From Plato's Ion to works by contemporary philosophers, this anthology showcases classic texts to illuminate the development of philosophical thought about art and the aesthetic. This volume is the most comprehensive collection of readings on aesthetics and the philosophy of art currently available.

• Brings together the most significant writings in aesthetics and philosophy of art from the past 2500 years
• Each section includes a useful introductory essay which provides an overview of developments in the field
• Broken down into three sections: Historical Sources, Modern Theories, and Contemporary Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• Thorough, systematic, and flexible, including two alternative tables of contents (historical and topical); an ideal textbook and guide to the field

"Steven Cahn and Aaron Meskin have put together an unrivalled collection of great work in philosophical aesthetics, encompassing historical sources ranging from Plato to Shaftesbury, modern theories from Schiller to Gadamer, and more recent work covering all the central areas in contemporary aesthetics and philosophy of art. I thoroughly recommend it."
—Peter Goldie, University of Manchester

"The go-to book for classics in aesthetics from Plato and Aristotle to Adorno and Walton. Balanced and comprehensive, each chapter selected with a keen eye for bringing out enduring themes, this volume is a landmark achievement."
—Dominic McIver Lopes, University of British Columbia

Steven M. Cahn is Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of nine books, including Fate, Logic, and Time, Saints and Scamps: Ethics in Academia, revised edition, Puzzles and Perplexities, second edition, and God, Reason, and Religion. He has also edited or co-edited some thirty volumes, including Classics of Western Philosophy, now in its seventh edition.

Aaron Meskin is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Leeds. His publications on aesthetics have appeared in the British Journal of Aesthetics, the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research and a number of anthologies. He is also aesthetics editor for the online journal Philosophy Compass (Wiley-Blackwell).