Philosophy Of Religion And Art

This volume serves to fill a lacuna in the literature of the analytic philosophy of religion by relating key philosophical themes to broader aspects of the humanities, such as visual art, literature, and pop culture studies. The essays here range from discussions of the nature of art and religious experience, to the role of art in religious dialogue, and the function of narrative in religious discourse, as well as cultural media and artistic and phenomenological experience.

Systematically explores the affinity and the rivalry between art and religion, focusing at length on music, visual art, literature, and architecture in turn.

A reprint, with new Introduction, of the Harper Torch edition of 1970. The famous introductory lectures collected in this volume represent the distillation of Hegel's mature views on the three most important activities of spirit, and have the further advantage, shared by his lectures in general, of being more comprehensible than those works of his published during his lifetime. A new Introduction, Select Bibliography, Analytical Table of Contents, and the restoration in the section headings of the outline of Hegel's lectures make this new edition particularly useful and welcome.

This volume offers an unusual variety of topics presented during the sixth annual Oberlin Colloquium in Philosophy. The subjects covered include: refuting J. L. Austin's attempt to destroy philosophers' assumptions on the nature and purpose of a “statement;” false premises found in “St. Anselm's Four Ontological Arguments;” pain in connection with brain-state and functional-state theories; aesthetics in light of questions of fraudulence in modern art and music, and an analytical deconstruction of mystical experience.

Timothy J. Golden presents an existential, phenomenological, and political interpretation of Douglass's use of narrative. Reading Douglass with Kierkegaard, Kafka, Kant, and Levinas, Golden argues that analytic theism is an inauthentic preoccupation with knowledge at the expense of a concrete moral sensibility that Douglass's narrative provides.

Saturn and Melancholy remains an iconic text in art history, intellectual history, and the study of culture, despite being long out of print in English. Rooted in the tradition established by Aby Warburg and the Warburg Library, this book has deeply influenced understandings of the interrelations between the humanities disciplines since its first publication in English in 1964. This new edition makes the original English text available for the first time in decades. Saturn and Melancholy offers an unparalleled inquiry into the origin and development of the philosophical and medical theories on which the ancient conception of the temperaments was based and discusses their connections to astrological and religious ideas. It also traces representations of melancholy in literature and the arts up to the sixteenth century, culminating in a landmark analysis of Dürer's most famous engraving, Melencolia I. This edition features Raymond Klibansky's additional introduction and bibliographical amendments for the German edition, as well as translations of source material and 155 original illustrations. An essay on the complex publication history of this pathbreaking project - which almost did not see the light of day - covers more than eighty years, including its more recent heritage. Making new a classic book that has been out of print for over four decades, this expanded edition presents fresh insights about Saturn and Melancholy and its legacy as a precursor to modern interdisciplinary studies.

How a famous painting opens a window into the life, times, and philosophy of René Descartes In the Louvre museum hangs a portrait that is considered the iconic image of René Descartes, the great seventeenth-century French philosopher. And the painter of the work? The Dutch master Frans Hals—or so it was long believed, until the work was downgraded to a copy of an original. But where is the authentic version, and who painted it? Is the man in the painting—and in its original—really Descartes? A unique combination of philosophy, biography, and art history, The Philosopher, the Priest, and the Painter investigates the remarkable individuals and circumstances behind a small portrait. Through this image—and the intersecting lives of a brilliant philosopher, a Catholic priest, and a gifted painter—Steven Nadler opens a fascinating portal into Descartes's life and times, skillfully presenting an accessible introduction to Descartes's philosophical and scientific ideas, and an illuminating tour of the volatile political and religious environment of the Dutch Golden Age. As Nadler shows, Descartes's innovative ideas about the world, about human nature and knowledge, and about philosophy itself, stirred great controversy. Philosophical and theological critics vigorously opposed his views, and civil and ecclesiastic authorities condemned his writings. Nevertheless, Descartes's thought came to dominate the philosophical world of the period, and can rightly be called the philosophy of the seventeenth century. Shedding light on a well-known image, The Philosopher, the Priest, and the Painter offers an engaging exploration of a celebrated philosopher's world and work.