Functional Beauty

270 Pages·2009·2.47 MB·English

by  Glenn Parsons

Functional Beauty
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Functional Beauty
Glenn Parsons
and
Allen Carlson
CLARENDON PRESS · OXFORD
1
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
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Parsons,Glenn.
Functionalbeauty/GlennParsonsandAllenCarlson.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-19-920524-0
1.Aesthetics.I.Carlson,Allen.II.Title.
BH39.P2752008
111’.85—dc22 2008039109
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This observation extends to tables, chairs, scritoires, chim-
neys, coaches, sadles, ploughs, and indeed to every work of
art; it being an universal rule, that their beauty is chiefly
deriv’d from their utility, and from their fitness for that
purpose,towhichtheyaredestin’d.
DavidHume,ATreatiseofHumanNature
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Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiv
1. Functional Beauty in the Aesthetic
Tradition 1
1.1 Beauty as Fitness in Classical Thought 2
1.2 Beauty and Function in the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries 6
1.3 TheEighteenth-Century Decline: Burke’s
Counter-Examples 12
1.4 TheEighteenth-Century Decline: Reason and
Perception 18
1.5 TheEighteenth-Century Decline: Kant
and Beauty ‘Apart from Concepts’ 21
1.6 The Autonomy of Art 24
2. Functional Beauty in Contemporary
Aesthetic Theory 31
2.1 TheDecline of Disinterestedness
and the Rise of Cultural Theories
of Appreciation 32
2.2 Art, Nature, and Afunctionality 37
2.3 Architecture and Functionalism 42
2.4 TheProblem of Translation 45
2.5 TheProblem of Indeterminacy 49
2.6 A Role for Functional Beauty 57
viii contents
3. Indeterminacy and the Concept of Function 62
3.1 Intentionalism and Indeterminacy 63
3.2 Naturalizing Function 69
3.3 Artefact Selection and Proper Function 73
3.4 The Problem of Novel Artefacts 80
3.5 Indeterminacy and Functional Beauty 84
4. Function and Form 90
4.1 Knowledge of Function 91
4.2 The Phenomenology of Functional Beauty 94
4.3 Is ‘Looking Fit’ an Aesthetic Quality? 100
4.4 Utility and Beauty 103
4.5 The Aesthetics of Dysfunction 107
5. Nature and Environment 111
5.1 The Appreciation of Living Nature 112
5.2 The Immorality Objection 116
5.3 Function and the Beauty of Organisms 120
5.4 Function in the Landscape 124
5.5 Looking Dysfunctional and Positive Aesthetics 130
6. Architecture and the Built Environment 137
6.1 The Case for Functional Beauty
in Architecture 138
6.2 The Function of a Building: The Problem of
Indeterminacy 143
6.3 Functional Beauty: a Bourgeois Aesthetic? 149
6.4 Aesthetic Objections: The Problem of Translation 154
6.5 The Beauty of Ruins 161
7. Artefacts and Everyday Aesthetics 167
7.1 Five Features of Everyday Aesthetic Objects 168
7.2 The Deweyean Approach to Everyday Aesthetics 172
contents ix
7.3 TheLinguistic Practice Argument 177
7.4 Assessing the Linguistic Practice Argument 182
7.5 Functional Beauty as an Everyday Aesthetic 189
8. The Functions of Art 196
8.1 Functions of Art: AnOverview 197
8.2 Intentionalist Theories of ArtFunction 203
8.3 Causal Role Theories of Art Function 209
8.4 A Selected Effects Theory of Art Function 216
8.5 Functional Beauty and the Appreciation of Art 223
9. Conclusion 228
Bibliography 235
Index 251