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Pädagogik im Verborgenen: Bildung und Erziehung in der ästhetischen Gegenwart
by Clemens BachDer Sammelband verfolgt das Ziel, gegenwärtige ästhetische Praktiken und die damit verbundenen konkreten ästhetischen Objekte und theoretischen Diskurse auf ihre implizite pädagogische Struktur hin zu befragen. Mittels interpretatorischer Bemühungen wird der Versuch unternommen zu überprüfen, inwiefern sich durch pädagogisch-theoretische Zugänge ein Intentionscharakter der jeweils zu betrachtenden Forschungsgegenstände sichtbar machen lässt. Im Verborgenen, so die These des Bandes, spielen sich solche Praktiken, Theorien und Objekte deshalb ab, da sie mittels verschiedener Strategien und hauptsächlich unter der Verwendung der Chiffre des Ästhetischen den Schein des Nicht-Intentionalen, des nicht gezielten Einwirkens auf adressierte Personen konstruieren.
Pädagogik - Phänomenologie: Verhältnisbestimmungen und Herausforderungen (Phänomenologische Erziehungswissenschaft #3)
by Malte Brinkmann Marc Fabian Buck Severin Sales RödelDieser Band fragt nach Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschieden zwischen Phänomenologie und Pädagogik in historischer, systematischer, praktischer und methodologischer Hinsicht. Er bietet eine strukturierte Zusammenstellung und Auswertung traditioneller und aktueller Ansätze im deutschsprachigen und internationalen Diskurs der phänomenologischen Erziehungswissenschaft. Das Verhältnis von Pädagogik und Phänomenologie wird in phänomenologischen Beschreibungen und Analysen pädagogischer Phänomene, in historischen und systematischen Untersuchungen, in Studien zum schulischen Lernen und Erziehen sowie zur phänomenologischen Forschungspraxis diskutiert und veranschaulicht.
Pädagogische Ansätze im historischen Syndikalismus
by Stephan GeuenichIm Syndikalismus der 1920er Jahre wurde der ‚Revolutionierung der Köpfe‘ eine zentrale Stellung im Kampf um eine neue Gesellschaft zugeschrieben. Stephan Geuenich beschäftigt sich mit diesem Spannungsverhältnis aus Politik, Gesellschaft und Pädagogik: Er diskutiert nicht nur die pädagogischen Überlegungen der föderalistisch, lokal und basisdemokratisch aufgebauten gewerkschaftlichen Bewegung, sondern ordnet sie auch in den historischen Kontext ein und arbeitet Bezugspunkte zu zeitgenössischen Debatten heraus. Das Buch stellt somit einen wichtigen Beitrag zur sozialistischen Pädagogik sowie allgemein zur historischen Bildungsforschung dar.
Pädagogische Anthropologie der Technik: Praktiken, Gegenstände und Lebensformen
by Johannes Bilstein Matthias Winzen Jörg ZirfasDer Band geht der Frage nach, welche spezifisch edukativen Techniken angesichts der zunehmenden Etablierung und Professionalisierung der pädagogischen Arbeitsfelder erforderlich werden. In diesem Zusammenhang wird zu klären versucht, welche pädagogische und didaktische Vorbereitung auf eine zunehmend technisch orientierte Welt erfolgen muss. Zudem werden die alltäglichen Techniken der Selbstsorge analysiert. Und schließlich geht es in einer Pädagogischen Anthropologie auch um die Frage, wer Subjekt und Objekt der Technik ist.
Pädagogische Erfahrung: Theoretische und empirische Perspektiven (Phänomenologische Erziehungswissenschaft #1)
by Malte Brinkmann Richard Kubac Severin Sales RödelDie phänomenologische Erziehungswissenschaft stellt sowohl theoretisch als auch empirisch pädagogische Erfahrungen in den Mittelpunkt. Im Eröffnungsband der Reihe „Phänomenologische Erziehungswissenschaft“ werden bildungs- und erziehungstheoretische, methodologische sowie (fach)didaktische Ansätze internationaler Vertreterinnen und Vertreter vorgestellt. Anhand des phänomenologischen Forschungs- und Erkenntnisstils wird aufgezeigt, wie pädagogische Erfahrungen reflektiert, zum Sprechen gebracht und vermittelt werden können.
Pädagogisches Können in der Migrationsgesellschaft
by Aysun Dogmus Yasemin Karaka 351 O 287 Lu Paul MecherilPädagogisches Handeln in der Migrationsgesellschaft findet in Möglichkeitsräumen statt, die strukturell, institutionell und diskursiv durch Spannungs- und Widerspruchsverhältnisse gerahmt sind. In den Beiträgen wird diskutiert, was unter diesen Bedingungen pädagogisches Können kennzeichnen kann, welche Themen und Inhalte bedeutsam sind und wie diese in der Praxis pädagogischer Professionalisierung wirksam werden (sollten). Befragt werden gewohnte Praxen, Institutionalisierungsformen pädagogischen Handelns, sowie pädagogische Selbstverständnisse. Reflexivität wird als methodisch-didaktische Professionalisierungsstrategie und als Ziel pädagogischen Könnens in der Migrationsgesellschaft verstanden.
Paddy Machiavelli – How to Get Ahead in Irish Politics: An Entertaining and Irreverent History of Irish Politicians
by John DrennanThe good, the bad and the cynical – how to get ahead in Irish politicsIt might appear strange that a 16th-century Italian political philosopher should provide us with a roadmap to political power in Ireland, but as John Drennan’s tongue-in-cheek account Paddy Machiavelli makes clear, the gap between the parish pump and the Renaissance palazzo is a narrow one indeed. In fact, observe the Irish body politic for long enough and the lines between the Florentine’s faceless hero and our own Dáil aristocrats begin to blur ever so slightly.A veteran of countless Leinster House power plays, Drennan takes inspiration from Machiavelli’s The Prince, dispensing invaluable advice for the aspiring politician, such as how to cultivate the cloak of being an ‘ordinary decent skin’, how to choose your scapegoats carefully, and how to be a straight-talker whilst embracing vagueness.This hilarious account of the compromises that the Irish politician has to make in order to seize power is not just a ‘celebration’ of the politics of cynical amorality; it’s a timely reminder of the role we play in choosing our leaders.In this wildly entertaining book, celebrated Sunday Independent columnist John Drennan is at his best. The definitive guide to success in Irish politics, Paddy Machiavelli will have you laughing and crying all the way to the ballot box.‘Drennan’s storytelling style is stage Irish, and like a culchie Cicero, he laces his brilliance with bile. It is the politics of Paddy and in the tradition of Hall’s Pictorial Weekly via Craggy Island.’Gerard Howlin, The Sunday Times‘There is a fierce intelligence and fierce independence at work here. No one escapes his gimlet eye, and he brings to the whole bizarre ecosystem of the Dáil a unique perspective, that of the insider who remains resolutely outside.’Brendan O'Connor, The Sunday Independent‘If Paddy really wants to know the story, generally he asks Drennan first.’Lise Hand, Irish Independent‘Drennan is one of the best pundits in Ireland. He has an understanding of politics that is both instinctive and intellectual.’Pat Leahy, The Sunday Business Post‘[Drennan] reads the political game like the sort of bookie who always leaves Cheltenham with a full satchel.’Ivan Yates, Newstalk
Paediatric Patient and Family-Centred Care: Ethical And Legal Issues (International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine #105)
by Randi Zlotnik ShaulThis book provides the reader with a theoretical and practical understanding of two health care delivery models: the patient/child centred care and family-centred care. Both are fundamental to caring for children in healthcare organizations. The authors address their application in a variety of paediatric healthcare contexts, as well as an understanding of legal and ethical issues they raise. Each model is increasingly pursued as a vehicle for guiding the delivery of health care in the best interests of children. Such models of health care delivery shape health care policies, programs, facility design, resource allocation decisions and day-to-day interactions among patients, families, physicians and other health care professionals. To maximize the health and ethical benefits these models offer, there must be shared understanding of what the models entail, as well as the ethical and legal synergies and tensions they can create. This book is a valuable resource for paediatricians, nurses, trainees, graduate students, practitioners of ethics and health policy.
Pagan Ethics: Paganism as a World Religion
by Michael YorkThis book is the first comprehensive examination of the ethical parameters of paganism when considered as a world religion alongside Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. The issues of evil, value and idolatry from a pagan perspective are analyzed as part of the Western ethical tradition from the Sophists and Platonic schools through the philosophers Spinoza, Hume, Kant and Nietzsche to such contemporary thinkers as Grayling, Mackie, MacIntyre, Habermas, Levinas, Santayana, etc. From a more practical viewpoint, a delineation of applied pagan ethics is then presented in connection with current moral issues such as same-sex union, recreational drugs, environmental awareness, abortion and terrorism. Finally, overviews of sectarian pagan ethics (Shinto, Santeria, Heathenism, Druidry, Romuva, Slavic, Kemeticism, Classical and Wicca) provide both the general and pagan reader with an understanding of the provocative range and differentiation of pagan ethical thought. The book approaches the Western ethical tradition as an historical development and a continuing dialogue. The novelty of this approach lies in its consideration of paganism as a legitimate voice of religious spirituality rather than a satanic aberration or ridiculous childish behavior. The book is aimed at both the contemporary Western pagan and anyone with an interest in the moral dilemmas of our times and the desire to engage in the global ethical discussion. Among the more important features of the book are its presentation of a re-evaluation of idolatry, the notion of the virtue value, the richness of the pagan tradition, and the expansion of Western ethics beyond its Christian heritage.
Pagans and Philosophers: The Problem of Paganism from Augustine to Leibniz
by John MarenbonFrom the turn of the fifth century to the beginning of the eighteenth, Christian writers were fascinated and troubled by the "Problem of Paganism," which this book identifies and examines for the first time. How could the wisdom and virtue of the great thinkers of antiquity be reconciled with the fact that they were pagans and, many thought, damned? Related questions were raised by encounters with contemporary pagans in northern Europe, Mongolia, and, later, America and China.Pagans and Philosophers explores how writers—philosophers and theologians, but also poets such as Dante, Chaucer, and Langland, and travelers such as Las Casas and Ricci—tackled the Problem of Paganism. Augustine and Boethius set its terms, while Peter Abelard and John of Salisbury were important early advocates of pagan wisdom and virtue. University theologians such as Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, and Bradwardine, and later thinkers such as Ficino, Valla, More, Bayle, and Leibniz, explored the difficulty in depth. Meanwhile, Albert the Great inspired Boethius of Dacia and others to create a relativist conception of scientific knowledge that allowed Christian teachers to remain faithful Aristotelians. At the same time, early anthropologists such as John of Piano Carpini, John Mandeville, and Montaigne developed other sorts of relativism in response to the issue.A sweeping and original account of an important but neglected chapter in Western intellectual history, Pagans and Philosophers provides a new perspective on nothing less than the entire period between the classical and the modern world.
Pagans and Philosophers: The Problem of Paganism from Augustine to Leibniz
by John MarenbonFrom the turn of the fifth century to the beginning of the eighteenth, Christian writers were fascinated and troubled by the "Problem of Paganism," which this book identifies and examines for the first time. How could the wisdom and virtue of the great thinkers of antiquity be reconciled with the fact that they were pagans and, many thought, damned? Related questions were raised by encounters with contemporary pagans in northern Europe, Mongolia, and, later, America and China.Pagans and Philosophers explores how writers—philosophers and theologians, but also poets such as Dante, Chaucer, and Langland, and travelers such as Las Casas and Ricci—tackled the Problem of Paganism. Augustine and Boethius set its terms, while Peter Abelard and John of Salisbury were important early advocates of pagan wisdom and virtue. University theologians such as Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, and Bradwardine, and later thinkers such as Ficino, Valla, More, Bayle, and Leibniz, explored the difficulty in depth. Meanwhile, Albert the Great inspired Boethius of Dacia and others to create a relativist conception of scientific knowledge that allowed Christian teachers to remain faithful Aristotelians. At the same time, early anthropologists such as John of Piano Carpini, John Mandeville, and Montaigne developed other sorts of relativism in response to the issue.A sweeping and original account of an important but neglected chapter in Western intellectual history, Pagans and Philosophers provides a new perspective on nothing less than the entire period between the classical and the modern world.
Paideia: Volume III: The Conflict of Cultural Ideals in the Age of Plato
by Werner JaegerWerner Jaeger's classic three-volume work, originally published in 1939, is now available in paperback. Paideia, the shaping of Greek character through a union of civilization, tradition, literature, and philosophy is the basis for Jaeger's evaluation of Hellenic culture. Volume I describes the foundation, growth, and crisis of Greek culture during the archaic and classical epochs, ending with the collapse of the Athenian empire. The second and third volumes of the work deal with the intellectual history of ancient Greece in the Age of Plato, the 4th century B.C.--the age in which Greece lost everything that is valued in this world--state, power, liberty--but still clung to the concept of paideia. As its last great poet, Menander summarized the primary role of this ideal in Greek culture when he said: "The possession which no one can take away from man is paideia."
Paideia: Volume III: The Conflict of Cultural Ideals in the Age of Plato
by Werner JaegerWerner Jaeger's classic three-volume work, originally published in 1939, is now available in paperback. Paideia, the shaping of Greek character through a union of civilization, tradition, literature, and philosophy is the basis for Jaeger's evaluation of Hellenic culture. Volume I describes the foundation, growth, and crisis of Greek culture during the archaic and classical epochs, ending with the collapse of the Athenian empire. The second and third volumes of the work deal with the intellectual history of ancient Greece in the Age of Plato, the 4th century B.C.--the age in which Greece lost everything that is valued in this world--state, power, liberty--but still clung to the concept of paideia. As its last great poet, Menander summarized the primary role of this ideal in Greek culture when he said: "The possession which no one can take away from man is paideia."
Paideia: Philosophy/Phenomenology of Life Inspiring Education for Our Times (Analecta Husserliana #68)
by Anna-Teresa TymienieckaThe education of humanity is the key to the next century's culture, its social and practical life. The main concerns of education are perennial, but the continuous flood of inventions, the technological innovations that re-shape life, calls for a radically new appraisal of the situation, such as only philosophy can provide. Answering the call of humanity for the measure, sense of proportion and direction that could re-orient present and future education, the phenomenology of life - integral and scientific, in a dialogue with the arts, the sciences, and the humanities - proposes an ontopoietic model of life's unfolding as the universal paradigm for this re-orientation. Taking the Human Creative Condition as its Archimedean point, it offers a unique context for a fresh investigation of the concerns of education, both perennial and immediate.
Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good: From the Panopticon to the Skinner Box and Beyond
by Cathy GereHow should we weigh the costs and benefits of scientific research on humans? Is it right that a small group of people should suffer in order that a larger number can live better, healthier lives? Or is an individual truly sovereign, unable to be plotted as part of such a calculation? These are questions that have bedeviled scientists, doctors, and ethicists for decades, and in Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good, Cathy Gere presents the gripping story of how we have addressed them over time. Today, we are horrified at the idea that a medical experiment could be performed on someone without consent. But, as Gere shows, that represents a relatively recent shift: for more than two centuries, from the birth of utilitarianism in the eighteenth century, the doctrine of the greater good held sway. If a researcher believed his work would benefit humanity, then inflicting pain, or even death, on unwitting or captive subjects was considered ethically acceptable. It was only in the wake of World War II, and the revelations of Nazi medical atrocities, that public and medical opinion began to change, culminating in the National Research Act of 1974, which mandated informed consent. Showing that utilitarianism is based in the idea that humans are motivated only by pain and pleasure, Gere cautions that that greater good thinking is on the upswing again today and that the lesson of history is in imminent danger of being lost. Rooted in the experiences of real people, and with major consequences for how we think about ourselves and our rights, Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good is a dazzling, ambitious history.
Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good: From the Panopticon to the Skinner Box and Beyond
by Cathy GereHow should we weigh the costs and benefits of scientific research on humans? Is it right that a small group of people should suffer in order that a larger number can live better, healthier lives? Or is an individual truly sovereign, unable to be plotted as part of such a calculation? These are questions that have bedeviled scientists, doctors, and ethicists for decades, and in Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good, Cathy Gere presents the gripping story of how we have addressed them over time. Today, we are horrified at the idea that a medical experiment could be performed on someone without consent. But, as Gere shows, that represents a relatively recent shift: for more than two centuries, from the birth of utilitarianism in the eighteenth century, the doctrine of the greater good held sway. If a researcher believed his work would benefit humanity, then inflicting pain, or even death, on unwitting or captive subjects was considered ethically acceptable. It was only in the wake of World War II, and the revelations of Nazi medical atrocities, that public and medical opinion began to change, culminating in the National Research Act of 1974, which mandated informed consent. Showing that utilitarianism is based in the idea that humans are motivated only by pain and pleasure, Gere cautions that that greater good thinking is on the upswing again today and that the lesson of history is in imminent danger of being lost. Rooted in the experiences of real people, and with major consequences for how we think about ourselves and our rights, Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good is a dazzling, ambitious history.
Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good: From the Panopticon to the Skinner Box and Beyond
by Cathy GereHow should we weigh the costs and benefits of scientific research on humans? Is it right that a small group of people should suffer in order that a larger number can live better, healthier lives? Or is an individual truly sovereign, unable to be plotted as part of such a calculation? These are questions that have bedeviled scientists, doctors, and ethicists for decades, and in Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good, Cathy Gere presents the gripping story of how we have addressed them over time. Today, we are horrified at the idea that a medical experiment could be performed on someone without consent. But, as Gere shows, that represents a relatively recent shift: for more than two centuries, from the birth of utilitarianism in the eighteenth century, the doctrine of the greater good held sway. If a researcher believed his work would benefit humanity, then inflicting pain, or even death, on unwitting or captive subjects was considered ethically acceptable. It was only in the wake of World War II, and the revelations of Nazi medical atrocities, that public and medical opinion began to change, culminating in the National Research Act of 1974, which mandated informed consent. Showing that utilitarianism is based in the idea that humans are motivated only by pain and pleasure, Gere cautions that that greater good thinking is on the upswing again today and that the lesson of history is in imminent danger of being lost. Rooted in the experiences of real people, and with major consequences for how we think about ourselves and our rights, Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good is a dazzling, ambitious history.
Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good: From the Panopticon to the Skinner Box and Beyond
by Cathy GereHow should we weigh the costs and benefits of scientific research on humans? Is it right that a small group of people should suffer in order that a larger number can live better, healthier lives? Or is an individual truly sovereign, unable to be plotted as part of such a calculation? These are questions that have bedeviled scientists, doctors, and ethicists for decades, and in Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good, Cathy Gere presents the gripping story of how we have addressed them over time. Today, we are horrified at the idea that a medical experiment could be performed on someone without consent. But, as Gere shows, that represents a relatively recent shift: for more than two centuries, from the birth of utilitarianism in the eighteenth century, the doctrine of the greater good held sway. If a researcher believed his work would benefit humanity, then inflicting pain, or even death, on unwitting or captive subjects was considered ethically acceptable. It was only in the wake of World War II, and the revelations of Nazi medical atrocities, that public and medical opinion began to change, culminating in the National Research Act of 1974, which mandated informed consent. Showing that utilitarianism is based in the idea that humans are motivated only by pain and pleasure, Gere cautions that that greater good thinking is on the upswing again today and that the lesson of history is in imminent danger of being lost. Rooted in the experiences of real people, and with major consequences for how we think about ourselves and our rights, Pain, Pleasure, and the Greater Good is a dazzling, ambitious history.
Paine and Jefferson on Liberty
by Thomas Paine Lloyd Kramer Thomas JeffersonDrawing from numerous historical sources, the editor summarizes the views of Paine and Jefferson on liberty in America, and on the contrasting political realities in Europe as well.
Painting and Presence: Why Paintings Matter
by Anthony RuddThis book is concerned with why (or whether) paintings have value: why they might be worth creating and attending to. The author starts from the challenge expressed in Plato's critique of the arts generally, according to which they do not lead us to what is true and good, and may take us away from them. Rudd tries to show that this Platonic Challenge can be answered in its own terms: that painting is good because it does lead us to truth. What paintings can give us is a non-discursive "knowledge by acquaintance" in which the essence of the painting's subject-matter is made present to the viewer. Rudd traces this understanding of painting as ontologically revelatory from the theology of the Byzantine Icon to classical Chinese appreciations of landscape painting, to the work of Merleau-Ponty and other Phenomenologists inspired by European Modernist art. He argues that this account of painting as disclosing the essences of things can also take up what is right about expressive and formalist theories of painting; and that it can apply as much to abstract as to representational painting. But to disclose the reality of things can only be of value if the reality disclosed is itself of value; and in the concluding part of the book, Rudd argues that the value of painting can only be properly understood in the context of a wider metaphysics or theology in which value is understood, not as a human projection, but as a basic characteristic of reality as such.
Painting and Presence: Why Paintings Matter
by Anthony RuddThis book is concerned with why (or whether) paintings have value: why they might be worth creating and attending to. The author starts from the challenge expressed in Plato's critique of the arts generally, according to which they do not lead us to what is true and good, and may take us away from them. Rudd tries to show that this Platonic Challenge can be answered in its own terms: that painting is good because it does lead us to truth. What paintings can give us is a non-discursive "knowledge by acquaintance" in which the essence of the painting's subject-matter is made present to the viewer. Rudd traces this understanding of painting as ontologically revelatory from the theology of the Byzantine Icon to classical Chinese appreciations of landscape painting, to the work of Merleau-Ponty and other Phenomenologists inspired by European Modernist art. He argues that this account of painting as disclosing the essences of things can also take up what is right about expressive and formalist theories of painting; and that it can apply as much to abstract as to representational painting. But to disclose the reality of things can only be of value if the reality disclosed is itself of value; and in the concluding part of the book, Rudd argues that the value of painting can only be properly understood in the context of a wider metaphysics or theology in which value is understood, not as a human projection, but as a basic characteristic of reality as such.
Painting and Reality (The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts #4)
by Etienne GilsonA classic study of the art of painting and its relationship to reality In this book, Étienne Gilson puts forward a bold interpretation of the kind of reality depicted in paintings and its relation to the natural order. Drawing on insights from the writings of great painters—from Leonardo, Reynolds, and Constable to Mondrian and Klee—Gilson shows how painting is foreign to the order of language and knowledge. Painting, he argues, seeks to add new beings to nature, not to represent those that already exist. For this reason, we must distinguish it from another art, that of picturing, which seeks to produce images of actual or possible beings. Though pictures play an important part in human life, they do not belong in the art of painting. Through this distinction, Gilson sheds new light on the evolution of modern painting. A magisterial work of scholarship by an acclaimed historian of philosophy, Painting and Reality features paintings from both classical and modern schools, and includes extended selections from the writings of Reynolds, Delacroix, Gris, Gill, and Ozenfant.
Painting as an Art (The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts #33)
by Richard WollheimOne of the twentieth century’s most influential texts on philosophical aestheticsPainting 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.
Painting, Science, and the Perception of Coloured Shadows: ‘The Most Beautiful Blue’ (Science and the Arts since 1750)
by Paul SmithMany artists and scientists – including Buffon, Goethe, and Philipp Otto Runge – who observed the vividly coloured shadows that appear outdoors around dawn and dusk, or indoors when a candle burns under waning daylight, chose to describe their colours as ‘beautiful’. Paul Smith explains what makes these ephemeral effects worthy of such appreciation – or how depictions of coloured shadows have genuine aesthetic and epistemological significance. This multidisciplinary book synthesises methodologies drawn from art history (close pictorial analysis), psychology and neuroscience (theories of colour constancy), history of science (the changing paradigms used to explain coloured shadows), and philosophy (theories of perception and aesthetic value drawn from Wittgenstein and Merleau-Ponty). This title will be of interest to scholars in art history, art theory, and the history of science and technology.
Painting, Science, and the Perception of Coloured Shadows: ‘The Most Beautiful Blue’ (Science and the Arts since 1750)
by Paul SmithMany artists and scientists – including Buffon, Goethe, and Philipp Otto Runge – who observed the vividly coloured shadows that appear outdoors around dawn and dusk, or indoors when a candle burns under waning daylight, chose to describe their colours as ‘beautiful’. Paul Smith explains what makes these ephemeral effects worthy of such appreciation – or how depictions of coloured shadows have genuine aesthetic and epistemological significance. This multidisciplinary book synthesises methodologies drawn from art history (close pictorial analysis), psychology and neuroscience (theories of colour constancy), history of science (the changing paradigms used to explain coloured shadows), and philosophy (theories of perception and aesthetic value drawn from Wittgenstein and Merleau-Ponty). This title will be of interest to scholars in art history, art theory, and the history of science and technology.