(Research in Aesthetics)
by Jakub Stejskal (Author)
Is
the celebrated elegance of Cycladic marble figurines an effect their
Early Bronze Age producers intended? Can one adequately appreciate an
Assyrian regal statue described by a cuneiform inscription as beautiful?
What to make of the apparent aesthetic richness of the traditional
cultures of Melanesia, which, however, engage in virtually no
recognizable aesthetic discourse? Questions such as these have been
formulated and discussed by scholars of remote cultures against the
backdrop of a general scepticism about the prospects of escaping the
conditioning of one’s own aesthetic culture and attuning to the norms of
a remote one. This book makes a radical move: it treats the remote
observers’ lack of aesthetic insight not as a hindrance to aesthetic
analysis, but as a condition requiring an aesthetic theory that would
make room for an aesthetic analysis independent of the model of
competent aesthetic judgement or appreciation.
Objects of Authority
represents a rare effort at bringing together methods and concepts that
are often addressed by separate disciplines. It will appeal to scholars
and advanced students working on philosophical, art-historical, and
anthropological theories of visual art and material culture.
