Since its beginning in the 1940s, analytic aesthetics has undergone a number of transformations in its methods, its scope, its aims, and its self-understanding. Yet - notwithstanding its present internal variety - it is still marked by a sort of stylistic homogeneity which differentiates it from its "continental" counterpart. This critical compendium by Stefano Velotti (stefano.velotti@uniroma1.it) aims to capture the characterizing features of analytic aesthetics in order to foster a dialogue between the two traditions of thought.
For many years, "analytic" and "continental" aesthetics have ignored each other, but in the last decade this situation has started to change. Yet, the dialogue between the two traditions is still difficult, and the dangers of a hasty adherence or of a superficial integration of the other tradition into one's own, are hard to avoid. The present study is an attempt to resist these two complementary dangers, and to illustrate and analyze some of the main problems which have dominated the aesthetic debate on both sides. What are the differences between (analytic) "philosophy of art" and (continental) "aesthetics"? Is a "philosophy of art" a legitimate philosophical enterprise? Are "aesthetic properties" a legitimate and useful notion? Is it possible to define "art"? Is "art" a normative or a descriptive concept? Why have value (aesthetic) judgments been so often devalued in the analytic tradition? What are the most promising prospects for a common investigation? These are some of the questions this brief book addresses, in the hope to contribute to deepening the dialogue just started.