The Origins of Aesthetic Thought in Ancient Greece

Matter, Sensation, and Experience

James I Porter author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:18th Nov '10

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The Origins of Aesthetic Thought in Ancient Greece cover

This book traces the origins of aesthetic thought across a range of art forms from before Homer down to the fourth century.

This book traces the origins of aesthetic thought and inquiry across a range of art forms as they evolved from before Homer down to the fourth century and then into later antiquity. It argues that Greek aesthetics originated in an attention to the senses and to matter rather than formalism and idealism.This is the first modern attempt to put aesthetics back on the map in classical studies. James I. Porter traces the origins of aesthetic thought and inquiry in their broadest manifestations as they evolved from before Homer down to the fourth century and then into later antiquity, with an emphasis on Greece in its earlier phases. Greek aesthetics, he argues, originated in an attention to the senses and to matter as opposed to the formalism and idealism that were enshrined by Plato and Aristotle, and through whose lens most subsequent views of ancient art and aesthetics have typically been filtered. Treating aesthetics in this way can help us perceive the commonly shared basis of the diverse arts of antiquity. Reorienting our view of the ancient vocabularies of art and experience around matter and sensation, this book dramatically changes how we look upon the ancient achievements in these same areas.

'[A] remarkable book … Porter's argument is substantial: learned, challenging and, on various levels, worth serious consideration.' The Times Literary Supplement
'… a lengthy, learned, and bold book … tremendously stimulating …' Jane Heath, The Expository Times

ISBN: 9780521841801

Dimensions: 236mm x 160mm x 32mm

Weight: 1120g

626 pages