A clear and compact survey of philosophical theories of the nature and value of art, in a new, expanded edition.

Richard Eldridge is Charles and Harriett Cox McDowell Professor of Philosophy at Swarthmore College. He is the author of five books, including most recently Literature, Life, and Modernity (2008), and the editor of four volumes, including The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Literature (2009) and (with Bernard Rhie) Stanley Cavell and Literary Studies: Consequences of Skepticism (2011).

Preface; 1. The situation and tasks of the philosophy of art; 2. Representation, imitation, and resemblance; 3. Beauty and form; 4. Expression; 5. Originality and imagination; 6. Understanding art; 7. Identifying and evaluating art; 8. Art and emotion; 9. Art and morality; 10. Art and society: some contemporary practices of art; 11. Epilogue: the evidence of things not seen.