Abstract

A collection of commentaries on various theories in aesthetics, similar in method and aim to Kainz's Vorlesungen. Far from placing "the study of aesthetics on a new footing" or grasping "the scope of the subject as a whole," as the dust jacket declares, it is still a useful, well organized and often illuminating manual for the student of aesthetics. Sparshott treats some problems clearly and succinctly, but many other questions, such as the mode of being of the work of art or the possibility of regarding art as a cognitive form, are not even mentioned. It also seems that some familiarity with at least the main currents in aesthetics on the continent and a more systematic conception of the field of aesthetics as a whole would have brought Sparshott closer to his stated aims.—E. M. Z.