Benjamin Tilghman has been a leading commentator on analytic philosophy for many years. This book brings together his most significant and influential work on aesthetics. Spanning a period of thirty years and covering topics in aesthetics from literature to painting, the collection traces the development of Tilghman's two principal themes; a rejection of philosophical theory as a way of resolving problems about our understanding and appreciation of art and the importance of the representation and presentation of the human and human concerns in art. Tilghman is profoundly influenced by the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and his work is informed throughout by his conception and practice of philosophy. Written with exceptional clarity and with many references to original work in both painting and literature, this collection will be an invaluable resource not only for professional philosophers but for those working in the arts generally, art historians, critics and literary theorists.

Tilghman, Benjamin

Contents: Foreword; The literary work of art; Aesthetic descriptions and secondary senses; Danto and the ontology of literature; Understanding people and understanding art; Picture space and moral space; Reflections on aesthetic theory; Literature, philosophy and nonsense; Charles Le Brun, theory, philosophy and irony; Architecture, expression and the understanding of a culture; Perspective, painting and the look of the world; A conceptual dimension of art history; Language and painting, border wars and pipe dreams; Literature, human understanding and morality; Reflections on aesthetic judgment; Index of names; Index of subjects.