Art as Human Practice

[This] book builds an important bridge between contemporary Continental and Anglo-American philosophy of art, as Bertram rather seamlessly discusses figures who rarely meet under the same cover ... [It] should provoke thoughtful discussion on whether and/or to what extent art should be viewed in a less object-centered manner, as a reflective practice. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *
In his groundbreaking new book, Georg Bertram argues that human beings turn to artistic meaning-making precisely when they are foundering in practice or confused about how to find coherence and value in their practical lives--a recurring phenomenon within the disruptions of modernity. Audiences of artworks in turn participate imaginatively in the work's sensuous-formal exploration of new possibilities of sense. In this way, Bertram shows how art is neither a matter of entertainment alone nor theoretical insight alone, but instead urgently and intimately part of the ongoing, reciprocal self-constitution of subjects as bearers of stances within and on practices. There is no better account than this of how and why art matters. -- Richard Eldridge, Charles and Harriett Cox McDowell Professor of Philosophy, Swarthmore College, USA