Fostering a dialogue enriched by contributions from both the analytic and the continental tradition (and drawing on authors such as Broch, Diderot, Levinson, and Wittgenstein), this volume delves into the complex relationship between aesthetics and values. The chapters gathered here reveal decisive aspects of the nature of aesthetic and artistic values, as well as their multiple connections to other kinds of value. On the one hand, they shed light on how aesthetic value can be distinguished from artistic value, with which it is often associated and sometimes even confused. On the other hand, they inquire into how both aesthetic and artistic values relate to ethical, cognitive, and political values – a task that is becoming increasingly urgent in contemporary debates on the role art can play in our lives.
Claudio Rozzoni obtained his PhD in aesthetics and theory of art from the University of Palermo. He is currently a Senior Assistant Professor of Aesthetics at the University of Milan. He was a visiting scholar at the Husserl Archive at the Universität zu Köln and at UCLA (Department of Film, Television and Digital Media). In addition to articles and book chapters, his most recent works include the first Italian edition of Husserl’s manuscripts on “image and phantasy” (2017) and Nell’immagine. Realtà, fantasia, esperienza estetica (2017).
Nélio Conceição is a research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of the New University of Lisbon (IFILNOVA). He obtained his PhD in philosophy (aesthetics) from the New University of Lisbon in 2013, with a thesis on the relation between philosophy and photography. He was a visiting scholar at PUCSão Paulo (2015) and ZfL-Berlin (2016). His research focuses on aesthetics, and he has been working on the philosophical and artistic ramifi cations of Walter Benjamin’s work, on urban aesthetics and the concept of play, topics that are at the core of his latest publications.