Craft Objects, Aesthetic Contexts: Kant, Heidegger, and Adorno on Craft

by Sandra Corse

Overview

Craft Objects, Aesthetic Contexts examines the place of contemporary craft in traditional aesthetics. Though philosophers have usually either ignored craft or denigrated it as mechanical and unimaginative, a careful examination of their comments often indicates that they nevertheless took a lively interest in several important issues facing craft artists today. Although Kant is famous for emphasizing that aesthetic judgments must be pure and therefore concern themselves with objects that have no useful purpose, he took this position simply to clarify his argument, and in fact many of his examples involve objects we would today consider craft, such as furniture and even decorative wallpaper.
Similarly, Heidegger and Adorno have been valued largely for their interest in complex and influential art objects, but their comments on art also frequently address issues central to craft, especially the significance of history, functionality, techniques, and materials. This book examines these comments in order to begin a process of appreciating how philosophical aesthetics, as practiced by these important writers, can contribute to our analysis of contemporary craft.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761842873
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	10/14/2008
Pages:	110
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Sandra Corse is retired after teaching for many years in the school of Literature, Communication, and Culture at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. She is the author of three books on opera and numerous articles on literature, music, and aesthetics.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Chapter 1: Defining Ground: Issues for Craft
Chapter 3 Chapter 2: Kant: interest and Purpose
Chapter 4 Chapter 3: Heidegger: Art, Tools, and Earth
Chapter 5 Chapter 4: Adorno: Toward a Theory of the Craftwork
Chapter 6 Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

It is commonly accepted that Kant's distinction between useful objects and objects with no purpose is responsible for the exclusion of craft from the definition of arts in modern aesthetic theory. Corse's careful anaylsis of Kant's original text in its historical context leads to another conclusion; that Kant's ideas of taste and genius have been slightly distorted in their current interpretation.This deviation has persistently defined craft as something other than art and kept it from being seriously analyzed in modern aesthetics. Corse places Kant, Heidegger and Adorno's aesthetic theories in a historical context that allows room for addressing craft within their philosophies on fine art.

Art Libraries Society Of North America

It is commonly accepted that Kant's distinction between useful objects and objects with no purpose is responsible for the exclusion of craft from the definition of arts in modern aesthetic theory. Corse's careful anaylsis of Kant's original text in its historical context leads to another conclusion; that Kant's ideas of taste and genius have been slightly distorted in their current interpretation.This deviation has persistently defined craft as something other than art and kept it from being seriously analyzed in modern aesthetics. Corse places Kant, Heidegger and Adorno's aesthetic theories in a historical context that allows room for addressing craft within their philosophies on fine art.--Art Libraries Society Of North America

From the Publisher