Aesthetics and ascetics
Aesthetics and ascetics
The aim of this dissertation is to offer a revaluation of several (related) phenomena that, it is argued here, are too readily omitted from, unjustifiedly maligned by, or inadequately accounted for in the considerations of philosophers of aesthetics: the phenomena of asceticism, the grotesque, and the (visual) arts of the (Christian) Middle Ages (in which, incidentally, the ascetic and the grotesque (are commonly considered to) coalesce). The first step towards such a revaluation is a reappraisal of philosophical aesthetics itself, which is undertaken here in Chapter One. This is followed, in the latter half of Chapter One and in Chapter Two, by a (re)appraisal of (the reception and representation of) asceticism, and a (re)valuation of the grotesque. Chapters Three and Four are given over to a more detailed account of what is (claimed here to be) entailed by the aesthetic endeavour, by the ascetic’s peculiar investment therein, and what “lessons” may be learned from his example.
Reicher, Nina
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April 2015
Reicher, Nina
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Neill, Alex
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Ridley, Aaron
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McManus, Denis
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Reicher, Nina
(2015)
Aesthetics and ascetics.
University of Southampton, Faculty of Humanities, Masters Thesis, 130pp.
Record type:
Thesis
(Masters)
Abstract
The aim of this dissertation is to offer a revaluation of several (related) phenomena that, it is argued here, are too readily omitted from, unjustifiedly maligned by, or inadequately accounted for in the considerations of philosophers of aesthetics: the phenomena of asceticism, the grotesque, and the (visual) arts of the (Christian) Middle Ages (in which, incidentally, the ascetic and the grotesque (are commonly considered to) coalesce). The first step towards such a revaluation is a reappraisal of philosophical aesthetics itself, which is undertaken here in Chapter One. This is followed, in the latter half of Chapter One and in Chapter Two, by a (re)appraisal of (the reception and representation of) asceticism, and a (re)valuation of the grotesque. Chapters Three and Four are given over to a more detailed account of what is (claimed here to be) entailed by the aesthetic endeavour, by the ascetic’s peculiar investment therein, and what “lessons” may be learned from his example.
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ReicherMPhil.pdf
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Published date: April 2015
Organisations:
University of Southampton, Philosophy
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Local EPrints ID: 383144
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/383144
PURE UUID: f0179696-f3d5-4904-89c7-9d63851f204e
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Date deposited: 12 Nov 2015 13:52
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 21:39
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Author:
Nina Reicher
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