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Theories of Ugliness
An Unseemly Aesthetic History
Brief Description
Why has our preoccupation with concepts, standards, and theories of the beautiful not resulted in a correspondingly comprehensive theoretical treatment of the ugly? Theories of Ugliness remedies this by gathering and scrutinising ideas of the ugly and unsightly from across the history of Western aesthetic and...
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See moreAn engrossing history of how Western philosophers have theorized the ugly from ancient times to the present day.
An engrossing history of how Western philosophers have theorized the ugly from ancient times to the present day.
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Description
Why has our preoccupation with concepts, standards, and theories of the beautiful not resulted in a correspondingly comprehensive theoretical treatment of the ugly? Theories of Ugliness remedies this by gathering and scrutinising ideas of the ugly and unsightly from across the history of Western aesthetic and philosophical writing.
Taking in ancient, medieval, and early modern concepts, all the way through to more recent Anglo-American conceptions, this book reveals the extraordinary preoccupation with ugliness exhibited by some of Germanyβs leading philosophers. Fascinating insights into ugliness from dialectical, categorical or purely aesthetic perspectives are found in thinkers such as Hegel, Lessing, Schlegel, Nietzsche, Adorno, Julia Kristeva, and most notably Karl Rosenkranz.
Whether as a counterpoint to beauty, a target of negation, a literary device, or a victim of humour, ugliness runs throughout the history of Western thought. This compelling study brings that thought together to offer a fresh view that will change the way that scholars think about the ugly.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781350425606
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 16 October 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Audience: Tertiary education
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 26.0mm
Width: 156.0mm
Height: 232.0mm
Weight: 460g
Pages: 304
About the Author
Mark William Roche is Professor of German Language and Literature, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, USA. He is author of Alfred Hitchcock: Filmmaker and Philosopher (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), and Why Literature Matters in the 21st Century (2004).
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