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neilrcoulter 's review for:
Aesthetics: A Very Short Introduction
by Bence Nanay
After teaching a topic for a while, I find it helpful to seek a fresh infusion of teaching methods and content, to get an idea of other ways to teach that topic. As I prepare to get my mind back into the subjects I teach in the spring, I’m looking through some VSIs in relevant areas, hopeful that it might bring new energy to my teaching. The first one on the stack: Aesthetics: A Very Short Introduction, by Bence Nanay. I cover aesthetics in two courses, and though I basically know the chronology of the philosophical approach, it continues to be an area that I always feel I’m not presenting as clearly as I ought. This is partly because holding on to the distinction between aesthetics and beauty adds complexity to the explanation of either.
Nanay writes in an engaging, interesting style, very conversational. He gives the reader helpful entry points into thinking about aesthetic contemplation of artistry (including discussion of what exactly qualifies as an object of aesthetic contemplation). The book ends up being a general introductory primer for focused observation and criticism, with good sections and sections that didn’t connect well with me. (So much space in a “very short introduction” given to comparisons between Auric Goldfinger and Donald Trump…)
Overall, I was surprised that Nanay spent so little time discussing the history and development of aesthetics as an area of philosophy. I expected something of the historical progression, from the eighteenth century to the present. This book gives little sense of where aesthetics fits into anything beyond Nanay’s observations and suggestions. For that reason, the book doesn’t help me as I’d hoped, because it omits some of the basic background that I want to share with my students, and what’s left is rather idiosyncratic to the way Nanay teaches. It’s an interesting and quick read, but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted right now.
Nanay writes in an engaging, interesting style, very conversational. He gives the reader helpful entry points into thinking about aesthetic contemplation of artistry (including discussion of what exactly qualifies as an object of aesthetic contemplation). The book ends up being a general introductory primer for focused observation and criticism, with good sections and sections that didn’t connect well with me. (So much space in a “very short introduction” given to comparisons between Auric Goldfinger and Donald Trump…)
Overall, I was surprised that Nanay spent so little time discussing the history and development of aesthetics as an area of philosophy. I expected something of the historical progression, from the eighteenth century to the present. This book gives little sense of where aesthetics fits into anything beyond Nanay’s observations and suggestions. For that reason, the book doesn’t help me as I’d hoped, because it omits some of the basic background that I want to share with my students, and what’s left is rather idiosyncratic to the way Nanay teaches. It’s an interesting and quick read, but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted right now.