The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics

The third edition of the acclaimed Routledge Companion to Aestheticscontains over sixty chapters written by leading international scholars covering all aspects of aesthetics. This companion opens with an historical overview of aesthetics including entries on Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sibley and Derrida. The second part covers the central concepts and theories needed for a comprehensive understanding of aesthetics including the definitions of art, taste, value of art, beauty, imagination, fiction, narrative, metaphor and pictorial representation. Part three is devoted to the topics that have attracted much contemporary interest in aesthetics including art and ethics, environmental aesthetics and feminist aesthetics. The final part addresses the individual arts of music, photography, film, literature, theatre, dance, architecture and sculpture. With ten new entries, and revisions and updated suggestions for further reading throughout, The Routledge Companion to Aestheticsis essential for anyone interested in aesthetics, art, literature, and visual studies.