The British Aesthetic Tradition
From Shaftesbury to Wittgenstein

Offers a comprehensive account of British aesthetics from the early eighteenth century to the late twentieth century in Britain and beyond.

Timothy M. Costelloe (Author)

9780521734486, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 March 2013

360 pages, 10 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.9 cm, 0.48 kg

'[The British Aesthetic Tradition] articulates a line of inquiry that offers a capacious and suggestive account of how modern and eighteenth-century British aesthetics can be understood within a long and at times contentious tradition.' Theresa M. Kelley, Modern Philology

The British Aesthetic Tradition: From Shaftesbury to Wittgenstein is the first single volume to offer readers a comprehensive and systematic history of aesthetics in Britain from its inception in the early eighteenth century to major developments in Britain and beyond in the late twentieth century. The book consists of an introduction and eight chapters, and is divided into three parts. The first part, The Age of Taste, covers the eighteenth-century approaches of internal sense theorists, imagination theorists and associationists. The second, The Age of Romanticism, takes readers from debates over the picturesque through British Romanticism to late Victorian criticism. The third, The Age of Analysis, covers early twentieth-century theories of Formalism and Expressionism to conclude with Wittgenstein and a number of views inspired by his thought.

Introduction: a brief history of 'aesthetics'
Part I. The Age of Taste: 1. Internal sense theorists
2. Imagination theorists
3. Associationist theorists
Part II. The Age of Romanticism: 4. The picturesque
5. Wordsworth and the early Romantics
6. Victorian criticism
Part III. The Age of Analysis: 7. Theories of expression
8. Wittgenstein and afterwards.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Philosophy: aesthetics [HPN], History of Western philosophy [HPC], British & Irish history [HBJD1], Literary studies: general [DSB], Literature: history & criticism [DS]