Aesthetic Theory Across the Disciplines

Max Ryynänen is senior lecturer in Theory of Visual Culture at Aalto University Finland. He is the former chair of the Finnish Society for Aesthetics and the editor-in-chief of Popular Inquiry: The Journal of the Aesthetics of Kitsch, Camp and Mass Culture and The Journal of Somaesthetics. He is or has been also on the advisory board of e.g. Nordic Journal of Aesthetics, Terra Aesthetica, ESPES, Aesthetica Universalis, The Journal of Global Popular Culture, and Research in Arts and Education. His latest books include e.g. Learning from Decay: Essays on the Aesthetics of Architectural Dereliction and Its Consumption, Aesthetics in Dialogue, On The Philosophy of Central European Art and Art, Excess, Education. He is also editor of Aesthetic Perspectives on Culture, Politics, and Landscape and a contributor of many journals in varieties of aesthetic theory and cultural studies like Ágalma, Contemporary Aesthetics, Journal of Asia-Pacific Popular Culture and Poetics. Zoltán Somhegyi is an art historian and associate professor of art history at the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary. Previously he was based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates and was working as chair of the department of fine arts of the College of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Sharjah. He was the secretary general (2016–2022) and still is the website editor of the International Association for Aesthetics (IAA), member of the Executive Committee of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH) and consultant of Art Market Budapest: International Contemporary Art Fair. He is advisory and editorial board member of numerous academic journals of aesthetics. His recent books include Reviewing the Past: The Presence of Ruins, Aesthetics in Dialogue: Applying Philosophy of Art in a Global World, Learning from Decay: Essays on the Aesthetics of Architectural Dereliction and Its Consumption and Retracing the Past: Historical Continuity in Aesthetics from a Global Perspective.

• Introduction: An Introduction to Aesthetics and Its CompanionsZoltán Somhegyi and Max Ryynänen:Chapter 1. Aesthetics and Evolutionary TheoryWendy SteinerChapter 2. Aesthetics and Environmental Humanities—The Fieldwork on OurselvesMami AotaChapter 3. Aesthetics and ArchitectureTyrus MillerChapter 4. Aesthetics and Urban StudiesMateusz SalwaChapter 5. Aesthetics and PoliticsKarl AxelssonChapter 6. Aesthetics and Philosophy: From Baumgarten to NietzscheJoseph TankeChapter 7. Aesthetics and the Classical Tradition: Remarks on Baumgarten and BatteuxOiva KuismaChapter 8. Aesthetics and Cultural Studies: On the Relationship Between a Small Discipline and her Bully Big BrotherMax RyynänenChapter 9. Aesthetics and Art HistoryZoltán SomhegyiChapter 10. An Exercise in Metamorphosis: Aesthetics of the CuratorialJacob LundChapter 11. Aesthetics and Art EducationPaul DuncumChapter 12. Aesthetics and MusicologyLisa GiombiniIndexAbout the Contributors

Aesthetics pervades our lives, and it pervades thinking about our lives. Aesthetic Theory Across the Disciplines surveys the boundaries of philosophical aesthetics, its points of contact with the arts disciplines, such disciplines as cultural studies and urban studies, and also the history of philosophy. Some essays provide sweeping visions of the potential benefits of more dialogue. Other essays diagnose obstacles to dialogue. They are by turns personal, passionate, and persuasive.