Since this is an introductory book on aesthetics, or the philosophy of art, we should begin by defining "aesthetics." But this is not as easy as it sounds. A geologist could tell you in two minutes what geology is, but philosophers debate among themselves concerning the nature of philosophy and devote a great deal of philosophical activity trying to define their own subject matter. Aesthetics is still less well defined, with opinions ranging from the eighteenth-century notion that it is an independent science, to the nineteenth-century view that it is a branch of psychology, to the contemporary idea that it is simply a loose assortment of philosophical problems relating to art. Some books on aesthetics concentrate on the appreciation of art, others emphasize art criticism, and still others think of aesthetics as a general theory of art.

So, we will proceed cautiously, not looking for a pat definition, but simply for a clearer notion of what aesthetics is and how it differs from related areas. First of all, we should look at aesthetics as a branch of philosophy, rather than psychology, anthropology, or whatever, differing from other branches of philosophy primarily in the subject matter with which it deals. Aesthetics, then, is that branch of philosophy that has for its subject matter art; aesthetics is simply the philosophy of art. But this raises the question, "What is philosophy?" which, as we've already indicated, is difficult even for philosophers to answer. Traditionally, philosophy was considered the supreme science of reality, concerned with questions of such paramount importance as God, nature, and the human soul. But this idea, which still lingers on in popular conceptions of philosophy, has come under enormous opposition in recent years. Most philosophers today reject the idea that philosophy is a substantive science describing certain aspects of the world, but hold instead that it is an analytical discipline for clarifying the way we think about the world. Philosophy, according to this view, does not seek to describe the world, but the concepts by which we classify and categorize the world.

If philosophy is defined by the kind of investigation it is rather than by its subject matter, we can begin to appreciate the relationships among various branches of philosophy in terms of differences in their subject matter. When philosophical analysis is directed toward concepts like God, faith, miracle, and traditional arguments for the existence of God, we have the philosophy of religion. When this same critical inquiry is directed toward concepts like causality, verification, fact, force, etc., we have the philosophy of science. Similarly, the philosophy of history deals with the analysis of concepts and modes of argument used by the historian; political philosophy, with those used by the politician and the political scientist. For this reason philosophy has been characterized in recent years as a second-order discipline. The historian talks about historical facts (first-order), and the philosopher of history talks about the historian's talk (second-order). The philosopher therefore operates on a second plane, at one remove from the actual world of everyday life; he does not talk about historical events themselves, but about the historian's talk about historical events. He is less concerned with the events themselves than with the way the historian and all of us think about those events. Philosophy can therefore be described as a kind of supertalk, or talk about talk! In short, philosophy thinks about thinking and talks about talk.

It follows that aesthetics is concerned with the way the critic, the art educator, the art historian, the art teacher and the ordinary lover of art think and talk about art. It is involved in the conceptual problems arising out of this kind of talk -- problems surrounding the meaning of words like imitation, representation, expression, form and content, intuition, intention, work of art, and so on...