'A lucid well-organized expose of the theory and the manner of its development.' Times Literary Supplement This remarkable book is a biography of an unusual kind. It is at once the life of a mind at work, and the story of a long and intricate process of discovery. It takes the form of a stern and uncompromising analysis, and yet the author is so much in tune with his subject that the personality, and even the feelings, of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and his contemporaries emerge from that analysis. Readers will also sense the effect of the frightening enlargement of the known area of human unhappiness that Freud's work revealed.

One of the twentieth century’s most influential texts on philosophical aesthetics Painting as an Art is acclaimed philosopher Richard Wollheim’s encompassing vision of how to view art. Transcending the traditional boundaries of art history, Wollheim draws on his three great passions—philosophy, psychology, and art—to present an illuminating theory of the very experience of art. He shows how to unlock the meaning of a painting by retrieving—almost reenacting—the creative activity that produced it. In order to fully appreciate a work of art, Wollheim argues, critics must bring a much richer conception of human psychology than they have in the past. This classic book points the way to discovering what is most profound and subtle about paintings by major artists such as Titian, Bellini, and de Kooning.

Adrian Stokes was one of the twentieth century's finest and most discriminating writers on art. Of over twenty works of art criticism, Michelangelo was considered by Lawrence Gowing to be the most complete he ever wrote, presenting an understanding of the great artist that no one subsequently could afford to ignore. Stokes brings to bear in this work not only twenty-five years' study and appreciation of Italian Renaissance art and of aesthetics, but also a unique psychological perspective, as he explains in his introduction, which enables him to uncover the depths of the artist's personality. The subtlety of feeling and profound knowledge of sculpture which Sir Herbert Read admired in Stokes's work is also combined with a literary style perfected through his own poetry and criticism. Presenting a unique survey of his subject's literary as well as his artistic legacy, Stokes succeeds, as no other has before or since, in his aim of bringing Michelangelo's greatness into nearer view.

'The importance of Stokes is he asserted that art is extremely important for our sanity.' - Eric Rhode on BBC 'Kaleidoscope'

'This is a book I hope to read at least once, if not twice, more. I think Adrian Stokes has made a new, deep and penetrating contribution to present-day art criticism' - Henry Moore

'Michelangelo's artistic personality has been profoundly read. It will be difficult to be content again with any view that does not look into its depth, or with one which does not see the man's life, his visual works and his poetry together.' - Lawrence Gowing

'So tightly packed with meaning that it must be read more than once - I myself have read it three times, and with each reading have found increased understanding and pleasure' - Herbert Read

Leading philosopher Richard Wollheim recruits into service the insights of literature and of psychoanalysis, as well as of philosophy, in this rich and thought-provoking account of the emotions. Starting from the premise that emotions form a distinct psychological category, Wollheim argues that they are-like beliefs and desires-dispositions or underlying forces in the mind that erupt from time to time into the stream of consciousness. However, to assimilate emotions to beliefs or to desires or to some combination of the two is quite wrong. Emotions are attitudes or orientations to the world, says the author, and in this regard they are naturally associated with the imagination. The book considers what emotions are, how they arise in our lives, and how standard and "moral" emotions differ. Wollheim writes within the analytic tradition, yet decisively abandons a number of assumptions associated with that tradition and instead develops what he calls the psychologization, or repsychologization, of the emotions. Addressing repsychologization of the mind and its contents as a major theme, the author offers sustained discussion of the opinions of Sartre, William James, Freud, Melanie Klein, Stendhal, Montaigne, and Bertrand Russell.

Richard Wollheim's classic reflection on art considers central questions regarding expression, representation, style, the significance of the artist's intention and the essentially historical nature of art. Presented in a fresh series livery for the twenty-first century, with a specially commissioned preface written by Richard Eldridge, illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, Art and its Objects continues to be a perceptive and engaging introduction to the questions and philosophical issues raised by works of art and the part they play in our culture and society. Wollheim's insights into theories of art, criticism, perception and the nature of aesthetic value make this one of the most influential works on aesthetics of the twentieth century.

Richard Wollheim's classic reflection on art considers central questions regarding expression, representation, style, the significance of the artist's intention and the essentially historical nature of art. Presented in a fresh series livery for the twenty-first century, with a specially commissioned preface written by Richard Eldridge, illuminating its continuing importance and relevance to philosophical enquiry, Art and its Objects continues to be a perceptive and engaging introduction to the questions and philosophical issues raised by works of art and the part they play in our culture and society. Wollheim's insights into theories of art, criticism, perception and the nature of aesthetic value make this one of the most influential works on aesthetics of the twentieth century.

In this distinguished book, first published in 1984, Richard Wollheim offers an original approach to the philosophical understanding of a person. Countering prevailing theories on the nature of persons, Wollheim submits an account of the mind dynamically conceived and proposes that we take as fundamental the process of living as a person. To illuminate this process, the author draws on psychoanalysis and literature, in particular the case studies of Freud and the writings of Proust. "Wollheim's is a very original and extremely interesting approach to the philosophy of the mind, bringing together three areas of reflection not often combined: the philosophy of mind, psychoanalysis, and ethics."-Bernard Williams, University of California, Berkeley "There are only a few people who can write intelligently and insightfully about psychoanalysis and philosophy. Richard Wollheim is pre-eminent."-Jonathan Lear, University of Chicago

Philosophers are increasingly coming to recognize the importance of Freudian theory for the understanding of the mind. The picture Freud presents of the mind's growth and organization holds implications not just for such perennial questions as the relation of mind and body, the nature of memory and personal identity, the interplay of cognitive and affective processes in reasoning and acting, but also for the very way in which these questions are conceived and an interpretation of the mind is sought. This volume of essays, by some of today's leading philosophers, explores all these topics, as well as the methods, results and status of the theory itself, while two 'classical' discussions by Wittgenstein and Sartre are also included. A number of the contributions - those by Donald Davidson, W. D. Hart, Jim Hopkins, Adam Morton, David Pears and Richard Wollheim - have not been published before, and a very useful bibliography is provided. It is an anthology that will be vital to anyone interested in Freudian theory and, more generally, in philosophical psychology.

The mind as it is manifested in philosophy and art, in the moral life and psychoanalysis, has always been at the core of Richard Wollheim's celebrated work. This book brings together Wollheim's broad and abiding concerns to illuminate human thought at its furthest reaches of introspection and expression. Interweaving philosophy, psychoanalysis, and aesthetics, these essays reveal the critical connections between ideas and disciplines too often regarded as separate and distinct.