The Philosophy of Art: The Question of Definition From Hegel to Post-Dantian Theories

Drawing on the philosophies of art developed by the continental authors and studies of Anglo-American philosophers, this book presents a panorama of the philosophy of art. It discusses definitions offered from the analytical school includingArthur Danto's representationalism, Dipert's theories ofartefactualism, Dickie's institutional and procedural theories andLevinson's historical and cultural theories. From the continentaltheories it reflects on Merleau-Ponty's notion of style, MartinHeidegger and Hans Georg Gadamer's hermeneutic tradition and AlexiusMeinong theory of objects. This range of definitionsand theories are judged and defended using a form ofrepresentationalism that begins with the results of Arthur Danto'sthinking and integrates the aesthetic reflection of the BaumgartenSchool. The result is not only a presentation of philosophy of art from the beginning of the twentieth century topresent day, but a study that proposes a theory capable ofsynthesizing the finest contributions of the analytic and continentaltraditions.

Tiziana Andina is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Turin, Italy.Natalia Iacobelli is a translator in the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University, USA.