Art's Emotions
Ethics, Expression, and Aesthetic Experience
Description
How is that artistic works have the power to move the human heart? Why does Manet's Woman with a Parrot evoke reverie, and an Edward Elgar cello concerto, nostalgia? What is the value of such experiences? Art's Emotions is a reflective, thought-provoking exploration of the significance that experiencing emotion through art has upon our lives. Damien Freeman reviews and evaluates three traditional approaches to understanding artistic expression and moves on to develop a new theory of emotion that resolves key questions in aesthetics. In a novel philosophical project, Freeman also establishes the ethical importance of art in nurturing humans and helping them flourish. Art's Emotions challenges readers to consider not only how art engages with emotion, but also the ways in which art can answer fundamental questions about the value and nature of experience.
Reviews
"Art's Emotions is bold, resourceful and ambitious. At every stage of the argument well-chosen examples are used to illustrate the abstract claims being made, and Freeman is meticulous in making clear the precise nature and limits of these claims. The wor
"A remarkably erudite, bold, and fascinating exploration of the nature of emotion, the distinctive emotional impact of art, and its value as a contribution to human flourishing." Dominic McIver Lopes, University of British Columbia
"An important book that is very much worth reading." Raymond Geuss, philosophy, University of Cambridge