There has long been a need for a work on the philosophy of beauty treating fundamental problems against the background of the history of aesthetics - ancient and medieval as well as modern and contemporary.
This book answers that need with the comprehensive presentations of an objectivist philosophy of beauty to balance the currently popular aesthetic subjectivism. It includes a synopsis of views and theories expressed on the various questions about beauty by philosophers down through the ages.
Kovach's acquaintance with relevant literature from the ancient Greeks to twentieth-century authors is staggering. He draws on the observations of thinkers from ancient times - Plato, Aristotle. Philo of Alexandria, Cicero, Plotinus, Augustine, Dionysius the Areopagite, and others; from medieval times - Alexander of Hales, John of la Rochelle, Thomas of York, Bonaventure, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Dionysius the Carthusian, and others; from modern times - Descartes, J. Addison, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Tolstoi, Santayana, Croce, Maritain, Sartre, H. Read, Thomas Munro, and others.
With delicate precision Kovach systematically discusses the philosophy of beauty and the problems it raises. Whether or not one agrees with Kovach's objectivist position, no one in the field can afford to be without this book.
Author Biography:
Francis J. Kovach, professor of philosophy at the University of Oklahoma, received the Ph.D. degree summa cum laude from the University of Cologne, Germany. Kovach's special fields of interest include philosophy of beauty and art, history of aesthetics, metaphysics, and ethics. His articles on these subjects have appeared in many periodicals, and he is the author of Die Aesthetik des Thomas von Aquin, eine genetische und systematische Analyse (Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Philosophie, III) (Berlin, 1961).
