: 1845199561
ISBN-13: 9781845199562
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Language: English
Published: 10/10/2019
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.60d

About the Author
Peter Lamarque is Professor of Philosophy at the University of York and was Editor of the British Journal of Aesthetics (19942008). He works principally in aesthetics and the philosophy of literature. His books include Truth, Fiction, and Literature (Clarendon Press, 1994) (with Stein Haugom Olsen); Fictional Points of View (Cornell UP, 1996); The Philosophy of Literature (Blackwell, 2008); Work and Object: Explorations in the Metaphysics of Art (Oxford UP, 2010); and The Opacity of Narrative (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2014).