The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming

How Art Forms Empower

Paul Crowther

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Hardback

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English

Routledge
21 March 2019

History of Art & Design Styles; Music; Philosophy: aesthetics; Media studies

Series: Routledge Research in Aesthetics

This book shows that art involves an aesthetics of self-becoming, wherein we do not simply consume artistic meaning, but become empowered—by adapting ourselves to what creation in the different art forms makes possible. Paul Crowther argues that the great political task in aesthetics is no longer the creation of political art as such, but rather the winning back of art and aesthetics as central societal concerns. This involves the overcoming of neo-liberal treatments of art as mere commodity and misguided attitudes that dismiss it as the product of dead white European males. The book begins with a theory of self-consciousness which reveals the necessary role played by the aesthetic in personal identity. It then emphasises how art forms empower through processes of making and aesthetic effects that are unique to them individually. To show this, he considers the ontology of pictorial art, sculpture, installation and assemblage works, architecture, literature, cinema, and music. His arguments concerning these are supported, throughout, by in-depth discussions of specific artworks. The book’s effect, overall is to reorientate aesthetics by showing how art empowers through its revelation of new possibilities of experience.

The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming will appeal to philosophers of art and aesthetics, as well as scholars in art history, literary studies, film studies, and music theory who are interested in the book’s central concerns.

By: Paul Crowther
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 362g
ISBN: 9780367189334
ISBN 10: 036718933X
Series: Routledge Research in Aesthetics
Pages: 162
Publication Date: 21 March 2019
Audience: College/higher education , Primary , A / AS level
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paul Crowther is Professor of Philosophy at Alma Mater Europaea – Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His recent books include Digital Art, Aesthetic Creation: The Birth of a Medium (Routledge, 2019) and What Drawing and Painting Really Mean: The Phenomenology of Image and Gesture (Routledge, 2017)

Reviews for The Aesthetics of Self-Becoming: How Art Forms Empower

Crowther is sensitive to analytical issues of definition, but his challenge is far bigger: what is the political relevance of art in contemporary culture? He makes his point convincingly, through detailed analyses of works of all kinds. And he is right: art is a saviour. - Rob van Gerwen, Utrecht University