The dissertation A Broad Aesthetic: beauty, truth, and goodness , takes into consideration three distinct but related aspects of aesthetics: perception, appreciation, and evaluation (beauty, truth, and goodness respectively). A central concern in an avowedly broad aesthetics is to attend, equally, to the bounds of the experiences or activities under consideration. Hence, this dissertation is a exploration of the breadth, but also of the limits, of certain aesthetic experiences and art-based activities (e.g., the appreciation and evaluation of artworks). It is a consideration of what shapes these experiences, and, also of the delimitation of these experiences and activities. Section one (beauty) considers the nature of aesthetic perception, and the limits of its reach. Section two (truth), looks at the role of style, both its scope and limit, in the classification and appreciation of a certain genre of fine writing (philosophy), as well as a certain genre of filmmaking (the documentary). Section three (goodness) looks at the role and relevance of moral values and interests in the evaluation, as well as in the curation, of artworks.

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Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The concept of the self or subject is more relevant now than ever, since society’s perceptions about selfhood are in the process of changing. Autobiography is an important site for the critical discussion of issues surrounding the subject – such as truth, identity formation and agency – seeing that it is one of the most revealing spaces in which these altering perceptions manifest. As can be deduced from the title of my thesis, FICTION, FRICTION AND FRACTURE: Autobiographic Novels as a Site For Changing Discourses Around Subjectivity, Truth and Identity, I explore what autobiographic novels disclose about the notions truth, self-representation and identity formation that emerge from an investigation of the subject. Poststructuralism and feminism have been instrumental in destabilizing the notion of a unified subject as well as any concept that makes universal claims. Throughout this thesis I will be applying poststructuralist and feminist theories around subjectivity to my work as well as the work of a selection of autobiographic novelists, namely Robert Crumb, Dan Clowes, Art Spiegelman and Chris Ware. When referring to autobiographic novels I will be applying Leigh Gilmore’s term autobiographics. Autobiographics introduces a way of thinking about life narrative that focuses on the changing discourses of truth and identity that feature in autobiographical representations of selfhood. I will be utilizing Gilmore’s term since it so neatly encompasses the concepts that I will be investigating. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die konsep van die self of subjek is nou meer as ooit relevant siende dat die samelewing se persepsies omtrent die subjek tans ’n transformasie ondergaan. Outobiografie is ’n belangrike platform vir die kritiese bespreking van idees wat uit besprekings van die subjek vloei – soos waarheid, identiteits konstruksie en agentskap – aangesien die genre ’n duidelike refleksie van die veranderende persepsies lewer. Soos afgelei kan word uit die titel van my skripsie FICTION, FRICTION AND FRACTURE: Autobiographic Novels as a Site For Changing Discourses Around Subjectivity, Truth and Identity, beoog ek om vas te stel wat autobiografiese romans blootlê in terme van konsepte soos waarheid, self-voorstelling en identiteitskonstruksie wat uit die ondersoek rondom die subjek na vore kom. Poststrukturalisme en feminisme speel beide ‘n belangrike rol in die destabilisering van die uniformige subjek asook enige ander konsep wat aanspraak tot enige universiële veronderstellings maak. Ek plaas poststrukturalistiese en feministiese teorie rondom subjektiwiteit deurlopend op my werk, asook the werk van die outobiografiese kunstenaars Robert Crumb, Dan Clowes, Art Spiegelman en Chris Ware toe. Wanneer ek na autobiografiese romans verwys, verwys ek spesifiek na Leigh Gilmore se term autobiografies. Gilmore se interpretasie behels ‘n begrip van outobiografie wat fokus op die veranderende diskoerse van waarheid en identiteit wat in outobiografiese voorstellings van die self voorkom. Ek beoog om haar term te gebruik aangesien dit die konsepte waarna ek kyk duidelik omvat.

"One of the most contentious issues in aesthetics is whether or not there can be truth in art. This is so because the question of the possibility of truth in art implicitly assumes two other fundamental questions: the nature of truth and the nature of human understanding. In his treatment of truth in art, Gadamer comes down roundly on the side of the possiblity of truth in art. In this thesis, I show how Gadamer's approval of truth in art hinges on his notion of hermeneutics and his belief in art's transformative power, and propose that his account of truth in art is still a viable and creative approach to the question today. After taking a look at the Kantian, Heideggerian, and Aristotelian background with which Gadamer is operating in his treatment of truth and art, I trace where this led Gadamer, specifically in the sense of his move to have aesthetics so closely connected to hermeneutics. Through interaction with work by Mary Devereaux, I highlight some concerns over Gadamer's use of tradition and of order as a fundamental feature of the artwork, and give an account of how those concerns may be addressed."

Artistic meaning via visual art and literary fiction is debated in modern aesthetic thought. Language is a cognitive component in postmodernist aesthetic projects. This thesis investigates Maurice Merleau-Ponty's and Paul Ricoeur's writings on painting and language, respectively, whose phenomenological aim is the revelation of being in works of the imagination in tandem with Lambert Zuidervaart's approach to artistic truth which opens the lifeworld to the biotic context of the earth. For him, imaginative disclosure is integral to techno-scientific and art realms. Embodiment, natality, and expression illuminate the problematic of meaning in forms of postmodern visual art. Metaphoric imagination and metaphor are used for metaphor is a principle of articulation, not a figure of speech. Aesthetic projects connect with the lifeworld in a hermeneutic circle of meaning.

Thesis (M.A. (Hons.)- Visual Arts) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 1997. / The thesis includes : Appendix 1- Catalogue of Works which comprises 59 coloured slides. The intent of this body of work is to visually interpret the book of poems "Akhenaten" by the Australian contemporary poet, Dorothy Porter. Thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Arts (Honuors) Visual Arts, University of Western Sydney, Nepean, Faculty of Visual and Performing Arts. Bibliography : p. 58-61.