1st Edition
The Reach of the Aesthetic Collected Essays on Art and Nature
This title was first published in 2001. This book focuses on the rich web of interrelations between aesthetic and wider human concerns. Among topics explored are concepts of truth and falsity (within art and aesthetic experience generally), superficiality and depth in aesthetic appreciation of nature, moral beauty and ugliness, the projects of integrating a life, of fashioning a life as a work of art, experiments in the aesthetic re-working of the 'sacred', the role of imagination within religion and in our attempts to place and identify ourselves within the cosmos. The essays are both interlinked and distinct, allowing them to be read in any order, and providing useful themes for discussion groups and seminars. Ronald Hepburn aims to arouse in the reader something of his enjoyment in unravelling the connections of ideas that come into view when one approaches aesthetics in its widest setting.
Biography
Ronald W. Hepburn
’Ronald Hepburn's work on aesthetics is always sensitive and often profound. Avoiding fashion and jargon, he never fails to take us to the heart of the aesthetic, and hence to the heart of human concern more generally.’ Anthony O'Hear '... a collection of ten sensitive and crafted essays...' Philosophy 'These richly detailed essays should not be missed. They offer a wealth of ideas from a long-established and important British philosopher.' Environmental Values 'These essays combine an unusuau sensitivity to the nuances of the aesthetic with a persistence in refining the multiple facets of the complex problems they examine... The Reach of the Aesthetic is an enticing invitation to accompany Hepurn as he presses the aesthetic farther afield and in new directions.' Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 'This collection of essays is thought provoking and well written...' British Journal of Aesthetics
