This monumental collection of new and recent essays from an international team of eminent scholars represents the best contemporary critical thinking relating to both literary and philosophical studies of literature. * Helpfully groups essays into the field's main sub-categories, among them 'Relations Between Philosophy and Literature', 'Emotional Engagement and the Experience of Reading', 'Literature and the Moral Life', and 'Literary Language' * Offers a combination of analytical precision and literary richness * Represents an unparalleled work of reference for students and specialists alike, ideal for course use

This monumental collection of new and recent essays from an international team of eminent scholars represents the best contemporary critical thinking relating to both literary and philosophical studies of literature. * Helpfully groups essays into the field's main sub-categories, among them Relations Between Philosophy and Literature , Emotional Engagement and the Experience of Reading , Literature and the Moral Life , and Literary Language * Offers a combination of analytical precision and literary richness * Represents an unparalleled work of reference for students and specialists alike, ideal for course use

Through a series of essays, "Art and Ethical Criticism" explores the complex relationship between the arts and morality. Reflects the importance of a moral life of engagement with works of artForms part of the prestigious "New Directions in Aesthetics" series, which confronts the most intriguing problems in aesthetics and the philosophy of art today

" Art as Language] is in itself extremely valuable as an example of the still largely unappreciated relevance of Wittgenstein's work to traditional philosophical issues. . . . This book, as a more or less encyclopedic critique of aesthetic theories from a Wittgensteinian perspective, will be enlightening to aesthetic theorists who want to know, not what Wittgenstein said about art, but what the relevance of his work is to their use of language as a point of reference for interpreting art." Choice"In a series of acute arguments, Hagberg dismantles the region of grand aesthetic theory that defines art in the terms philosophy has traditionally used to define language. . . . Written with excellence in argumentation, judiciousness, and a capacious knowledge of Wittgenstein." Daniel Herwitz, Common Knowledge"A clear and intelligent book. Hagberg's strategy is to show the consequences of holding a Wittgensteinian view of language and mind for aesthetic theories which are either based on, or analogous to, other non-Wittgensteinian positions about language and mind. This is an important project." Stanley Bates, Middlebury College"

"What is the meaning of a word?" In this thought-provoking book, Hagberg demonstrates how this question--which initiated Wittgenstein's later work in the philosophy of language--is significant for our understanding not only of linguistic meaning but of the meaning of works of art and literature as well.

'What is the meaning of a word?' In this thought-provoking book, Hagberg demonstrates how this question—which initiated Wittgenstein's later work in the philosophy of language—is significant for our understanding not only of linguistic meaning but of the meaning of works of art and literature as well.