David E. Cooper is Professor of Philosophy at East Carolina State University. He is the author of a number of books including Metaphor (1986), Existentialism (1990) and World Philosophies (Blackwell Publishers, 1996) and is also editor of Aesthetics: The Classic Readings (Blackwell Publishers, 1992).

• Series Preface. Introduction.1. Republic, Book 10: Plato.2. Poetics, Chapters 1-13: Aristotle.3. Against Music:Mo Tzu.A Discussion of Music: Hsun Tzu.4. Enneads, 1.6: Plotinus.5. Quotes on Painting: Shih-t'oa.6. Of the Standard Taste: Hume.7. Critique of Aesthetic Judgement 1-13, 16, 23-4, 28: Kant.8. On the Aesthetic Education of Man, Letters 26-7: Schiller.9. Introduction to Aesthetics, Chapters 1-3: Hegel.10. The World as Will and Representation, Vol I 52: Schopenhauer.11. On Art: Tolstoy.12. Art, Chapter 1: Bell.13. The Dance of Siva, Chapters 2-3: Coomaraswamy.14. Art as Experience, Chapter 1: Dewey.15. On the Origin of the Work of Art: Heidegger.16. The Principles of Art, Chapter 7: Collingwood.Index.

"The finest aesthetics anthology available. Cooper has boiled his selections down to the truly classic writings, visionary and formative, and provided crisp insightful introductions. No other anthology matches his in the rich depth of reflections on art and the aesthetic to be found in the selections chosen." Nicholas Wolterstorff, Yale University "What Cooper offers is a manageable, wide-ranging yet economical, and carefully reasoned selection for beginning students in aesthetics." Joseph Margolis, Temple University