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Since the beginning of Japan's post-war boom her major cities, notably Tokyo, have developed with remarkable speed but relatively little pre-planning and control. So the consequent economic benefits have been accompanied by a level of visual disorder. Public and governmental opinion has therefore recently begun seeking development-control guidelines for improving the visual quality of the urban scene. Some Japanese researchers, building partly on the work of their us colleagues, have responded by trying to identify the most aesthetically significant aspects of the urban visual landscape. This thesis contributes to this search a particularly quantitative approach. It begins with a review of urban-design aesthetic theory concentrating on more recent "psychometric" investigation. It then describes and discusses the main method of the thesis: representation of urban scenes through video stills, computergenerated images, or photographs and the exposure to these representation of groups of sample subjects, and statistical analysis of the subjects' questionnaires responses. Special attention is paid to the reliability with which the aesthetic qualities of a given urban configuration can be generalised from 2-d "perspective" views of it, and to the relationship in subject responses between physical elements like buildings and trees and abstract characteristics like "openness", "enclosure", "age", or "expectant space". These procedures are applied to questionnaires completed by Japanese subjects regarding representations of various Tokyo street scenes, and by largely British subjects regarding contrasting "old" and "new" landscapes in the Hampstead and Milton Keynes areas. Initial investigations suggest that the elements of predominant subjective significance include the proportion of visible sky, the abundance of foliage. This thesis ends by suggesting aesthetic guidelines drawn from these results, considering spatial elements and roles of foliage, and discussing aesthetic assessment for development-control purposes.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / A philosophical elaboration of Theodor Adorno's conception of aesthetic form. Adorno's aesthetic theory is presented through a reconstruction of the major concepts in his Aesthetic Theory and via the projects of Dialectic of Enlightenment and Negative Dialectics. / 2999-01-01

Aristotle's division of the "species" of rhetoric (deliberative, forensic, and epideictic) has served as a helpful taxonomy in historical accounts of rhetoric, but it has also produced undesirable effects. One such effect is that epideictic rhetoric has been interpreted historically as deficient, unimportant or merely ostentatious, while political or legal discourse retained a favored status in authentic civic life. This analysis argues that such an interpretation reduces contemporary attention to the crucial role that epideixis plays in modern discourse. As often interpreted, epideictic rhetoric contains at its heart a striving toward communal values and utopic ideals. Taking as its province the good/bad, the praiseworthy/derisible, it is a rhetorical form supremely attentive to what counts for audiences, cultures, and subcultures. As such, it has direct entailments for all forms of rhetorical practice, however categorized, for in its essence is not simply a suggestion of timeliness or appropriate context for its delivery, but also method: a focus on identification and affinity is at the heart of epideixis. Taking an expanded definition of epideixis, I argue that Aristotle's classification be read as provisional (that he allowed for and expected overlap with his divisions), and further, that criticism be seen as a form of contemporary epideixis. I claim that contemporary norms are more fractured than in classical times, and that as citizens no longer at the behest of formerly more unified cultural ideals it is through acts of criticism and aesthetic consensus that we often form emergent communities, gathering around objects of appraisal, around that which offers us pleasure (even the popular). I attempt to account for the mechanics of how, as Dave Hickey argues, “beautiful objects reorganize society, sometimes radically" (Invisible Dragon 81). The vectors through which this reorganization occurs are via popular discourse involving “comparisons, advocacy, analysis, and dissent” (Hickey Invisible Dragon 70), be it at the level of the interpersonal or in a more widely-sanctioned public forum such as professional criticism. I hope to show that epideixis is not a moribund rhetorical category, but a key discursive mode and way of forming community in our times.

This project studies the aesthetic nuances of contemporary menstrual poetic representations with the aim of undoing the stigma underlying them as well as fostering the development of a finer appreciation for period poetics and discursive portrayals. Through the lens of aesthetic theory, it looks into the ways in which menstruation not only can become languageable by dint of poetry, but also how it is permeated by its own system of aesthetic principles and characteristics. Using discourse analysis, this research explores the sociopolitical valence of menstrual aesthetics, while working against their neutralization in verse. By foregrounding the all-red discursive palettes of period sensation(s), flows and chromatic configurations, it makes a case for their dehegemonizing capacity, their potential to facilitate intermenstrual relatedness and most notably, their beauty.

No presente trabalho tentamos reconstruir os principais lineamentos da teoria estética e da teoria da sociedade de Theodor Adorno. Com tal propósito, partimos de uma revisão critica da interpretação canônica efetuada tanto por Jürgen Habermas como por Axel Honneth do potencial explicativo contido em obras clássicas da primeira geração da Escola de Frankfurt. O objetivo central deste confronto procura demonstrar que o conceito de cultura de Adorno y Horkheimer tem um potencial explicativo e critico que nem Habermas, nem Honneth souberam destacar. Para reexaminar esse potencial teórico subterrâneo resulta imprescindível referir-se as duas grandes obras da maturidade de Adorno, a Teoria estética e a Dialética negativa. Realizamos-nos esse trabalho procurando explicitar um conceito de cultura alternativo ao de Habermas e Honneth, para tentar logo extrair conclusões referidas à lógica interna das ciências sociais. / The object of this thesis is to reconstruct the basic lines of Adorno\'s aesthetic and social theory. We discuss Jürgen Habermas and Axel Honneths canonic interpretation about the theoretic potential of the classic works of the first generation of the Frankfurt School. The central aim of this confrontation is to demonstrate that the concept of culture developed by Adorno and Horkheimer has a theoretic potential that had not been perceived by Habermas and Honneth. In order to reevaluate this potential it is necessary to discuss the last Adornos works, which means, to discuss once again the Aesthetic Theory and the Negative Dialectics. We pretend to find, finally, a different concept of culture in order to use it in the critical reexamination of the internal logic of social sciences.

This thesis investigates the relationship between the architectural sculpture of Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović and late nineteenth-century aesthetic theory. Most scholarship on Meštrović emphasizes his Croatian heritage and his ties with the Vienna Secessionists and French sculptor Auguste Rodin. While acknowledging that these were important sources for Meštrović, this thesis also seeks to elucidate his shift in style during the first decade of the twentieth century and his continued commitment to clarity of form in his architectural sculpture. An in-depth look at Meštrović’s Kosovo Pavilion, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Mount Avala near Belgrade, Serbia, and wood reliefs at the Kaštelet chapel in Split, Croatia in terms of German sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand’s 1893 treatise The Problem of Form in the Fine Arts reveals significant parallels between Meštrović’s work and Hildebrand’s ideas. Despite his widespread recognition and critical acclaim during the first half of the twentieth century, Meštrović has faded from discussions of modern art in much of the United States and Europe. This thesis aims to reintroduce Meštrović, offering new possibilities for thinking about his work as it relates to the aesthetic theory that was so important for artists of his time. / text

No presente trabalho tentamos reconstruir os principais lineamentos da teoria estética e da teoria da sociedade de Theodor Adorno. Com tal propósito, partimos de uma revisão critica da interpretação canônica efetuada tanto por Jürgen Habermas como por Axel Honneth do potencial explicativo contido em obras clássicas da primeira geração da Escola de Frankfurt. O objetivo central deste confronto procura demonstrar que o conceito de cultura de Adorno y Horkheimer tem um potencial explicativo e critico que nem Habermas, nem Honneth souberam destacar. Para reexaminar esse potencial teórico subterrâneo resulta imprescindível referir-se as duas grandes obras da maturidade de Adorno, a Teoria estética e a Dialética negativa. Realizamos-nos esse trabalho procurando explicitar um conceito de cultura alternativo ao de Habermas e Honneth, para tentar logo extrair conclusões referidas à lógica interna das ciências sociais. / The object of this thesis is to reconstruct the basic lines of Adorno\'s aesthetic and social theory. We discuss Jürgen Habermas and Axel Honneths canonic interpretation about the theoretic potential of the classic works of the first generation of the Frankfurt School. The central aim of this confrontation is to demonstrate that the concept of culture developed by Adorno and Horkheimer has a theoretic potential that had not been perceived by Habermas and Honneth. In order to reevaluate this potential it is necessary to discuss the last Adornos works, which means, to discuss once again the Aesthetic Theory and the Negative Dialectics. We pretend to find, finally, a different concept of culture in order to use it in the critical reexamination of the internal logic of social sciences.

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