American Aesthetics

Description

Although there are distinctly American artists—Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Grandma Moses, Thomas Hart Benton, and Andy Warhol, for example—very little attention has been devoted to formulating any distinctively American characteristics of aesthetic judgment and practice. This volume takes a step in this direction, presenting an introductory essay on the possibility of such a distinctly American tradition, and a collection of essays exploring particular examples from a variety of angles. Some of the essays in this collection extend pragmatist and process insights about the important place aesthetics has in molding and assessing experience. Other essays examine the place of American aesthetics in relation to such particular forms of art as painting, literature, music, and film. Three essays attend to the aesthetic aspects of a flourishing life. In each of the essays, American aesthetics is understood to arise out of deeply felt personal, historical, and cultural backgrounds. Consequently, not only are such relatively abstract notions as harmony, fit, elegance, proportion, and the like involved in aesthetic judgment, but also religious, political, and social factors become embroiled in aesthetic discernment. Thus the ongoing pattern of American aesthetics is shown to be distinguishable from such other varieties of aesthetic thought as analytic aesthetics, New Criticism, and postmodern approaches to aesthetics.
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments

Part I: Introduction

1. Toward an American Aesthetics
Walter B. Gulick

Part II: Philosophical Contributions to American Aesthetics from the Past

2. The Primacy of Aesthetic Judgments: Emerson's Deontological-Transcendentalist Account of Tragedy
Jacob L. Goodson

3. Peirce and Edwards on the Argument from Beauty
Michael L. Raposa

4. A Semeiotic Account of Paintings as Pure Icons that Communicate Beautiful Feelings
David Rohr

5. The Pragmatist Aesthetics of William James
Richard Shusterman

6. Between Nature and Art: Some Analytical Exemplifications of Dewey's Aesthetics
Robert E. Innis

Part III: American Aesthetics: Contemporary Theoretical Contributions

7. Axiological Landscape Theory: Uniting Aesthetics, Ethics, and Inquiry
Wesley J. Wildman

8. Experience and Signs: Toward a Pragmatist Literary Criticism
Nicholas Gaskill

9. Music, Time, and the Egress of Possibility
Randall E. Auxier

10. Harmony, Existence, and the Aesthetic
Robert Cummings Neville

11. Historical-Aesthetic Complementarity: An American Philosophical Contribution to the Study of Religion
Gary Slater

Part IV: Applying American Aesthetic Theory to Practice

12. An Exemplary Critic in the Tradition of American Aesthetics: Harold Rosenberg
Leanne Gilbertson and Walter B. Gulick

13. Experiential Immersions in Beauty: A Confluence of James Turrell's Light Spaces and Whitehead's Aesthetics
Vaughan Durkee McTernan

14. Dialogue: From Rich Experience to Minimalist Expression
Corey Drieth and Walter B. Gulick

15. The Fabric of Thirdness: A Concert Pianist's Peircean Interpretation of Performance
Arthur Stewart

16. Inspiring Singers toward Emotional Communication through Aesthetic Discovery
Steven Hart

17. Budd Boetticher's Transcendental Westerns, or, Schrader, Bazin, Sartre, and Neville Walk into a Saloon
James McLachlan

Part V: Aesthetic Aspects of a Flourishing Life

18. Resolving the Tension of Everyday Aesthetics in a Deweyan Way
Thomas Leddy

19. The Struggle for Centering Things in an Age of Consumerism
David Strong

20. The Dynamics of Selving and the Aesthetics of Ecstatic Naturalism
Robert S. Corrington

List of Contributors
Index

Sujets

• Pragmatism
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438478593
• Langue: English

Extrait

AMERICAN AESTHETICS
SUNY series in American Philosophy and Cultural Thought

Randall E. Auxier and John R. Shook, editors
AMERICAN AESTHETICS
THEORY AND PRACTICE
Edited by
WALTER B. GULICK AND GARY SLATER
On the cover:
Artworks by Corey Drieth, American, (1969–), used by permission:
(top left) Confluence (gouache/ink/charcoal on wood), 9″ × 9″ × 1″ (2007)
(top right) Praise (gouache/colored pencil on wood), 9″ × 11″ × 1″ (2014)
(bottom) The Light Inside (1999) by James Turrell, American (1943–)
Medium: neon and ambient light, 13″ × 246″ × 1416″
Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Funded by Isabel B. and Wallace S. Wilson, 2000. Copyright James Turrell.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2020 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gulick, Walter B., 1938– editor. | Slater, Gary, 1983– editor.
Title: American aesthetics : theory and practice / Walter B. Gulick and Gary Slater, eds.
Description: Albany: State University of New York Press, 2020. | Series: SUNY series in American philosophy and cultural thought | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019049095 (print) | LCCN 2019049096 (ebook) | ISBN 9781438478579 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438478593 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Aesthetics, American.
Classification: LCC BH221.U5 A48 2020 (print) | LCC BH221.U5 (ebook) | DDC 111/.850973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019049095
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019049096
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
I. Introduction
1. Toward an American Aesthetics
Walter B. Gulick
II. Philosophical Contributions to American Aesthetics from the Past
2 The Primacy of Aesthetic Judgments: Emerson’s Deontological-Transcendentalist Account of Tragedy
Jacob L. Goodson
3 Peirce and Edwards on the Argument from Beauty
Michael L. Raposa
4 A Semeiotic Account of Paintings as Pure Icons that Communicate Beautiful Feelings
David Rohr
5 The Pragmatist Aesthetics of William James
Richard Shusterman
6 Between Nature and Art: Some Analytical Exemplifications of Dewey’s Aesthetics
Robert E. Innis
III. American Aesthetics: Contemporary Theoretical Contributions
7 Axiological Landscape Theory: Uniting Aesthetics, Ethics, and Inquiry
Wesley J. Wildman
8 Experience and Signs: Toward a Pragmatist Literary Criticism
Nicholas Gaskill
9 Music, Time, and the Egress of Possibility
Randall E. Auxier
10 Harmony, Existence, and the Aesthetic
Robert Cummings Neville
11 Historical-Aesthetic Complementarity: An American Philosophical Contribution to the Study of Religion
Gary Slater
IV. Applying American Aesthetic Theory to Practice
12 An Exemplary Critic in the Tradition of American Aesthetics: Harold Rosenberg
Leanne Gilbertson and Walter B. Gulick
13 Experiential Immersions in Beauty: A Confluence of James Turrell’s Light Spaces and Whitehead’s Aesthetics
Vaughan Durkee McTernan
14 Dialogue: From Rich Experience to Minimalist Expression
Corey Drieth and Walter B. Gulick
15 The Fabric of Thirdness: A Concert Pianist’s Peircean Interpretation of Performance
Arthur Stewart
16 Inspiring Singers toward Emotional Communication through Aesthetic Discovery
Steven Hart
17 Budd Boetticher’s Transcendental Westerns, or, Schrader, Bazin, Sartre, and Neville Walk into a Saloon
James McLachlan
V. Aesthetic Aspects of a Flourishing Life
18 Resolving the Tension of Everyday Aesthetics in a Deweyan Way
Thomas Leddy
19 The Struggle for Centering Things in an Age of Consumerism
David Strong
20 The Dynamics of Selving and the Aesthetics of Ecstatic Naturalism
Robert S. Corrington
List of Contributors
Index
Illustrations Figure 6.1 Yi Bingshou, Landscapes , dated 1814. Metropolitan Museum, New York Figure 6.2 Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait , 1434. National Gallery, London Figure 6.3 Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa , 1503–06. Louvre, Paris Figure 6.4 Auguste Renoir, Young Girl Bathing , 1892. Metropolitan Museum, New York Figure 6.5 Paul Cezanne, The Card Players , First Version, 1890–92. Metropolitan Museum, New York
Preface
This volume attempts the impossible—to chart in adequate fashion a pattern in aesthetic thought and practice that is distinctively American and is relevant not only to all the arts but also to many aspects of daily living. However, it is not necessary to tie down all details of American Aesthetics in this or any other single volume, for the essays in this volume join an ongoing conversation that received its distinctive character in the writings of American pragmatism and process thought. The name American Aesthetics is new, but its practices have a history.
We recognize that there is a danger in naming an ongoing practice that is more a tendency of approach than a movement with self-identified members adhering to clearly defined boundaries. Our basic objective is to point out the often ignored importance of aesthetic judgment in structuring and assessing thought and perception. We believe the classic American philosophers accomplished this in admirable fashion. These thinkers envisioned aesthetic sensibility as a dynamic process open to anyone seeking quality in experience. So care should be taken not to reify American Aesthetics in some way, but rather see its characteristic sensitivities and judgments as facilitators of excellence in experience.
The two of us have much to be thankful for as we have assembled this collection of essays. We will communicate our gratitude separately.
I, Walter Gulick, have experienced warm support for this project going back to the time Gary Slater and I organized the conference on aesthetics for the Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought in Manitou Springs, Colorado, in 2016. Many of this volume’s contributions derive from that meeting. All who have essays herein have seasoned their philosophical acumen with unfailing cooperation and collegiality. Gary Slater is especially deserving of acclamation in this regard. He has served as a reliable sounding board, perceptive critic, and dedicated worker throughout our joint activities. Thanks, Gary!
Secondly, I appreciate the support still provided me by Montana State University Billings. For forty-five years MSUB has been my home institution, and I continue to have an office with IT support even as a semiretired emeritus professor.
Thirdly, two women are especially deserving of deep gratitude. I sometimes feel as if I never adequately expressed my appreciation for the love my mother showered on me. This belated public acknowledgment has some relation to my editing this book, for my mother, Helen Gulick, was an art major. I’m sure the art books lying about our house had at least a subterranean influence on my interest in aesthetics. And where would I be without Barbara, loving companion for almost fifty-five years of married life? She expressed her artistic excellence playing the organ and passed on the love of music by teaching keyboard instruments privately. To her I dedicate my work on this book with deep gratitude.
Reflecting on the factors that have made this book possible, I, Gary Slater, am compelled to single out three specific sources of inspiration and support. The first—here as in so much else—has been my family, particularly my wife, Anne. The American Aesthetics project developed across an arc that encompassed many professional and personal changes, including the birth of our twin toddlers, James and Rosie. Were it not for the love and partnership that Anne has provided (with a lot of help from her parents), I am certain that I would have possessed neither the stamina nor the sanity to persist.
The second object of thanks is the Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought, which is a wonderful community of friends and interlocutors. It gratifies me to think that visitors to these pages might experience the spirit of rich intellectual exchange that has characterized the group since long before I became a member in 2012.
Third, and above all, Walter Gulick deserves enormous thanks for his leadership on this project. The fact that this book exists is a testament to Walter’s vision, patience, and tenacity. When he and I began our collaboration on the project in the summer of 2015, I would not have imagined that this book would be the outcome. Yet Walter not only imagined it; he has made it happen. That this book should be the result reflects not simply Walter’s efforts during our collaboration, but also his many years of reflection on aesthetics and the American tradition preceding it.
We wish you pleasurable reading.
Acknowledgments