Meanings of Art: Essays in Aesthetics

The perspective unfolded and defended here is a philosophical theory of art grounded in particular understandings of the creative process, aesthetic experience, and interpretive practice. The thematic link among all of these is the concept of meaning: what it means to make art, how the meanings we attach to artworks in interpretation shape our appreciation, the nature and value of aesthetic experience, and ultimately the definition of art itself. On this view, creating art is an expressive process that, as such, may be left incomplete. Aesthetic experience is understood as a special kind of resolution of conflict between the intellect and the emotions, one resonant with a very old tradition in aesthetics as well as cutting-edge neuroaesthetics. It is because of the deep human need for such experience that this book champions the interpretive openness of artworks and pluralism when it comes to interpretive and critical practice.